Will Rock is a first-person shooter

First-person shooter

First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...

 released in North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 on June 9 and Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 on June 13, 2003. This first game, developed

Video game developer

A video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Most developers also...

 on the Saber 3D engine, by Saber Interactive

Saber Interactive

Saber Interactive is a video game developer headquartered in Millburn, New Jersey, with development offices in Saint Petersburg, Russia. They primarily develop action games. The studio released the game Will Rock in 2003, and released another game called TimeShift for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360...

 and published

Video game publisher

A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a video game developer....

 by Ubisoft

Ubisoft

Ubisoft Entertainment S.A. is a major French video game publisher and developer, with headquarters in Montreuil, France. The company has a worldwide presence with 25 studios in 17 countries and subsidiaries in 26 countries....

, did not receive huge media attention, but did polarize reviewers who ran the gamut with scores of 90s down to 20s, and some likened the title to a poorer version of Serious Sam

Serious Sam

Serious Sam is the first game in the Serious Sam series. It is a first-person shooter created by the Croatian development house Croteam...

.

In Rock, the player takes on the persona of the title character Willford Rockwell, an archeology student, who is faced with the aftermath of a fanatical group called the Olympian Restoration Army (ORA), who somehow have managed to bring back to life a host of mythological creatures from Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...

, including Zeus

Zeus

In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...

, king of the Gods, who has abducted Will's girlfriend Emma. Will is recruited by Prometheus

Prometheus

In Greek mythology, Prometheus is a Titan, the son of Iapetus and Themis, and brother to Atlas, Epimetheus and Menoetius. He was a champion of mankind, known for his wily intelligence, who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to mortals...

, the Greek Titan of fire and craft, to destroy Zeus and his minions—and rescue his girlfriend.

There are ten levels in the single player

Single player

A Single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session. "Single-player game" usually implies a game that can only be played by one person, while "single-player mode" usually refers to a game mode for a single player, where...

 and coop

Cooperative gameplay

Cooperative gameplay is a feature in video games that allows players to work together as teammates. It is distinct from other multiplayer modes, such as competitive multiplayer modes like player versus player or deathmatch...

 versions. Many reviewers noted the massive numbers of enemies, prompting IGN

IGN

IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...

 to remark that it "elevates the experience to a kind of inspired lunacy." At some points in the game it is possible to be attacked by dozens of different types of enemies simultaneously, and some creatures, such as axe-throwing minotaur

Minotaur

In Greek mythology, the Minotaur , as the Greeks imagined him, was a creature with the head of a bull on the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, "part man and part bull"...

s, split into two more attackers when "killed". Balancing this is the player's arsenal; among the weapons at his disposal are acid, atomic and "Medusa

Medusa

In Greek mythology Medusa , " guardian, protectress") was a Gorgon, a chthonic monster, and a daughter of Phorcys and Ceto. The author Hyginus, interposes a generation and gives Medusa another chthonic pair as parents. Gazing directly upon her would turn onlookers to stone...

" guns, and the more standard pistol, shotgun, crossbow, fireball thrower, minigun and grenades. A shovel is also included as a melee weapon.

Enemies

Many enemies in Will Rock are deliberately borrowed from Greek mythological monsters.

• Harpy; the first enemy that you will encounter. In Will Rock he/she is an eagle who can spit fire and acid.
• Satyr; archer with surprising accuracy.
• Minotaur; general enemy with an axe. When killed, he/she morphs into two blood minotaurs.
• Blood minotaur; smaller and weaker, but more berserk.
• Rat; sprints towards an enemy and explodes.
• Tiger; fast-moving enemy, likes to leap at you, usually in groups. Attack style is to run around you and leap when you are not expecting.
• Lion; fast-moving enemy, likes to leap at you. Attack style is to run around you and leap when you are not expecting.
• Atlas; disguises as Colossus statue, holds the earth on its back.
• Discus throwers; disguises as statue, and throws a flaming discus.
• Sphinx; disguises as statue; shoots laser bolts when player passes by.
• Crocodile; Easily avoided but can bite you and inflict injury.
• Undead centaur; skeleton-like in appearance with a charge attack.
• Pan archer; arrow-firing sniper beast.
• Mini Cerberus; hordes of smaller three headed dogs, vicious, hard to beat.
• Mace wielder; Greek soldiers throwing flaming maces. They usually appear with or without headgear.
• Knife wielder; throws blue flaming knives at player.
• Skeleton foot-soldier; skeleton using sword and shield.
• Range skeleton; skeleton fighting with javelins.
• Centaur; living centaur, charges with spear, hard to hit, very fast.
• Cyclops; they come in small and large sizes, and attack using flaming rocks.

Bosses

• Giant Cyclops; a normal cyclops, but much larger and stronger.
• Hephaestus; a slow-moving, but durable enemy.
• Medusa; a flying gargoyle-like creature.
• Zeus; the final boss. Attacks using thunderbolts. Can also summon his minions during combat.