Game Overview

Gameplay

Rocketmen: Axis of Evil understands that a twin-stick shooter needs to feel inviting before it can ask you to care about character growth. You jump into a diagonal-down battlefield, aim independently of your movement, and concentrate on blasting through hostile forces. That directness is its strongest hook. The science-fiction backdrop gives the action a little personality, but the core pleasure is still the familiar rhythm of circling danger and returning fire.

Progression adds a welcome reason to keep moving beyond the next blast of enemies. Experience and loot earned across levels feed weapon and armor upgrades, so you are not simply repeating the same fight with a bigger body count. Rockets and mines on the secondary-weapon side should be especially useful when ordinary gunfire is not enough. The system sounds accessible rather than deeply technical, which suits a game built around quick action.

Your class choice is the most meaningful decision: Warriors prioritize damage, Engineers lean into technology and loot, and Outcasts bring stronger secondary-weapon potential. None sounds like a bad fit, but they encourage different ideas of what makes a successful run. In a four-player team, that contrast should make it more interesting to coordinate roles instead of bringing four interchangeable shooters. Alone, the structure may feel less varied, though upgrades give you a practical goal to chase.

Its limitation is also part of the pitch. This is not a sprawling action RPG disguised as a shooter. If you need elaborate builds or a long campaign full of major mechanical reinventions, Rocketmen may run out of surprises. If a focused arcade shooter with modest character development sounds like an excellent weeknight co-op game, its priorities are much easier to appreciate.

Graphics

The cel-shaded comic-book art leans into classic science-fiction serial fun, with robots, rockets, lasers, and lava turning the battlefields into a loud, pulp-adventure playground. It is a fitting match for an overhead shooter: bold genre imagery is easier to enjoy when the action is busy, and the cartoon sci-fi angle helps the fighting feel less grim than another standard alien-war game.

Story

You fight for the Alliance of Free Planets against Martian forces and the Legion of Terra, a setup that gets to the point with commendable speed. Rocketmen is not trying to sell a morally tangled war drama. It wants a broad, energetic space conflict that gives you an excuse to fire lasers at robots and push back an invasion.

The three playable races, Rebels, Venusians, and Mercurians, give the Alliance a wider interplanetary flavor, while the classes let your chosen fighter contribute in a distinct way. That is enough framework for a co-op shooter, even if the premise is more Saturday-morning serial than sweeping space opera.

For a little context on the game’s intended retro sci-fi flavor, the Capcom producer interview is worth reading. It reinforces what the game itself puts forward: a breezy comic-book conflict designed to keep the focus on shooting, upgrades, and friends covering one another.

Overall Experience

Rocketmen: Axis of Evil is a solid fit when you want immediate shooting with just enough progression to make another level tempting. Its strengths are straightforward: twin-stick action, loot-driven upgrades, distinct class leanings, and a pulpy sci-fi coat of paint. It does not need to pretend to be bigger than it is.

Four-player co-op is the deciding feature. A Warrior, Engineer, and Outcast can approach the same fight with different strengths, and that kind of division is much more satisfying when other people are benefiting from it in real time. Local co-op makes it a particularly appealing couch-game candidate, while the original online option broadened that possibility.

Give it a chance if you miss compact Xbox 360-era arcade shooters that cared about both a good firefight and the next upgrade. Skip it if you only enjoy shooters with elaborate campaigns or highly specialized buildcraft. For everyone in between, this is a likable, comic-book space skirmish whose best moments should arrive when a few friends join the Alliance.

Retro Replay Score

7.2/10