Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break

Rock of Ages III: Make & Break is fine. The campaign allows for more flexibility in how you approach the game, but its absurdity works best if you haven't experienced the two prior titles. The core gameplay remains fun and frustrating, with the ball-rolling mechanics providing the bulk of the enjoyment while the defense elements do the same after loads of trial and error. The level creation tool's ease of use gives the game legs, and the busy community has provided a vast library. Overall, Rock of Ages III is a good time as long as you don't expect major improvements over the formula compared to the prior titles.

Rock of Ages 3: Make and Break offers a very different experience in terms of world design and atmosphere, and an entertaining -yet nothing too special- gameplay. It's not a game for everybody, but if you happen to have the right group of people gathered around, you'll have a great time with it.

Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break lives for its editor. It has many good modes to play online, but it lacks innovations.

Despite its hilarious story and its huge creativity, Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break fails in creating a consistent gameplay. Its good ideas and mechanics are too rough in implementation and fall quickly in repetitiveness and frustration, due also to awkward and counterintuitive controls especially in the tower defense part.

There’s a lot to enjoy here if you need a Monkey Ball itch scratched, but Rock Of Ages 3 is a mixed, scrappy ball of ideas that never quite lands. [Issue#179, p.76]

There are parts of Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break that I really came to enjoy. The rolling aspect of the game can be quite rewarding and the humor is consistently outstanding. I also appreciate any game that works well in a split screen local multiplayer today, something which far too many modern games overlook. The tower defense modes just keep showing up, though, and they consistently take away from the experience. Tower defense is never easy on consoles but it can be done, yet on its third try, Rock of Ages is still not where it needs to be. These issues leave us with a muddled experience that can be fun but is hard to enthusiastically recommend.

Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break manages to add some creativity to the familiar framework. Unfortunately a frustrating, repetitive campaign stifles any real sense of progression. The level editor can feel cumbersome but persistence can lead to some interesting creations. Multiplayer and the community levels deliver the more intriguing content but that might not be enough to keep fans invested.