Line #64 VideoGame/RockOfAges


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rock-of-ages-trailer-released-rock-beats-everything_8829.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:As crazy as it sounds. Possibly crazier.]]
3	->'''Rock beats everything.'''
4	-->-- The tagline, ''Rock Of Ages 1''
5	->'''Now 40% ''less'' historically accurate!'''
6	-->-- The tagline, ''Rock Of Ages 2''
7	->'''Fortune favors the ''bould''...er.'''
8	-->-- The tagline, ''Rock Of Ages 3''
9
10	Sisyphus... the king who was cursed to spend the rest of his days pushing a giant boulder up a hill, only to have it roll back to the bottom, forcing him to start over again. After many hours of frustration, he gets fed up and decides to rebel against Cronus by rolling his boulder into Cronus' castle in order to escape from Hades and to freedom. From there, Sisyphus and the angry boulder go on a journey throughout the ages of art (from Ancient Greece to Medieval times, all the way up to the Romantic era), meeting powerful historical figures and smashing their defenses to pieces.
11
12	This is the story behind ''Rock of Ages'', a game developed by Ace Team (the minds behind the also-very-bizarre ''VideoGame/ZenoClash'') and released on August 31st, 2011 for Platform/Xbox360, on September 7th, 2011 for [[Platform/IBMPersonalComputer PC]] and on May 15th, 2012 for Platform/Playstation3. The objective is to roll your boulder into your opponent's castle gate, while preventing him from destroying your gate by setting up towers, catapults, elephants and other traps to slow him down.
13
14	This game has [[SimilarlyNamedWorks nothing to do]] with the Music/DefLeppard song or [[Theatre/RockOfAges the musical]]; nor UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}}, whose epithets include "The Rock of Ages."
15
16	[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D41Cdj0NGAU A sequel]], titled ''Rock of Ages 2: Bigger and Boulder'', was released on August 28th, 2017 for [=PC=], Platform/Playstation4 and Platform/XboxOne, and then on May 14th, 2019 for Platform/NintendoSwitch. Another sequel titled ''Rock of Ages III: Make & Break'' was made for Platform/PlayStation4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC, and released July 21st, 2020.
17	----
18
19	!!Tropes used in ''Rock of Ages'':
20	* ArtShift: Each era takes images from artwork from the era. [[spoiler:Cronus even transforms from a Greek Black-Figure etching into Creator/FranciscoDeGoya’s [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_Devouring_His_Son famous]] ''Art/SaturnDevouringHisSon'' during his intro.]]
21	* AttackItsWeakPoint: Each boss has an obvious weakness. [[MediumAwareness The Dragon even flinches when his weak point is pointed at.]]
22	* AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever: There are quite a few massive enemies like the Mammoths and Cannons. The bosses are even bigger.
23	%% * AxCrazy: Bascially anyone with a rock, Sisyphus included.
24	* TheBlackDeath: Personified as a skeleton simply named Plague, who kills whatever it goes near.
25	* BlowYouAway: Fans can be placed to blow a boulder off-course. Some of the higher-grade fans are cow-powered.
26	* BreakingTheFourthWall: Creator/LeonardoDaVinci knows and tries to explain to Sisyphus that their world was made for "[[NewMediaAreEvil A deranged activity they call "Video Games".]]" Not that he really cares.
27	* BossArenaIdiocy: Every boss except for the dragon. Why are there CANNONS in Heaven?!
28	%%* ChristianityIsCatholic
29	* CloudCuckooland: Pretty much everyone has an oversized rock ready in case they need to flatten someone.
30	%% * CaligulasHorse: The He-goat of the woods, after eating the wig of the previous king, George III.
31	%% * DemBones: Plague.
32	%% * {{Dracula}}: [[UsefulNotes/VladTheImpaler Vlad Tepes]].
