Rocket Doge was the second game release from Tamadoge, a unique ecosystem now of five games, with the aesthetics of a memecoin project but the functionality of a utility-focused crypto – the project’s native token TAMA acts as a rewards token in its play to earn (P2E) games.
Rocket Doge has simple but fun 2D gameplay, much like its predecessor, Super Doge. The game features a pet doge strapped to a jetpack where your job is navigating difficult terrains, collecting points, and earning money.
Rocket Doge Crypto Game Review
When it comes to gameplay and aesthetics, the beauty of this game lies in its simplicity, a factor that is common in all the Tamadoge Arcade games. Tamadoge aims to crack the “fun” code necessary to bring more attention to crypto games. But is the game sustainable in the long run?
This Rocket Doge review analyzes different aspects of the game, including its graphics, gameplay, design, and sound. It will determine if this 2D platform has enough offerings to entice a modern gamer.
What is Tamadoge – A Brief Background
Before we start discussing the Rocket Doge crypto game game, let us take a detour and understand the ecosystem responsible for its creation.
Tamadoge is a P2E project that, in the aesthetic sense, is similar to Dogecoin but seeks to shed the joke feel that has plagued memecoins. The goal of this project is to turn memecoins into more viable crypto investments by turning them into something that the community has been asking for a long time – tokens powering a crypto gaming platform.
The Tamadoge ecosystem has great tokenomics, and the focus on gameplay is central. At the heart of the ecosystem lie two cores – Tamadoge (TAMA) tokens and Tamadoge Pets.
Tamadoge tokens are ERC-20 tokens featuring a unique burning mechanic, no transaction tax, and a utility that sets it apart from the standard memecoins that are currently making the most waves in the market. Early presale investors were able to make 19x gains when TAMA was first listed on OKX.
TAMA tokens are stackable assets whose utility will be expanded upon once the ecosystem grows.
The use cases of TAMA tokens are focused on Tamadoge Pets – the native NFTs of the Tamadoge ecosystem. Tamadoge Pets are pillars that will eventually help devs form the Tamaverse – a metaverse featuring 3D doge pets.
The original plan of Tamadoge Pets is to be a companion to holders in an AR ecosystem. For this, the developers have been working on an app that is set to be launched in the coming months. For now, these pets are gameplay characters in the five retro crypto games that Tamadoge has launched in its Tamadoge arcade.
The Rocket Doge crypto game launch was followed by other titles Tama Blast, Tamadoge Run, and To the Moon.
What is Rocket Doge
Rocket Doge is a Mario style game in which players navigate left to right across obstacles and collect points, and accumulated points affect how much money they are able to earn.
That said, some gameplay aspects of Rocket Doge make it a different and more difficult game than its predecessors.
Gameplay
Rocket Doge features a doge strapped to a jetpack where your job is to keep your hands trained on the mouse button (or the space button) and push the thrusters properly to help your doge mass through obstacles and collect points.
The jetpack-strapped doge will also go through different zones full of upgrades, such as magnets and shields, to navigate the space without its health running out.
The gameplay is simple enough. We found that our doge was quick to respond to our button presses. However, we had to be very precise since sometimes the stress made us press the space button longer, which pushed our doge directly to the wall.
You need to be really good with the timing of the button presses. One wrong button press and you will find your marathon ending quickly and you back to square one. The gameplay principle resembles Temple Run, Subway Surfers, and other classic runner games.
There is no way for you to travel back and collect the points you have missed – which was a major plus point with Super Doge. That is why we were thankful to find a bunch of upgrades that helped us navigate the space properly.
There are three types of upgrades available, shields, health packs, and magnets. Magnets will help attract points, health packs will add to your health points, and shields will protect you when you collide with an obstacle. These power-ups are time-based and are sparsely spread across the gameplay sections. We like it since it makes the game more challenging and forces us to get the timing right.
That said, the point-giving system here is much less forgiving than Super Doge. You earned a hundred points per gold coin you collected in Super Doge. But here, you only get one. It all plays into the earning mechanic, which is a great reason to pick this game up at any time and start playing.
There are two gameplay modes – the fun mode and the “play with NFT” mode. The latter choice is for those who have Tamadoge NFT and want to earn money as they play. Free mode is for everyone to try out.
But if you don’t have a Tamadoge NFT yet but want to play the game for “earning” purposes, you can spend TAMA tokens to get into the P2E section of the game and start playing. And it only takes 1 TAMA to start the game. Think of it like a real arcade where you are inserting a coin (TAMA) to play your favorite games.
See our full guide to NFT gaming.
Graphics
Rocket Doge is set in a simple 3D environment that is not too colorful but also not too monotonous. You are hovering your rocket across the blue backdrop of the sky while moving over the brown-colored obstacles and trying to stay above the green grass.
There is not much done here in terms of graphics as far as the environment is concerned. But we were impressed by the 2D fire effects on the thrusters. It was not a simple candlelight that switched between big and small – the team has taken a lot of care when it comes to the fire effects.
