Please look past the title of Rochard. Yes, it's the protagonist's surname, but it's also a terrible pun using the words rock and hard. You see, the game takes place on an asteroid mining colony. Where you mine rocks. Hard rocks.

Don't worry though, because the rest of this thoughtful puzzle-platformer is much more clever than the title.

Rochard is all about gravity. As you progress through the game's 2D, side-scrolling levels, you'll come across all sorts of obstacles that force you to deal with gravity in different ways. Early on, you'll earn the ability to reduce gravity's effect, letting you jump higher or farther. You'll also come across rooms where gravity has been reversed so that you'll have to run and jump along the ceiling. Oh, and there's a gravity gun-like device that lets you pick up objects and toss them. You can stack up boxes to make a jump easier, for instance, or unplug a fuse to affect the level in some way.

In addition to gravity, you'll also have to deal with matter. As in, force fields that are picky about what types of matter can pass through them. Sometimes you can walk through the force field but you can't bring any objects with you. Sometimes it's the opposite.

Initially, the game is all about puzzle solving. You'll be running about, solving different challenges around the mining facility. The way the game combines the rules for gravity and matter makes for some interesting, and in some cases quite difficult, puzzles to solve.

You'll also be introduced to combat, which is far less fun than solving puzzles. You can use your gravity gun to toss boxes at bad guys, which is cute at first, but it's a whole lot easier to just use your gun to blast them away. Unlike the puzzle solving, which feels clever and well thought out, the combat doesn't feel quite right. There also seems to be far too much of it and your character dies far too easily.

Thankfully, checkpoints are spread liberally throughout the game's five chapters. You may die a lot, but you'll usually start right where you left off, or at least close to it.

Even with its relatively bland combat, Rochard certainly does have its own sense of style. Despite initially being set in an underground mining facility, the world is colorful and varied, with plenty of different environments to explore. The characters are big and bulky, giving some wight to the world, and Rochard himself isn't your typical hero, what with his oversized belly and penchant for terrible puns (you will hear at least one "a flat miner" joke in the game).

Rochard kind of looks like a Metroidvania or Bionic Commando-style game at first, but it's really neither. Instead, its focus is primarily on puzzle solving, and in that it succeeds, with clever challenges that get progressively more difficult. Things veer a bit off course with the combat, but Rochard is still well worth your $10 if you're in the mood for some side-scrolling puzzle solving.

Verdict: Buy