Rock Boshers

By: Derek Yu

On: February 10th, 2009

Rock Boshers is a top-down demake of the 2001 first-person shooter Red Faction, by Volition. The project was originally developed for last year’s Bootleg Demakes Competition, but its author, Dugan (aka “moogled”), only recently put the finishing touches on it. And the extra time really shows – this is an impressive effort, especially considering it’s his first Game Maker release.

Boshers incorporates both Red Faction’s destructible terrain (for which the latter is best known), as well as its Martian setting, but while playing I was most often reminded of Dead Rising, a game where zombies are constantly swarming and your immediate goal, more often than not, is just to make your way through a crowded passageway. All the enemies and traps in RB are deadly, but your most hated foe is going to be the zombie spawn point, which spits out brain-eaters at a prodigious rate, quickly filling the tight areas that you’ll have to navigate on your way to the next key or exit. And no, these spawn points can’t be destroyed!

There’s a lot to like about this game, to be sure. For one thing the graphics, which are inspired by the ZX Spectrum, are outstanding, and have a lavish amount of detail. Rock Boshers also features two multiplayer modes (on and offline), as well as a hidden Asteroids-style minigame, which is unlockable after you beat level 10. All in all, it’s a pretty polished and entertaining game that’s made even better by the sometimes frustrating level of challenge (should you like that sort of thing).

TIGdb: Entry for Rock Boshers