Overall, we like the color scheme. However, we must note that Rocket Doge has embraced nostalgia a bit too much. There are many games with better color palettes that are set in 2D space. And our team has people who have dabbled in 2D games like Blasphemous, who thought the graphics looked a bit drab. However, considering the caliber of this game and the gameplay, simple graphics work in its favor. It is not trying to be a great RPG – but a simple platformer, and for that, these graphics were enough. But still, the game could have done a bit better with couple more colors added to the palette.
Story
Even though the gameplay of this game is limited, and the graphics are not exactly of AAA quality (or AA quality), devs have been kind enough to give us a little story to go along with this gameplay. Your doge is trying to escape the Tama Island; all he has is an old Eagle-6 Rocket.
The story is simple enough, and it feeds right into the type of game Rocket Doge wants to be. So, even though minimalistic, we found this story to be quite more than what we expected from this game.
Sound Design
The Rocket Doge crypto game soundtrack is similar in design to Super Doge. Synth music is in the background as you try to keep your doge leveled as it moves across obstacles. Collisions have their own simple sound, and a bell sound signals that your dog has died, which means you need to restart.
While the in-game sounds are great as they fulfill their purpose, we found the standard background music to be a bit too loud. We believe Rocket Doge would have fared well if they embraced simplicity when it comes to music as well because the bombastic theme doesn’t exactly match the mid-paced gameplay of Rocket Doge.
If you don’t want to hear the background music, you can also turn it off.
Earning Mechanics
The earning mechanics of this game are simple. You collect points, which will translate into how many TAMA tokens you earn. However, your earnings depend on how much money is there in the prize pool. For instance, at the time of writing this guide, Tamadoge has 1767 TAMA tokens in the prize pool. As you collect points and rank higher on the leaderboard, you will get a bigger share of the prize pool. The earning mechanic covers all the best aspects of play-to-earn games.
Having a prize pool plays right into Tamadoge’s deflationary mechanics. The presence of a pool ensures that there are limited TAMA tokens available as rewards, which may help increase the TAMA price.
What is Tamadoge Arcade?
Rocket Doge is an indispensable part of the Tamadoge Arcade, in which all the other five games are hosted. The Arcade is a beautifully rendered 2D island with different terrains. You have To the Moon in the desert area, Super Doge and Rocket Doge in the green planes, Tamadoge Run in the swamp, and Tamadoge Blast in the icy region.
The entire island tells a cohesive story which each Tamadoge game is a part of. For instance, the Tamadoge pets are escaping in Super Doge and Rocket Doge. In To The Moon, the doge navigates the skies to break through the stratosphere and reach the moon.
Each game is an element of the story that will unfold once all the games on the Arcade are live. Tama Blast and Tama Run were the final two games to be launched on the arcade, both of which have also racked up a massive number of players.
How Tamadoge NFT Games Compare to Other Crypto games
Blockchain gaming lagged behind in 2022. The likes of Axie Infinity have suffered massive losses in players and token value – although it has now bounced with being accepted on the App Store – and some games that were promised to players never came out.
Tamadoge is the first to bring a gameplay-first approach to blockchain gaming with its Tamadoge arcade. And after the great success of their first five games, the project meets all the points required to position itself as a desirable platform for enjoying games as well as an investment.
Gameplay-Centric Heavyweight has Joined the Project
Blockchain games get a bad rep, and everyone has their minds built even before trying out the game. That is why many legitimately good games in the blockchain space are still being ignored.
Tamadoge is unwilling to let that happen, which is why it has onboarded Jon Bishop, a known name in the tech space, having worked with heavyweights such as Paypal, Coda, and eBay.
As far as his gaming credentials are concerned, Jon Bishop heads Outright Games, which is the world’s leading publisher of children’s games such as Bratz, Paw Petrol, and more.
To him, Web 3 games should offer a better experience than free-to-play games. He also addresses that the blockchain space has, so far, focused too much on Web 3 and too less on gaming.
Nostalgic Games Non-Crypto Gamers will Like
Think about the progress Web 2 games made. They started with simple 2D games like pong, and slowly and gradually, they became more valuable and more graphically pleasing with time. While people are in love with high-definition gameplay, they also want that nostalgic feel of playing old games. Tamadoge Arcade has the perfect recipe for that.
And devs have paid attention to non-crypto gamers by keeping the games free to play for everyone. It has placed no conditions that you need to have an NFT to try out the game, which is the right move if one has to attract gamers from the non-crypto side of the aisle.
Gameplay-wise, what we have seen so far are games that are simple and fun. Gameplay matters here, and so does the earning mechanic. And the devs have simplified the mechanics to the point that only even non-crypto gamers might get interested in it. The tamadoge.io website has also recently been given a new look.
Focusing on Simple Games that Can be Fun
Blockchain games have been trying to compete with the traditional gaming market for a long time – and failing at it. Many developers don’t see any shortcomings in the Web 3 space and try to overpromise, which has often resulted in multiple project failures.
The answer lies in simplicity in games that can still make it fun. There is a reason that 2D games like Sonic are still lauded among gamers, and games like “Bro Force” have so many players on steam. These are simple 2D games with great mechanics that have enticed people.