33	* ExcusePlot
34	-->'''Advertisement:''' ''Your neighbor quite dislikes you. This probably explains why they've decided to roll a gigantic boulder in the general direction of your castle and it's denizens. And you know what? You haven't really been their biggest fan either. Which is why you will: A. Do everything in your power to deflect and destroy their little rock. B: Retaliate with your own enormous globe of crushing. Because they're jerks and they deserve it.''
35	** Also used in the sequels. The whole plot of 2 is literally just Atlas shrugging off his responsibilities and taking a vacation on Earth while hiding from God/Heaven, who wants him to get back to work, while 3 has Odysseus’ crew trying to get back home now lead by Elpenor after Odysseus was crushed by the Rock, but a Greek Curse mixup causes them to travel through time.
36	%% * ExtremeOmnivore: Bacchus.
37	%% * FatBastard: Bacchus.
38	%% * FireAndBrimstoneHell:
39	%% * FluffyCloudHeaven: The Heavens.
40	* FullFrontalAssault: While Sisyphus and Co aren't exactly doing the assaulting, nether he nor Bacchus put any clothing on throughout the game.
41	* GainaxEnding: At the end of his struggle Sisyphus [[spoiler:is crushed by the falling Cronus during his victory dance. After the credits the Rock hops into a random hole and discovers its master dancing with the rest of the characters in what seems to be Hell.]]
42	* GameplayAndStorySegregation: The hand that replaces the Rock whenever it falls off the track is never explained. It's styled after medieval portrayals of the hand of God, however.
43	* GenreBusting: The game is a bizarre blend of bowling, platforming, tower defense, and racing.
44	* GiantMook: Well, they're all pretty big because nothing man-sized can stop the rock. However, each of the environmental enemies can be seen as a giant version of another unit.
45	** [[BrutishBulls Lammasu/Giant-Bull: big version of cow/elephant.]]
46	** [[BIgFreakingGun Giant cannon: huge siege weapon.]]
47	** [[BlowYouAway Cloud man: plus-sized fan.]]
48	** Tower of Babel: gigantic, indestructible tower/wall.
49	* GlassCannon: The boulders in the second game are far flimsier than they were in the first one: they take much more damage from hazards and falling off the edge takes a chunk out of their health on top of that. This means it's far more important to avoid damage than it was before: losing a boulder entirely is now a very real threat.
50	* GoryDiscretionShot: Each battle ends with one player running over the other, followed by a squish sound and am immediate cut to a victory screen.
51	* GrapesOfLuxury: Some cherubs feed them to Bacchus...until he [[ImAHumanitarian eats the cherubs.]]
52	%% * GroinAttack: [[spoiler:How you take down the David. OUCH.]]
53	%% * TheHedonist: Bacchus.
54	%% * AHellOfATime: [[spoiler:The ending.]]
55	%% * IHaveManyNames: [[spoiler:Cronus A.K.A. Saturn. That's ''exactly'' what his [[BossSubtitles subtitle]] says.]]
56	%% * ImAHumanitarian: Bacchus.
57	%% * IJustWantToHaveFriends: The Plague. Unfortunately he vomits rats and [[WalkingWasteland anything he approaches dies.]]
58	* IncrediblyLamePun: '''Lou'''is XIV's intro has him [[ToiletHumor using]] the '''loo''' in his throne. Which, incidentally, [[ShownTheirWork did happen]]. That's where the term "throne" as slang for the toilet comes from.
59	%% * JokeCharacter: The Block of Ages, which is a cube instead of a sphere.
60	* JokeItem: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJauMsDzMgg&t=31m11s The Block of Ages can wear armor.]] This isn't a joke unless you factor in the fact that the Block is already invincible and can't be broken, thus making the armor pointless.
61	%% * KilledMidSentence: [[spoiler:Gandalf]].
62	* LethalJokeCharacter: The Block of Ages is slow-moving and unwieldy, but it destroys a gate in two hits instead of three and is completely indestructible, making it a viable option if the player has a good defensive strategy, and is even more dangerous on a map like L'aquila, which doesn't have any turns or major obstacles. There's even an achievement for winning a multiplayer match with it.
