Rocketball (computer game)

Rocketball is a Commodore 64 computer game released by IJK Software in 1985. [ [http://homepages.tesco.net/~parsonsp/html/rocket_ball.html Commodore 64 - Rocket Ball Page ] ] Rocketball was coded by John Sinclair and has music by L Pilling. [ [http://c64s.com/game/1476/rocket_ball/ Rocket Ball - Play the Commodore 64 sports game Rocket Ball online (released 1988) ] ] Rocketball is based on the futuristic sports movie "Rollerball", released in 1975, starring James Caan, and remade in 2002, starring Chris Klein. Rocketball's taglines were, "The rules are, there are no rules", and "This was never meant to be a game."

As in the movie, the computer game is similar to Roller Derby in that two teams on roller skates travel anti-clockwise around a banked, circular track. The object of the game is to score points by throwing a softball-sized metal ball into a cone-shaped goal target inset into the wall of the arena. Balls are fired into play, in the same direction players skate, by cannons when play begins and to restart play after the ball rolls out of play or a goal is scored.

Each Rocketball team has 5 active players on roller skates. The four Rocketball teams are Houston (wearing blue), Tokyo (yellow), Moscow (burgundy) and Madrid (Green), which correspond to futuristic city states [ [http://www.lemon64.com/?mainurl=http%3A//www.lemon64.com/reviews/view.php%3Fid%3D279 Rocket Ball] ]

Rocketball is a full-contact sport in which players have considerable leeway to attack opposing players in order to take or maintain possession of the ball and to score points. Players can use fists, elbows and knees to disable their opponents.

Games have a duration of 10 minutes. A typical game will see no more than 15 goals scored in aggregate.

Unlike the movie, there are no players riding motorcycles in the computer game.

Plot

Rocketball was set in the year 2010 AD, where worldwide disputes were no longer settled through wars, but through a circular Rocket Ball arena. It was an epic struggle between the corporate forces in Houston, Tokyo, Moscow, and Madrid.

Packaging

Rocketball came in a Single Cassette Case. [ [http://c64tapes.org/title.php?id=1049 C64 games - game ] ] . It boasted super-smooth scrolling, being written in 100% Machine code, and a shadow on the ball. [ [http://s64.emuunlim.com/gameinfos/rocketball/rocketball.htm STADIUM 64 - Game Infos: Rocket Ball ] ]

References