thumb|Amiga version floppy disks

Chuck Rock is a 1991 platform video game developed and published by Core Design for the Atari ST and Amiga computers. A Commodore 64 port followed in 1992 and an Amiga CD32 version in 1994. The game was subsequently published by Krisalis Software for the Acorn Archimedes. Virgin Interactive published the game for the Mega Drive/Genesis, Master System, and the Game Gear. Sony Imagesoft published the game for the Mega-CD, Super NES, and Game Boy.

The character of Chuck Rock was an early mascot for Core Design before the introduction of Lara Croft in the 1996 game Tomb Raider, and Chuck Rock and his family even featured in some UK comic books of the 1990s. Chuck Rock was followed by the sequel Chuck Rock II: Son of Chuck in 1993 and the spin-off BC Racers in 1994.

Plot

The setting of the game is a fictional prehistorical Stone Age-era world that is shared by both neanderthals, woolly mammoth, saber-tooth tigers, dinosaurs, and various assorted wild primeval monsters such as prehistoric mammals, giant insects, human-eating plants, and other exotica; thus, the setting is similar to that of films such as One Million Years B.C., or television shows such as The Flintstones or Dinosaurs.

The eponymous Chuck Rock is an overweight, square-jawed caveman characterized by loutish and lewd behaviour perhaps influenced by the lad culture of the 1990s. Chuck has a limited vocabulary (his favourite phrase being "Unga Bunga" and not much else), has a balding head cut into a punk-style mohawk, eats whole dinosaur-steaks raw in one bite, and has a penchant for picking up rocks and throwing them at things, hence his name. Chuck is a guitarist and singer (or shouter) in a rock band along with some other cavemen, his attractive wife Ophelia Rock, and a long-haired dinosaur bass player; and whilst on stage he wears a long wig to hide his balding head.

One day, while Chuck watches TV, Ophelia Rock does the laundry. She is knocked unconscious and kidnapped by jealous local bully Garry Gritter (a pun on the name of pop star Gary Glitter), and carried off to Gritter's hang-out in the creepy dinosaur graveyard. Chuck must go to her rescue, searching for her in primeval jungles, swamps, lakes, an ice-capped mountain top, caves, and even the insides of a gigantic dinosaur.

Gameplay

Chuck Rock is a side-scrolling action-adventure puzzle platformer where the player, as the eponymous caveman, rescues his love interest, Ophelia, who is held hostage in a jungle by Gary Gritter. Parallax scrolling is present in all versions except the Atari ST. Pullen watched the Tom and Jerry cartoons in order to "get the right feel and balance" of the game's slapstick humour. The Commodore 64 version was programmed by Luca Zarri and Marco Corazza at Genias, with graphics by Marco Corazza and Andrea Paselli, and music and sound effects by Paolo Predonzani. During development, Core Design believed that the market for the Commodore 64 was dwindling at the time, and decided to cancel the game. Genias completed the game and had it released only in Italy. The Game Boy version was programmed by Darren Clayton and tested by Kevin Howe at Spidersoft.

The music and sound effects in the Sega Genesis, Game Gear and Master System versions were composed by Matt Furniss at Krisalis Software Ltd. The music and sound effects in the Mega-CD version were composed by Martin Iveson.

| CVG = 83/100

| EGM = 31/40 (SMD)

| GX = 5/5 (ST)

| MMS = 91% (SMD)

| rev1 = Play Time

| rev1Score = 77% (SMD)

| rev3 = Zzap!64

| rev3Score = 96% (C64)

| award1Pub = Zzap!64

| award1 = Gold Medal

Computer and Video Games (CVG) reported that Chuck Rock was one of the most popular home computer games upon release. Writing for Mean Machines, Julian called Chuck Rock the best platform game of 1992, Rich the best since James Pond 2: Codename RoboCod (1991). Writers of EGM praised its successful combination of humorous elements and "heavy gameplay", Steve arguing Kato and Ken (1990) was the only other game he played that had it. It was not as well received by fans. Nonetheless around the time of the game's release, Core commissioned a comic strip in the long-running UK children's magazine Look-in, centering on the day-to-day lives of Chuck, Ophelia and Junior. As a meta-referential joke, Chuck Junior owned a "SteggaDrive" console, a reference to the Mega Drive name. A year later, the magazine was closed (after almost 25 years), and the final strip saw Chuck being swept away from his boat, presumed dead but washing up on a tribal island and being revered as godas an inexplicable comic touch, mourners at his "funeral" included then-Prime-Minister John Major.

A spin-off to Chuck Rock came in the game BC Racers, released later in the same year as Chuck Rock II: Son of Chuck. BC Racers was released on the Mega-CD, Sega 32X and 3DO, and the format was changed from that of a platformer to that of a racing game. The game was designed by Toby Gard, who later created Lara Croft. BC Racers retained the characters of Chuck Rock as well as his son Chuck Junior. Other prehistoric racers include Millstone Rockafella, Brick Jagger and Jimi Handtrix. The game was generally well received among the fans of the consoles in question.

Notes

References

  • Chuck Rock at MobyGames
  • Chuck Rock at GameFAQs