63	%% * TheManBehindTheCurtain: Most of the characters become this during the level.
64	* MadMarbleMaze: You roll a boulder down a hill, avoid enemy traps and try to crash your opponent's castle gates.
65	* MythologyGag: In this game, ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'''s {{Dracula}} and the real life inspiration for the original {{Dracula}}, Vlad "The Impaler" Tepes, are one and the same.
66	%% * NakedPeopleAreFunny: Sisyphus, Bacchus and Michaelangelo's David.
67	%% * NewMediaAreEvil: Leonardo Da Vinci sure thinks so.
68	* OnlySaneMan: Creator/LeonardoDaVinci, who elects to calmly explain their existence to Sisyphus rather than doing something silly.
69	* PetalPower: Marie Antoinette throws massive flowers from her balcony, smothering and crushing nobles below.
70	%% * PunctuatedForEmphasis: Performed by none other by Leonidas.
71	%% * RageAgainstTheHeavens: Sisyphus vs Hades. FIGHT!
72	* RammingAlwaysWorks: The only way to win is to ram your opponent's gate until it breaks. Size and velocity determine how much damage you deal.
73	* RewardingVandalism: Driving your boulder into opponent's structures generates gold, which you can use to bolster your defenses between turns or save for a special boulder.
74	* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl: Played for laughs. Your opponent does this when you break down their fortress' door.
75	* ShoutOut:
76	** The art is a tremendous love letter to ''Creator/MontyPython''.
77	** Ancient Greece recreates the pit scene from ''Film/ThreeHundred'' (the game ''numbers each Spartan'' in case anyone misses the reference), but it doesn't work out so well for Leonidas.
78	** In the Middle Ages, there is a cutscene that serves as a ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' homage, before revealing that the castle is [[MythologyGag instead inhabited]] by [[UsefulNotes/VladTheImpaler Vlad Tepes.]]
79	** Leonardo Da Vinci explains the fourth wall to Sisyphus while reenacting The Architect scene from ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded''.
80	** Charles III's introductory cutscene has him trying to shoot a squirrel. This scene is shot from a first-person perspective with a HUD very reminiscent of ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Wolfenstein 3D}}''.
81	** [[spoiler:Saturn has no small resemblance to Creator/FranciscoDeGoya's painting ''Art/SaturnDevouringHisSon''.]]
82	** YouShallNotPass re-creates Gandalf delivering that very line to the Balrog in the 2001 film version of ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowshipOfTheRing'', while PunctuatedForEmphasis pays tribute to the "THIS! IS! SPARTA!" scene from ''Film/ThreeHundred''.
83	** The series' very title is named for the song of the same name.
84	* ShaggyDogStory: [[spoiler:Sisyphus gets crushed by Saturn just after killing him.]]
85	* SiegeEngines: Catapults and trebuchets fire projectiles that chip away at a boulder's strength.
86	%% * SinisterMinister: Rochiele.
87	* SongsInTheKeyOfPanic: When either side's gates are close to collapsing the music speeds up.
88	* StandardSnippet: The soundtrack uses plenty of stock classical pieces, most notably [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dxr84zacOfY "Dies Irae" by Mozart]] for when you break through the enemy's gate [[spoiler:and when you fight the final boss]].
89	* StealthPun: [[spoiler:The level where you fight Saturn is called Saturday, or "Saturn's day."]]
90	* TheUnfought: The major boss battles end when the boss is defeated and the characters introduced in those levels apparently escape being squished.
91	%% * UpperClassTwit: Marie Antoinette.
92	* VideoGameDemake: ''[[https://sites.google.com/site/pebbleoftime/ Pebble of Time]]'', made by Edmund Bordeau. For context, he's actually someone on the Ace Team.
93	%% * VillainousGlutton: Bacchus.
