Rocky Roll – Skylander Review
Rocky Roll is a new core Earth Skylander making his debut in Trap Team. Rocky Roll is the combination of two great friends coming together to act as one. Rocky was a rock digger who wanted to make a difference, and Roll was a boulder that wanted to see the world. They met each other in mining school when they were young. They discovered that they both shared the same goal: to make the sacred journey to Peek’s Peak. Many years passed when one day they found each other traveling on the same path towards the mythical peak. They remembered the friendship and magical connection they had in mining school and realized that they were meant to journey far and wide together. They went on several adventures together and one day they had a chance meeting with Master Eon. Master Eon recognized that they had a special bond and made them the awesome Skylander duo of Rocky Roll.
If it were not for the face on Roll, you would probably pick up Rocky Roll and just assume that the Skylander was a master of standing on and rolling rocks around like a clown. But no, Rocky Roll is actually a combination of two creatures making one Skylander duo. I don’t think there has been another Skylander before that has been a combination of characters. Rocky is the Rock Cyclops that wears the mining helmet. He seems like the main character since he has arms and legs. Roll is the boulder that Rocky stands on. Rocky may be able to control where Roll moves too, but Roll contains almost all of the attacks for the duo. Together as Rocky Roll, they make a pretty formidable and fun Skylander to play with. Rocky Roll is an earth Skylander and there really is no way to mistake that. Both of the “rock” creatures make perfect sense to be of the Earth Element. Because they are made of rock, they really don’t have any type of armor to speak of. The closest thing to a piece of armor is a minor’s helmet that sits atop of Rocky’s head.
Rocky Roll’s attacks are all based on boulders and come from Roll. His main attack is called Spit Ball. Roll will spit out a bouncing rock projectile that travels in a straight line. This is a nice little ranged attack, but it has to be aimed well to hit it’s mark. The secondary attack, is much more useful. The Boulder Dash is a charging dash attack. Rocky Roll will get a burst of speed and essentially roll over his enemies. It’s not a unique attack as several Skylanders have some kind of dash attack, and it’s not very powerful. However, it’s still very useful, and Rocky Roll is invincible while rolling in this attack. This means you can roll your way out of almost any kind of danger and not get hit. 
This attack is not continuous though and as soon as Rock Roll stops, he will be vulnerable again to attack. It’s important you get a hang of how far he rolls, so that you don’t accidentally stop in the middle of a group of enemies. His third attack which is unlocked with an upgrade is the Boulder Barrier. Pressing Attack 3 will summon 3 boulders which will roll around Rocky Roll, protecting him from enemies. If you press Attack 3 again while there are still boulders around Rocky Roll, they will launch out in all directions doing more ranged damage to anyone nearby. This attack can be upgraded a couple of times. One comes in the main upgrade path and is called Moh Boulders. This will double the boulders from 3 to 6. You must press the Attack 3 button an extra time to get the extra 3 boulders out. The Soul Gem is called Boulder Posse, and will allow the number of boulders in the Boulder Barrier to go from 6 to 9. This also effects the Bouncy Attack Mode. The Bouncy Attack Mode is another main upgrade. When you press and hold Attack 2 while you have bounders in your Boulder Barrier, Roll will eat those boulders and grow in size. The more he eats, the bigger he gets. In this mode he can bounce around and smash enemies, instead of rolling. This causes more damage than using the Boulder Dash attack and should be used most when you want to dish out the most damage while dashing.
There are two upgrade paths you can choose from. The first is called Geological Grandmaster and will improve the Spit Ball attacks. One upgrade will charge your Spit Ball attack into a giant boulder projectile. Another upgrade will again add more damage to the Spit Ball and Boulder Barrier attacks. The last upgrade is called Triple Spit Balls and will allow Roll to shoot out 3 Spit Balls at one time which will ricochet off of smaller boulders. It sounds like a decent path for a fan of ranged gameplay, but we chose the Rolling Rumbler path which improves the Roll attacks. Let’s Roll will allow you to rapidly press Attack 2 button to rev up the Boulder Dash for more damage and speed. Roll With the Punches is an upgrade that will allow Roll to grow some arms so he can hit enemies in a 360 degree circle with his fists. The last upgrade is called Rocky Boxing and will have Roll pounding his fists into the ground as he dashes into enemies. It’s a much more powerful form of the Boulder Dash attack. We are quite happy with the Rolling Rumbler path but it seems like the Geological Grandmaster path would also be pretty good.
Overall Rocky Roll is an interesting Skylander. He isn’t the fastest Skylander even though he rolls on a big boulder, but his dash attack seems very reliable and fairly powerful when upgraded. If you continuously use the Boulder Barrier, then Rocky Roll has a good defense. The spinning boulders do damage as well as protect Rocky Roll from nearby enemies. However, a boulder is lost every time it hits an enemy, so it is something you will have to constantly monitor if you want the ultimate protection for him. I like his personality and the uniqueness of his character. It’s characters like Rocky Roll that keep me coming back to Skylanders as there are always a few characters that you just couldn’t have predicted. Rocky Roll would be a solid addition to anyone’s collection.
SkylanderNutts gives Rocky Roll…
8.0 out of 10
Rocky Roll Video Review
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