Game Review: Become the Rodeo star in Rodeo Stampede

Rodeos are fun, or at least that’s what I gather from the movies and videos I stumbled upon in the past. Of course, I would never participate in one in real life but in this time and age almost everything is possible with technology, right? So I was really excited to find Rodeo Stampede, a game developed by Featherweight Games that takes place in a rodeo and of course it is enriched with many additions. Plenty of animals to catch and many surprises await the player who wants to be the rodeo king.

Plot

The player finds themselves in a rodeo and their goal is to catch as many wild animals from the Savannah, earn their trust and bring them to the sky zoo where they’ll be placed in habitats that you’ll build yourself. There patrons will be visiting to admire what you created and the animals that live there. Do you have what it takes to be the best rodeo star?

Gameplay

The game begins by explaining the basics and teaching you how to catch and ride a horse before you go on the wild hunt. Although the controls are easy to grasp, it will be a bit confusing at first to use hem correctly and that will result in many failures for a short while. You press and hold for the character to start running and then release to throw the lasso and ride the animal. While you are on its back, you must keep pressing because by releasing, the character makes the jump and if there is no other animal in front of you to ride on, you end up head on to the ground. Not a very dignified action for a rodeo star, is it?

While you’re riding an animal you can control where it goes by dragging your thumb to steer. While riding you’ll notice a heart with a ring around it appearing. This icon shows the progress of friendship between you and the animal. When it is fully filled the animal will stop resisting and will trust you completely. I love that you can take a picture with it to keep as memory and even chose the angle from which you’ll take the photo. After that you’ll be transferred to the zoo section where you’ll have to decide where to place each animal. To build a habitat you must spend coins that you collect in game from wooden blocks that appear while you run so instead of avoiding just run them over and the coins will be yours. To increase your income though, you need to open the zoo for business and be prepared to welcome visitors. The more animals you have the more people will want to be there. You can increase the visitors by watching some ads, an action that is cleverly called “Marketing”.

Riding and befriending animals can also be improved with upgrades that will level you up. There are various upgrades and they are separated depending which type of animal you’re aiming to get, e.g. you can upgrade to make the buffalo move towards your lasso while you’re in the air, or to ride it for a longer amount of time before it gets angry. Of course all these upgrades cost coins and each one is more expensive than the previous.

The levels have many obstacles, mainly large rocks and trees blocking your way but other than that you won’t have many dangerous encounters. Your main concern is to make the jump towards the next animal at the right moment. If you lose you are given one chance to start from that point by watching an ad, so take it with no second thought. Also, every time you play there are different set of goals for you to achieve, e.g. running x number of meters, or smashing x number of shrubs and of course every successful mission rewards you with plenty of coins. After a while you’ll be able to travel in other savannas to find more animals.

In-App Purchases 

The game offers you a variety of IAPs mostly regarding the increase of your money. There is the Cash Cow that doubles your income and costs $ 5. 99 and then there are coin bundles ranging from $ 2.99 to $ 9.99 and will make you a lot richer in-game. None of the IAPs is forceful or sneaky and can be easily disregarded if you simply want to enjoy the game as it is.

Graphics & Sounds

Rodeo Stampede’s graphics are gorgeous and I love how adorable all animals look in their 3D pixelated form.  The savannah is very rich in environments and the colors are bright and fitting to the wild feeling. The movements are smooth and the zoo design really detailed. It sort of reminded me of a doll house. The music is lively and fun to listen to while going after animals.

Conclusion

All in all, Rodeo Stampede combines many elements to create a game that won’t leave anyone unsatisfied. There is the endless runner element with the missions and the element of running a business successfully by expanding and attracting new visitors. All that give a breath of fresh air to the game and prevent it from recycling the same endless runner concept. It is worth giving a try and certainly a game that knows how to stand out. Let us know your thoughts and impressions in the comments below.

Download Rodeo Stampede for iOS devices here.

Download Rodeo Stampede for Android devices here.

Rodeo Stampede screenshots (above) and trailer (below)