94	%% * WalkingWasteland: Plague. PlayedForLaughs.
95	%% * WeaponizedLandmark: Michelangelo's David.
96	%% * WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Plague.
97	%% * WorldGoneMad
98	%% * {{Yandere}}: Marie Antoinette.
99	%% * YouShallNotPass: Performed by Gandalf, [[spoiler:only to be KilledMidSentence.]]
100	----
101
102	!!Tropes used in ''Rock of Ages 2: Bigger and Boulder'':
103	* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: The protagonist in this game is Atlas. The boulder, however, is the same one as in the first game. Atlas unknowingly steals it from Sisyphus in the opening cutscene.
104	* TheBadGuyWins: In a way. [[spoiler:God loses the final game, but he tricks Atlas into holding up the huge foosball champion trophy on his shoulders... Which has the world on top ''anyway''. Judging by Atlas' expression, either he's oblivious, or the trophy is easier on his shoulders.]]
105	* CloudCuckooLander:
106	** Joan of Arc. God tries to ask her if she's seen Atlas (who is hiding in a bush nearby), but she ends up taking it as a sign that she should lead France to crush the English. God is ''baffled'' by her behaviour, and just shrugs his shoulders as he leaves.
107	** Literature/DonQuixote. But, well, ''that goes without saying''. His ''entire stage'' reflects his delusions, making windmills look like giants swinging their arms around until the camera gets closer.
108	* ConeOfShame: Halfway through the fight with the Sphinx, you knock off its nose, which prompts its owner, a giant Egyptian, to appear. She promptly puts a cone around the Sphinx’s head, making it harder for you to hit it.
109	* ConfrontingYourImposter: William Wallace’s cutscene features [[{{Film/Braveheart}} the Mel Gibson version of William Wallace]] trying to rouse the Scots against the English, only to be caught out by the ''real'' William Wallace.
110	* CranialEruption: After Ramses crashes into the boulder, a big lump grows out of his head that he covers with the the distinctive Atef crown.
111	* DifficultButAwesome: The Prehistoric Wheel is pretty much ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin - a literal stone wheel, as opposed to a boulder. It has slightly less health than the standard boulder, but can deal more damage. It is also is the fastest "boulder" in the game, but with the big caveat that it's much harder to control, especially if it ends up on its side, and it can be easily stopped. However, it is ''extremely useful'' on maps where going out-of-bounds is much harder (mainly the more modern painting-inspired maps), especially in obstacle course races.
112	* DistractedByTheSexy: The Thinker's brain pops out if he's watching the dancers in his stage, giving the player the chance to hit it.
113	* FragileSpeedster: The Balloon Boulder has low health and doesn't do much damage, and actually doesn't have much top speed, but it has high acceleration and greater jumping height, which is very useful in obstacle course races, where it can more easily do platforming and perform shortcut jumps.
114	* HeroAntagonist: God is chasing after Atlas, but only because he is shirking his duty of holding up the world.
115	* MundaneMadeAwesome: The game takes this trope to its silliest - how does [[spoiler:a ''foosball/table football match with God'']] sound? Nevermind one backed by a remix of "O Fortuna", pretty much the most well-known example of OminousLatinChanting.
116	* NotUsingTheZWord: God is only referred to as "Heaven". Except in the achievements.
117	* OriginalGeneration: Urian, a demon who has both a normal head and a head on his butt. His introduction sees him try to threaten the inhabitants of Pompeii, but they, for obvious reasons, don’t take him seriously, so he causes Mount Vesuvius to erupt.
118	* PokemonSpeak: Adam and Eve.
119	* TheScreamParody: The Scream itself appears at one point, sunbathing in Oslo. Due to a mix-up, it accidentally glues its hands to its face, and this results in it making the screaming face.
120	* ShoutOut:
121	** Adam and Eve's entire introduction is basically a homage to Pokemon, complete with a classic 2D 'overworld', Adam and Eve popping out of tall grass, their PokemonSpeak, and the entire battle sequence.
