Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break

An absurd and delightful experience, Rock of Ages 3 is a great addition to your Switch library. If you don't mind some framerate dips, having tons of community levels on your portable console is ideal.

Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break is more of what worked in the previous games with a handful of new modes and a creation suite. A tactical tower defence game that’ll have you scratching your head combined with an arcade physics derby that’ll have you grinning over the destruction left in your wake, it’s a lot of fun to play. It’s still not perfect but for those who’ve had fun with the previous 2 games, this instalment builds on that formula in the right places.

Rock of Ages 3 is great fun during the rolling bits, and not so much when designing your own courses – those sections are spent longing for the rolling to begin. The worlds are varied and wacky, but things can get a bit samey when played for too long.

Rock of Ages 3: Make and Break rarely rolls far from the well-worn formula of its predecessors that alone might have made this a tougher recommendation. The inclusion of a level creation tool, however, gives the series the jolt of excitement it sorely needed. Three games in and what Rock of Ages 3: Make and Break might lack in terms of surprise at this point, it makes up for by giving players the keys to create surprises of their own.

If you’ve played the first two Rock of Ages games and were hoping for something a little more tantalising to bring you back to the series, Rock of Ages III: Make & Break just doesn’t have that wow factor to make it an essential purchase. With that being said, I still recommend that newcomers to the series check this one out, as the absurd humour and unique aesthetic is worth the cost of admission alone.

Rock of Ages 3 stretches the series' core concept to the limit, but this tower defence and boulder platforming hybrid has still got some legs. Adding a few new game modes and the new level creation tool extends the game's longevity, but ACE Team could do with refining a few of the rougher edges still in the game.

Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break is what I’d guess is a refinement more than a revolution of their ongoing series of paper cut out, boulder racing, and tower defense game using historical figures and public domain music. My disappointment isn’t that it’s a bad game, more that I see the potential for a really special indie title that could have a diverse array of level types, well-crafted humor, and a well-defined creator tool to build a more evergreen creator community around. I enjoyed my time well enough with it, but the decision to buy will depend on whether the drawbacks hit enough of your personal pet peeves.

Rock of Ages 3 is definitely more Rock of Ages. It keeps the same quirkiness that it started with nearly a decade ago. If you’ve been waiting for a more historically-themed tower defence and ball rolling then look no further. However, there are some real issues with the text size. There’s a lot, and it’s hard to read docked and especially when undocked. Hopefully, the text issues are fixed over time, if you can look past it there’s an alright game waiting for you.

Rock of Ages 3 failed to impress us on almost any level. It's definitely a game with character, and it could feasibly work its charms on you, but in its drive to be different and unusual it seems to have neglected to be fun. Still, it certainly has an audience; broadly speaking, you don't get to a second sequel without your game mattering to someone. If you can muscle through the frustrations, you might be able to roll with Rock of Ages 3, but with so many other worthy titles on Switch, we can't say we'd recommend it.