Rock Star Ate My Hamster
Author
Lorenzo has written 23 additional reviews
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AL Mobile
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Written by Lorenzo
January 21, 2002
Don' t expect to read something that makes sense on these tabloids...Anyway, as Clive says, any publicity is good publicity !
£50k is not much to start a band of pros, but we' ll try to do our best...
Who do you want to take on your crew ? Rotton Johnny ? Maradonna ? String ? The choice is up to you!
That' s the problem with punk rockers, you just can' t keep 'em under control. Guess it' s too late for signing Enya...
Today' s charts feature Supersno in 7th position, with our new smashing hit
Someone in Taiwan is pirating our records ! Well, good for us that there was no Napster or Kazaa back in the late eighties...
Comments
Did you ever dream of becoming a rock star ? Well, forget it, it' s not all bells and whistles, you know... 99,9% you' re gonna end up playing in a few pubs, in front of a bunch of guys much more interested in their beers than music, earning less than what you've got to spend on instruments...thankfully, Codemasters gave us "Rockstar ate my hamster" to make our dreams come true !
In this game, you' re put in control of a small rock band; your goal is to collect 4 golden discs in one year, and become the most successful band of the late eighties. It's gonna be hard...
Graphics
No animations at all, just a few portraits and background images. Everything is quite well drawn and effective, but the overall impression is that the artists could have put in a little more effort.
Sound
Honestly, I expected something better from a game about music. But the tunes are really bad, they could have come out of an old PC beeper...oh, and the STE enhanced features are nearly nonexistent. The only interesting tune is the one on the title screen. Too bad...
Gameplay
Getting started is quite easy: you' re on your own with £50.000 your auntie left you, and instead of spending them on drugs, alcohol and women (as any sensible, self-respecting rockstar would do) you decide to employ the sum to hire a bunch of singers, buy some equipment and start a new band.
After choosing your rockstars (they come in all kinds, and there' s a whole lot of 'em) you' ll want to make some practice; take your time, wait until your band becomes confident and then you can start to take a few gigs. There are 5 places where you can play live, ranging from a pub to a stadium. Don' t forget to make some publicity, and to give some gifts to your band from time to time; after all, they' re rockstars, not bank tellers, and they could easily get offended and leave the band...
...and then, it' s time to release your record. You can release a single or a whole album, and spend some money for a video clip. Keep playing live, let the newspapers talk of your band, sit back and watch your record climb the top 10 charts... and that' s all, more or less.
As I said before, this is a simple game. Ok, not the state of the art maybe, but it' s immediately rewarding and fun to play. The problem is that there's not much to do, and you' ll soon get bored. Too bad, it could have been a good game with a few more options, an improved interactivity and a decent tune or two...
Conclusion
...but it' s still worth a try, at least. By the way, to my knowledge, this is the only rockstar management game ever released.
Score
- Graphics: 5
- Sound: 5
- Gameplay: 6
- Overall: 5
Last Duel
August 31, 2026 by NeepieLantern
Overall, this is a mediocre conversion of a mediocre arcade machine. Despite all that, though, I actually come back to play it from time to time, just to try and get a bit further. So, it must have some appeal after all, warts and all.
Zone Warrior
February 12, 2023 by AtariCrypt
Once again, pesky aliens are giving us Earthlings lots of grief. We previously fought them off but they managed to pinch a time machine so are using that to alter history and wreak havoc by taking crucial hostages from each period in an attempt to halt their influence. From the invention of the wheel in prehistoric times to England's King Arthur uniting Britain! And where would any of us be today without Japan and its technical wizardry? Yep, we cannot allow this - the fight is on!
Son Shu Shi
March 21, 2021 by ST Graveyard
What an accomplishment this game is. Created with such a small team, the result is really amazing. The game oozes creative passion. While the gameplay is really well balanced, it is a tough cookie, very hard from time to time with its moments of sheer frustration. As of level 3, timing becomes key. You will need to practice and learn the levels to complete this game, there are so many bad guys on screen it sometimes gets a bit hard to take.