Tamadoge is trying to model the success of these games and implementing their strategies. Job Bishop is carving a linear path for Tamadoge’s growth which involves creating feasible games that don’t require access to special hardware to run.
Tamadoge Arcade Brings Us One Step Closer to the Tamaverse
Tamaverse creation is the ultimate goal of the Tamadoge ecosystem, and the Tamadoge arcade has given us a little peek at it.
When the Tamaverse finally arrives, people will have access to 3D-rendered Tamadoge pets that they can interact with inside an augmented reality environment. That can create the foundation of a metaverse featuring memecoins.
Sustainable Economy Through the Addition of Fun Factor and Burn Mechanic
Tamadoge has created a circular economy where players can invest their TAMA winnings back into the ecosystem and get rewarded for it. This is one factor that would keep the entire Tamadoge ecosystem more sustainable in the long run.
The second reason to make Tamadoge is a great platform is a burning mechanic. 5% of TAMA tokens are burned every time a player buys something.
Tamadoge Already Has Bulls Cheering for Its Success
The success of Super Doge has already attracted a lot of players to Tamadoge. Beta Testers have come out and said that Rocket Doge is a fun game to play.
Some users have noted that Rocket Doge is an addictive game. It is not surprising that the other three games also received similar reviews, since all of them have been created with a similar theme and feature elements that are addictive and exciting for players of any kind.
And a game that is termed “addictive” in the Web 3 gaming space hints that Tamadoge is on the right path already – and will likely see many positives coming its way in the near future.
Impact of Rocket Doge on TAMA price
The arrival of Rocket Doge and other developments has helped support the TAMA price. Tamadoge managed to maintain the $0.015 range for quite a while before pumping again recently, also thanks to the surging demand for memecoins, its Bybit listing, new CEO, and its mobile app nearing completion.
Another development is the project’s recent integration with BC.Game as a method of payment. BC.Game is one of the most popular crypto casinos in the space.
The team also recently announced a collaboration with the trending memecoin project SpongeBob. This partnership will allow the Tamadoge community to access SpongeBob’s exclusive token airdrop of SPONGE tokens.
Tamadoge Roadmap
There are five games in the Tamadoge Arcade, so far. Right now, devs have nearly completed the work on the leaderboard name integration – you can see the name of some players on the leaderboard. Avatar integration is also coming.
TAMA has already been listed on several top exchanges, the latest addition to the list being Bybit.
Currently, Tamadoge is progressing on the following aspects of the ecosystem:
- Creation of the Pet store so that people don’t necessarily need to go to OpenSea to buy the NFTs
- Access to leaderboard prizes off-chain so that users can claim their winnings
- Sign up modules are being worked on
- Tamadoge is introducing a section to allow gamers to buy Tamadoge credits using credit cards
- Mobile App is being worked on. Currently, all games are only available to play via desktop
- New levels are coming to Super Doge after community feedback
The progress of the Tamadoge roadmap is not linear. The dynamic progression will meet the changing demand of the Tamadoge ecosystem.
How to Earn Crypto By Playing Rocket Doge
You can earn money by playing Rocket Doge using the “Pay to Play ” mode, which requires buying Tamadoge NFTs from Opensea.
The second thing you need is to buy credits which would cost you Tamadoge tokens. Check out our how to buy TAMA guide.
Follow the steps below to buy Tamadoge NFTs:
- Go to the official tamadoge.io website.
- Scroll down the homepage to choose the category of NFT you want to buy – common, rare, or ultra rare.
- The links there will take you to the official Tamadoge pages on Opensea.
- Swap ETH for Tamadoge NFTs, and you are done.
Note – Do not search for Tamadoge NFTs on your own without the aid of the official site. Tamadoge NFTs have many copycat pages featuring fake, scam tokens that you cannot use to play the Tamadoge Arcade.
The Rocket Doge crypto game is also unrelated to the coin Doge Rocket (DOGERKT) or an existing Google Play store game called Rocket Doge in which players dodge asteroids.
Conclusion
Rocket Doge is quite similar to Super Doge in a number of ways. It has the same aesthetics and the same environment. However, we found that the gameplay was more challenging, and the earning mechanics were more nuanced. We also liked the addition of upgrades – they make the game feel more substantial.
Tamadoge has been quickly pumping out new games – something we rarely see from a P2E project. For that reason, we can’t wait to see what Tamadoge does next, now that all five previously announced games are out.
FAQs
What is Rocket Doge?
Rocket Doge is a Tamadoge NFT game featuring a Doge strapped with a rocket as it tries to navigate the platform and collects points. It has the same 2D aesthetics as Super Doge, but the gameplay is more difficult and more precision-oriented.
Can you Play Rocket Doge for free?
Rocket Doge comes in two modes. One is the “free to play” mode, and the other is the pay-to-play mode. The free-to-play mode is accessible to everyone wanting to try out the game.
How many games are there on the Tamadoge Arcade?
The Tamadoge Arcade currently features five games. These include Super Doge, Rocket Doge, To The Moon, Tama Blast and Tamadoge Run.
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