Rock of Ages 2 is a unique tower defense style game that revolves around a boulder smashing and squishing lots of art and history. To attain the irreverent take on classical art and historical figures shown in the Rock of Ages 2 character intros, developer ACE Team scoured history for works of art, people, and places that they could add their special Monty Python-esque humor to. Suddenly Van Gogh becomes this horrifying, paint-puking monster, The Scream ends up that way because his hands were glued to his face, and Henry VIII is a madman with a penchant for beheading his wives. Oh wait, that last one’s already true. As horrifying as the likes of Henry VIII’s atrocities were though, Rock of Ages 2 makes light of it in a hilarious intro segment for the character.
If you want to see all of the Rock of Ages 2 character intros, we’ve compiled all fifteen of them into a single video, but the references don’t stop there. Every level in Rock of Ages 2 is based on particular regions, art, and history, sending you “gently” rolling through the likes of Van Gogh’s landscapes, Dali’s fields of clocks, and even levels based on Greek pottery art. With so many references to digest, we’re giving you a quick look at all of the art, history, and mythology contained in Rock of Ages 2: Bigger & Boulder.
In my review, I called Rock of Ages 2 smart, funny, and quirky in all the best ways.
“It was a big surprise to get a sequel to the 2011 PSN game, but I’m happy it did. Although I wish more effort would have been put into making the boss battles feel climactic and challenging, rather than tacked-on additions, the meat of the experience is an exciting and stylish tower defense game with a unique premise. I can’t name another game that lets you squish the likes of Van Gogh , Henry VIII, and Medusa with a boulder that’s rolled through numerous famous works of art. Allowing for four people to get in on the Monty Python-styled action both locally and online is just the feather in the cap of Atlas’ adventure as he flees from God.”
Rock of Ages 2: Bigger & Boulder is available now. Which of the Rock of Ages 2 character intros is your favorite?
Rock of Ages 2 Level Inspirations
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The Art, History, and Mythology in Rock of Ages 2
There are a lot of references in Rock of Ages 2. We're here to help you sort through them all.
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Salvador Dali
Dali's famous melting clocks aren't seen in the character intro for his level, and it isn't even Dali himself that you fight. The melting clocks may be one of Salvadore Dali's most famous and recognizable works, oft emulated in modern media, but it's his burning giraffe that you face off against.
Active in the early 1900's, Dali's surrealist art is the most current work that Rock of Ages 2's levels take inspiration from.
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Van Gogh
Who doesn't know Vincent Van Gogh? He's on of the most famous artists with over 2100 works to his name, and a series of psychotic episodes, one of which led to severing a portion of his own ear. His name and works are constantly referenced in modern culture. TV shows like Doctor Who have even levied entire storylines on his character and art. Rock of Ages 2's take on the artist is hilarious, turning him into a horrific creature that rips off his own ear to hunt prey, and pukes paint all over his victims.
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Starry Night
Van Gogh is just too iconic an artist to be limited to one level, so his famous painting "Starry Night" is given a chance to twinkle in a level that has been invaded by a witch with a chicken-legged house. Baba Yaga is a popular Slavic supernatural being, and is the perfect addition to this quaint and peaceful world, because what painting couldn't use a child-eating witch to spruce things up?
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Pompeii/Mount Vesuvius
The city of Pompeii is a tragic story, a single day preserved forever under a cloud of ash and fire that swept over the city when mount Vesuvius erupted. This level is filled with some of the most difficult obstacles that will turn your boulder to a pool of molten lava as you spiral down the flaming mountain, but succeed and you can squash the demon that caused the fires to belch from the earth.
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William Wallace
You might know him better as Mel Gibson in Braveheart. William Wallace was a soldier that helped Scotland earn their independence, though film and literary fiction have created a William Wallace that is more fantasy than reality, with history telling a different version of his tale. I'm pretty sure that Rock of Ages 2 got it right though, showing fireballs shooting from his eyes and lightning coming from his arse. That's the William Wallace I know.
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The Scream
The Scream by Edvard Munch, 1893. It's an iconic and mysterious piece of art that is copied in art classes around the world. Munch painted it because while on a walk, he felt a scream passing through nature under a blood red sky, so I'm pretty sure he's totally fine upstairs in the ol' brain.
