One of the things that is great about playing games is that you can be almost anyone, anywhere, at any time. Tor Studios is taking you back in time with their new game, Boris the Rocket. You assume the life of Boris, a rocket enthusiast that gets arrested by the KGB. You are sentenced to serve the Motherland as a missile technician, in a remote base with unforgiving weather and nasty animals.
The game starts out with a few days of training. You will learn all the basics of missile defense during the tutorial. Each day you are taught something new about either the base, or how to handle incoming threats. In the beginning you will just need to arm your missiles and fire them. As the game progresses you will have to use the radar to lock on to your target, add coolant, adjust for speed, and take into account different types of missiles. Your base also contains different objectives that you will have to keep up with while you are defending the Motherland.
The main objective to win the game is to build and launch a STEPAN missile. To do this you will have to find the button to actually launch the projectile and deliver enough materials to the bunker. The main obstacle in your way is time. Each day lasts between 5 and 9 minutes, and during that time you must run to the mine to gather resources, run to either the STEPAN bunker or the missile bunker to drop off supplies, and destroy any incoming projectiles. But you are not an Olympic athlete, so you will not be running super-fast between destinations. Luckily, you gain experience for almost everything you do, so you will be able to upgrade your speed, how quickly your dash depletes, earn extra experience, or even have the cold affect you slower.
That is right, the environment is working against you as well. The temperature is subzero, so you must either move really quickly when you are outside, wear a coat, or drink some vodka. Vodka will keep you hydrated, keep the cold at bay for a short period of time, or even knock out a bear. That’s right, there is an angry bear that roams your base and will attack you if you happen to cross their path. Your only hope is to throw a bottle of vodka at it to distract it. If you have the stamina, you might be able to make it 20-30 feet before you are eaten.
At the start of each day you will see how much time you have to play. The day ends when you run out of time, no matter where you are, but if there are still missiles in the air, you must destroy them before you can end the day. You can use the end of the day to your advantage as long as there are no missiles incoming. You can run around to try and gather packages, run some resources around, or just cook and eat some condensed milk.
The game is in the style of a 1st person shooter. You run around a 3D environment freely that includes 4 buildings, 3 of which have interiors, and a large outside area. The equipment you use is fairly detailed in design. Control panels start out blank and are filled in as new requirements are added. Even the bleakness of a remote missile base is captured in the outdoors. Some days it will be snowing and difficult to see, while others are clear with just a touch of sun that gives you hope of a better day.
One of the great features of the game is the save system. The game will auo save at the end of each day that you complete. If you fail a day, you will start back at that morning. Say you have completed 17 days but realized that you could have done something more efficiently or you are not that happy with an upgrade you bought. Simply go back to the main menu and load a previous day. Once you complete that day a new save will be created. But instead of wiping out all of your previous progress, it will create a new branch in your save tree. This means that you can go back to your original game if you like, or even branch off again. In a game that has achievements based on how quick you can complete the objectives and gets harder over time, this is an amazing way to track your saves.
Boris the Rocket is available now for a price of about $15. You can pic it up on Steam, Xbox, PlayStation, or Nintendo Switch. While the game may not be for everyone, it offers enough variety to keep you busy for a while. The chance for a speedrun and the mix of missiles makes for an enjoyable experience that you can play multiple times. The save system allows you to easily go back to a better time, without sacrificing what you have done, just in case your new run is not what you hoped.