122	** The Sea Monster's entire ''boss fight'' is basically a 3D version of ''VideoGame/{{Frogger}}'', which the intro sequence makes even more blatant.
123	* TwentyPercentMoreAwesome: The announcement trailer for the game boasts that it is "Now 40% less historically accurate!"
124	* UnexpectedGameplayChange: [[spoiler:The Final Boss is the final conflict between Atlas and God... Except it's a game of ''foosball'' (aka ''table football''), [[MundaneMadeAwesome played up in the most epic way possible]], with each player alternating between control of the ball.]]
125	* WakeUpCallBoss: Joan of Arc is basically the game's way of saying "destroying the enemy boulder is a strategy now that we've made them a lot flimsier, so get on that". Joan gets a ''huge'' head start on the player, beginning her charge at least ten or fifteen seconds earlier, and short of her AI screwing up and getting really badly stuck on the traps [[FragileSpeedster there's really no way to brute-force outpace her.]] About the only way to reliably beat her is learn how to use the traps and lightning cloud to break her boulder entirely and turn the time advantage over to the player.
126	----
127
128	!!Tropes Used for ''Rock of Ages 3: Make and Break'':
129	* AscendedMeme: One of your opponents is Ecce Mono, a monkey based off a botched restoration of a picture of Jesus Christ in 2012 that became highly memetic.
130	* AutobotsRockOut: Whenever you start rolling your boulder, the music shifts to a rock rendition of the current track.
131	* BaitAndSwitchBoss: The opponent for the Swiss Alps level is first suggested to be William Tell. However, Elpenor ends up killing him by accident, at which point the game reveals your real opponent is his son.
132	* DecoyProtagonist: You start off in command as the famed Greek war hero Odysseus. After the first stage, he gets crushed by the Rock and command shifts over to Elpenor, the youngest of his crew.
133	* DisneyVillainDeath: [[spoiler:Elpenor falls off a roof after the credits. Granted, this ''is'' accurate to how he died in mythology…]]
134	* JokeCharacter: Humpty Dumpty, who you unlock by clearing all five Wonderland levels. He’s even more useless than the Block of Ages, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome since he's as fragile as you'd expect an egg to be]].
135	* LevelAte: [[spoiler:Spaghettiland, a land of noodles, meatballs, and tomato sauce where you fight the UsefulNotes/FlyingSpaghettiMonster. It’s portrayed here, as it is in Pastafarianism, that it created the world and even God (who just finished up his work by making Adam and Eve). Fittingly, he uses two food-based boulders: a wheel of cheese and a meatball that grows bigger the more damage it takes.]]
136	* ShoutOut:
137	** The boss fight with the Vitruvian Man is one big one to ''Franchise/MortalKombat''.
138	** Poseidon has the [[WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants Spongebob sky]] outside his window.
139	** Rasputin's cutscene parodies his appearance in ''VideoGame/WorldHeroes''.
140	** Kali's cutscene parodies the '90s ''WesternAnimation/XMenTheAnimatedSeries'' cartoon's opening.
141	** The start of the Moby Dick boss fight parodies ''VideoGame/AntarcticAdventure'' complete with a running penguin and similar opening jingle at the start.
142	** The Beast’s cutscene is basically a parody of ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'', complete with cursed servants in the form of household objects. Special mention goes to one servant- morphed into a pipe- who says “[[Creator/ReneMagritte Je ne suis pas une pipe.]] (I am not a pipe.)
143	** The FinalBoss is basically [[spoiler:''VideoGame/MarioKart'', with the track being like an Ancient Greek Rainbow Road]].
144	* UnexpectedGameplayChange: In the boss fight with the Vitruvian Man (as mentioned above in ShoutOut), instead of rolling around a stage, you’re rolling in a side-scroller, and in addition to the jump command, you also have a power dash with with to attack ol’ Vitruvi.

Context VideoGame / RockOfAges