Fun Fact: Did you know that there are actually four versions of The Scream done by Munch? He redid his famous painting in a variety of medias over a number of years. His second one remains the most famously recognizable.
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Copernicus
Among being a mathematician, astronomer, scholar, translator, governor, and diplomat, Copernicus created the current model of the Solar System, placing the sun at the center instead of the Earth, as was previously believed. It's poetic that Copernicus' fame orbits around enormous balls of rock, and getting to the end of this level will allow you to squish him with one.
Fun fact: He also came up with some of the fundamental principals of economics.
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Don Quixote
A man suffering from delusions of grandeur, Don Quixote is a fictional character created in the early 1600's. His story is widely considered to be one of the best literary works ever published. One thing is for certain. Your boulder has no delusions of grandeur as it rolls towards Mr. Quixote's demise at the bottom of that hill.
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Garden of Eden
Art, history, and mythology abound, so why not pull from the bible? Facing off against Adam and Eve opens with one of the funniest intros in Rock of Ages 2. Who knew that you could turn the story of Adam and Eve into a Pokemon battle?
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Henry VIII
Henry VIII. A king with a penchant for marriage and beheadings. He was a radical ruler that went through wives like dirty laundry. In his younger years he was considered to be charming and charismatic, but his later life proved him to be lustful, egotistical, and insecure. What more satisfying a historical figure to squash than this guy?
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Richard The Lionheart
This king of England was known as a great military leader, commanding his own army by the time he was 16. In Rock of Ages 2, he sits on the other side of the fields of Oxfordshire, and with all his military acumen, I'm betting he didn't count on a sentient boulder coming to end him.
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Greek Pottery
Based on the stark contrast of Greek pottery art, Hercules' level has a unique look to it that no others can match (except maybe Medusa's stage). Reach the end of this Greek art come to life and you can make the son of Zeus a splatter on the ground.
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Medusa
Her level follows the same style as Hercules', though instead of orange pottery, it is awash in hues of green. The myth of Medusa is that she could turn people to stone with nothing more than a stare, and the only way to kill her is to behead her (seems like we need Henry VIII for this job, eh?). Well, in this case, we'll prove that an enormous boulder can be her undoing.
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Jeanne d'Arc
I just wanted to leave her French name up there to feel smart. Joan of Arc was the teen girl who claimed she had visions from God on how to help France in the Hundred Years' War. She was sent to the frontlines and succeeded in ending the siege on Orleans, an event that set the stage for French victory.
Before she turned 20, she was captured and burned at the stake, becoming a martyr. If you want to emulate that smoldering end while playing her level, choose the fire boulder.
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Ramses
Egyptian art has a distinct design that is unmistakable. The intro video for Ramses makes heavy use of this two dimensional style, and even parodies the famous song and dance, "Walk Like an Egyptian."
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Celtic Sea Monster
Rumors of a great beast abound. One of Rock of Ages 2's first boss battles is against this mighty monster, essentially playing a version of Frogger to cross the sea on ships and whales to boop the creature in the head.
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The Thinker
This famous statue becomes a boss, where you boost boop his brain whenever he sees burlesque dancers. It's bizarre, just go play it yourself.
Fun Fact: There are about 28 full size castings of the original bronze sculpture of The Thinker. I'm thinking Rock of Ages 2's version is the only one that's bigger.
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The Sphinx
It's one of the oldest monuments in Egypt, though currently missing much of the luster that it had when it was first constructed. The nose is missing. Various accounts say why it might have been removed, but none know for sure. A ceremonial beard lies in the British Museum. And evidence shows that the face of the Sphinx was once painted with bright colors.
The boss battle involves your boulder playing the cat toy as the Sphinx pounces on you. Crush its nose to get Cleopatra to but a cone of shame on it and win.
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God
The big man himself challenges Atlas to a game of foosball in the end. It's a bizarre conclusion, and with as bad as the physics of the heavenly foosball table are, I'm pretty sure God uses his omniscient power to cheat. I'd honestly rather take another jaunt down the flame-belching Vesuvius.
