Approximate Release Date: November 1, 1992
Genre: Platformer
Developer: Core Design
Publisher: Sony Imagesoft
Without seeing anything other than the cover, most people will already know everything there is to know about Chuck Rock.
It’s a caveman platformer game. You fight dinosaurs while moving from left to right while solving some basic puzzles here and there. The only evidence that there’s a pulse in Chuck Rock is the title screen features a caveman band rocking out. Any attempt at personality would be very welcome in the actual game, and maybe there’s some later on. I won’t find out.
As you can see, Chuck Rock is just dull. That’s the biggest problem I have with it. The graphics aren’t great, the music isn’t catchy or interesting, and the game is easy enough that young children might be the best audience for the game. The fact you destroy enemies by bouncing enemies with your caveman grog-belly is neat, but it doesn’t differ any from if he punched or used a club.
The existence of Joe & Mac makes Chuck Rock completely unnecessary. The worst thing you can say about a game is to ask why the game exists at all. As much as I hate Pit-Fighter or Race Drivin’, at least I hated them because they were too ambitious and the final game didn’t come together at all because of it. Chuck Rock doesn’t have a new idea in it and still somehow is unable to even be kinda fun to play.
Tomorrow: I don’t know what I was expecting with a name like Cyber Spin, but it wasn’t a racing game.
I have a weird vendetta against caveman-related games, save for Bonk who’s a fantastic character. I just don’t understand why the caveman was popular in games in late 80s/early 90s. They lack personality, they’re ugly, and they’re typically portrayed as idiots.
It wasn’t just games. Remember Encino Man?
I don’t know why cavemen became weirdly popular. Maybe it was because people who grew up on The Flintstones were old enough to be creative leads on projects?
That’s actually a really good point. Well met!