We can completely understand why in-game camera movement and positioning is such an important issue with viewed-from-behind, third-person action games, because it’s at ground level, in among the scenery. But you would think that in a scrolling, top-down shoot-’em-up, the likes of which have been around for decades now, that the camera would be up in the air, well out of the way, and that it could easily be programmed to move and position itself in a helpful, uninhibitive manner. You would think that, wouldn’t you? But you’d think wrong. Rocketmen: Axis Of Evil makes the process of providing a camera that isn’t incredibly annoying look like one of the hardest things in the world. Even harder than a diamond with ‘HATE’ tattooed on its face.

The main problem is that the camera absolutely will not go backwards, and shifts forwards given even half an opportunity. This makes collecting the spoils of war – a process that in this type of game traditionally involves retracing your steps back along the trail of death and destruction you just left – sometimes frustrating, but usually just plain impossible. You do have a ‘loot vacuum’, which draws items towards you and is presumably supposed to help with this problem, but it’s slow and weak and you can’t attack while using it. And so it’s basically just a waste of time and effort. So ultimately, looting is unnecessarily diffi cult in this game, which is a problem. It’s a problem because without picking stuff up you don’t get decent weapons, and without decent weapons you’re left with nothing but a pistol that takes about fi ve hits just to kill the most lowly of grunts. And there’s fl ippin’ thousands of them, so they will overrun you and kill you if you don’t kill them fi rst. Fortunately, there are no permanent deaths (you just lose experience when you die), but it’s still frustrating.

It’s a shame that the camera is so badly buggered up because, aside from that, Rocketmen is very much the kind of game we’d like to see more of on the PlayStation Store. It’s accessible and fun (in spirit at least), but also substantial enough to feel like a proper game. If you want some old-school, top-down, multiplayer blasting fun then you’ve got a choice between this and the forthcoming Monster Madness: Grave Danger. This is the inferior, and more annoying, of the two but it is at least much, much cheaper.

Gavin Mackenzie