By John Walker on March 28th, 2011 at 9:00 am.

It really is about time we caught up on Rock Of Ages trailers, don’t you think. The next game from the mad geniuses behind Zeno Clash, ACE Team, is a combination of tower defence and Marble Madness, because that’s the way those people think. And there’s lots of bits of the Pythonesque madness to look at below, including a ten minute walkthrough of how it all works.
First off is a split screen of the War Mode, in which you can watch two balls attempting to outscore.
Next up is a ten minute explanation of the “Tower Offense”, as given to GameTrailers by a member of Atlas’s PR, rather than any of the folk at ACE, sadly.
And finally a race, which is described as “Ski Boulder” mode.
And don’t forget to check out all our coverage of Rock Of Ages, including Jim’s interview with the team.



28/03/2011 at 09:21 BooleanBob says:
This looks like fun. Great music too, although strangely relaxed considering the nature of the thing.
Anyone else getting ads from a loanshark at some 1700% apr on those vids though? Nowt to do with RPS, but all the same…
28/03/2011 at 09:44 zbillyboob says:
I’m getting local ads for something or other. What’s with the pants video player though. Buffering…
Is that just my end choking?
28/03/2011 at 09:52 Tomm says:
What really annoys me about Gametrailers is when they take a Youtube video without an ad and put an extra one in front of it.
28/03/2011 at 10:00 Centy says:
I keep getting told about the Census but I thought that needed to be done by yesterday :S
Still this game looks better each time I see more of it I suspect it will be a great multiplayer hit.
28/03/2011 at 14:08 cpugeek13 says:
I, for one, am very thankful for gametrailers. As youtube is currently blocked here in China, it is the best way to watch game videos. *sigh*
28/03/2011 at 17:40 CMaster says:
@Tomm
At least they’re better than Machinima.com then, who take a youtube video, stick an add on the front and then upload it to youtube. Seriously, they don’t even provide the video hosting – what is the point in them.
28/03/2011 at 09:25 GoodPatton says:
That gets my rocks off…
28/03/2011 at 09:45 Matt says:
It’s almost time for some rock and roll…
28/03/2011 at 10:01 Centy says:
In before this hits rock bottom…
28/03/2011 at 10:25 Plankton says:
This game needs more Rockettes (female rocks) .. yes
28/03/2011 at 11:39 Spacewalk says:
No moss on these jokes.
28/03/2011 at 11:55 frenz0rz says:
I want a rock!
(Rock!)
28/03/2011 at 13:36 Baboonanza says:
Why must we have these terrible puns every time this game is mentioned?
Give it up, the joke’s stone-dead already.
28/03/2011 at 17:22 BAshment says:
That’s boulderdash.
28/03/2011 at 17:50 Altemore says:
In my home country, such puns would get you stoned.
28/03/2011 at 09:33 ANeM says:
I believe the actual name for the second mode is “Skee Boulder” as it is a take on the old-timey American arcade game, Skee Ball.
The game (which you may know from the absolutely horrible minigames in PA Adventures, or perhaps as the reason all existence nearly ceased to be in the movie Dogma,) involves rolling balls along a slightly inclined track to launch them into target holes at the end, thus accruing points.
28/03/2011 at 09:47 Matt says:
And tickets! Don’t forget the tickets.
28/03/2011 at 10:08 ANeM says:
I never got tickets, because I was terrible at it..
I was trying to forget the tickets :(
28/03/2011 at 14:16 Baboonanza says:
I don’t much like tower-defense games either (or more correctly I like a couple, but they’re generally all very similar).
But RoA doesn’t look much like a tower-defense game to me, especially no in multiplayer.
28/03/2011 at 09:47 Wilson says:
This does look pretty fun. I hope they get good balance with the defenses and bits. It’d be a shame to have stuff that no-one ever uses because it’s not cost-effective.
28/03/2011 at 09:59 MultiVaC says:
I love ACE Team. Even though this is less of my type of game than Zeno Clash was, their creativity and artwork have got me interested. Tower defense has never clicked for me (even when joined with a shooter in Monday Night Combat), and I can’t really say why because there are a lot of game elements in the genre that I like a lot. Rock of Ages just looks great, though, and even if it doesn’t win me over to liking tower defense games it’s still worth it to me just to see their great imaginations at work.
28/03/2011 at 11:09 neems says:
What about Plants Vs Zombies? If you don’t like PnZ there’s something wrong with you.
28/03/2011 at 12:58 brulleks says:
I’m afraid there’s something wrong with me. Not that I really dislike Plants and Zombies, but I bought it in the Steam xmas sale, played it for about an hour and haven’t felt any urge to go back to it in the two months since. I don’t understand what the fuss is about. Underneath all the trimmings, it’s just another tower defense game.
Also, I don’t really find it that funny. It’s just a bit twee.
29/03/2011 at 05:09 MultiVaC says:
I can’t say I don’t like Plants vs. Zombies. I think it’s charming and well-designed on every level. But I don’t often find myself really drawn to play it the way I do with other games I feel the same way about, like Trine or Magicka.
28/03/2011 at 10:01 4026 says:
Split-screen, eh? Rare to see that nowadays…
28/03/2011 at 10:54 Rinox says:
This looks so delightfully bonkers and fun that I’m more certain that I’ll pick it up with every piece of information I see.
28/03/2011 at 10:55 Navagon says:
Will there be a Balls of Rock Edition?
28/03/2011 at 11:33 DuckSauce says:
This game is just brilliant!
28/03/2011 at 13:34 Baboonanza says:
I want this game more than any other. I WANT IT! WANT IT WANT IT WANT IT!
28/03/2011 at 14:11 Tatourmi says:
What I really want is a PC split screen. I hope they give it to us.
28/03/2011 at 14:12 edit says:
Looks like good fun, but it just reminds me how much I’d love to see a more narrative based game (mmm, RPG) with Gilliamesque art-direction (Double Fine are certainly that kind of company, if only they’d get the rest of their games onto the bladdy PC). I tend to pass over these more arcadey novelty-game-mechanic titles even when they are well-designed and beautifully presented, simply because I get bored with them quickly.
28/03/2011 at 14:22 scut says:
The PC is finally getting its ‘Mario Kart’. :D
28/03/2011 at 18:12 Hodge says:
FUCKYEAH ROCK OF AGES.
29/03/2011 at 16:58 inertia says:
I, personally, cannot wait to play with these balls.