Rush'n Attack
This review contains spoilers
Rush'n Attack. A game where you will lose nearly as many lives as you'll take stabbing Russian military personnel to death.
Story/Campaign
Rush'n Attack, also known as Green Beret, is set during the cold war as you take the roll of a United States spec ops soldier tasked with going behind enemy lines in a Soviet military base to rescue some POWs.
That's it. There's no twists, no lore or depth that I could find and with some serious skill can be over within 10 - 20 minutes. It acts as a theme for a 1985 arcade action game, as was very common for games back then. A gameplay heavy game with a particular theme to appeal to a certain audience. It is what it is and I personally won't penalise it for that.
Gameplay
Addictive and infuriating, very much so, simultaneously. Over the duration of 4 very short levels, you run from A, while killing or avoiding (but mainly killing) soldiers of the Soviet variety, to reach B where you fight a boss and proceed to the next level. You start with 3 lives and start right back from the beginning when you're out, only gaining more when hitting the next threshold of points. Enemy types vary and you must learn their behaviour and movement patterns. You can jump and go prone to help avoid enemies and projectiles and levels often have 2 or 3 tiers which you can use ladders to reach. Armed mainly with just a knife, at a close enough range you stab enemies for a one shot kill. There are also 3 different weapon pickups. A flamethrower, a rocket launcher and grenades that have no more than 3 or 4 shots depending on which you pick up. These act as power ups and take out multiple enemies at once, but do vary in how you must use them.
Pros
It is addictive and fast paced. Learning the levels, enemy routines and behaviours and breaking it all down to finally master a level and move on the next with maximum lives and points is very satisfying. Once you get into your flow, running back and forth laying waste to enemies with merely a knife, jump here, use one of your very limited flamethrower rounds there, up this ladder down that one... it becomes tactical and sort of rhythmic. It makes you feel pretty badass, the main character puts John Wick to shame it's ridiculous fun.
Enemies are quite varied aswell keeping things fresh, not including bosses I counted roughly 10 different enemies with different behaviours or methods of attack. Some have guns or rocket launchers, some jump kick or shoot from parachutes gliding down from the skies, it definitely keeps you on your toes.
Cons
The cheap deaths. My god this wound me up. You can't jump to avoid enemies near a ladder. You will grab on mid jump, you won't expect it and you will die. This is not ideal in a game with very limited lives where you start all the way back at the beginning when they're gone. Not only that but dying can put you in an impossible position, because enemy fixed pattern sequences can change after resulting in you being in a very bad position completely blind to what's coming with no room to manoeuvre. You also lose your power up weapon which you very well may need to get out of the situation you're left in, because of the hugely overwhelming amount of enemies thrown at you in the last 2 levels, which leads me on to my next gripe.
The amount of enemies or at least the combination of enemies thrown at you. The best example would be this. Soldiers dressed in brown have no weapon. They run in a straight line and if they touch you, you're dead. These are the most common enemy and are easy to overcome... on their own. Mix them with the enemies dressed in green however and this creates a problem. The green enemies like to jump kick you, which leaves you with 2 options. Running straight under them or jump and stab. If these enemies are mixed and you jump and stab the green one, you land on a brown and die, but running under the green isn't an option because that requires no stopping or hesitation until you're completely past them, and you would have to stab the brown which stops you from moving. This on top of the fact that enemies can come from both directions and dying can leave you with no power up weapon means you are starting from the beginning, like it or not.
Another complaint in a way is the bosses. I felt relieved reaching a boss, because they're easy to work out and defeat. Bosses are meant to be hard not a breather due to the difficulty of the rest of the game, but they are varied and will probably catch you out the first couple of times you fight them, it's just they do feel underwhelming.
Finally the length. This is essentially a quarter of an hour's worth of content stretched into hours due to brutal difficulty. You will see the same levels over and over again to reach the later levels, just to scratch the surface learning them before being wiped out and starting all over again. This ultimately can come down to skill (I'm not the most adequate at these games) but a lot of gamers will probably quit before completing this game.
Overall
The gameplay is very fun and very addictive, but does suffer from some poor game design. It also suffers from some brutal difficulty tropes common to older arcade games that feel unfair, but this is to be expected.
Graphics/Design
So the game takes place in a high security Soviet military base. As you progress you will see locations like missile silos, air bases and harbours. You will come across multiple types of military vehicles and personnel.
Pros
Solid. That's the word I would use to describe the graphics and design. A because it's well rounded and used well and B because it looks like you're in Russia and everything I've seen of Russia looks hard. There isn't a massive amount of colour but where it has been used it fits. The red bridge, the cold bluey green sky, the red brick walls, the military green tanks and jeeps, it all pops out from the grey and white snowy mountains and hard grey concrete buildings. Colour is used well with the enemy types aswell, clearly distinguishing them from each other. It's all designed well and fits.
Cons
There isn't any really. There isn't a huge amount of colour, but that's fitting for the setting.
Overall
It isn't the most memorable looking game ever, like it doubt anything about it will blow your mind, but its very well rounded and looks good especially if you like the look of old school 8-bit games.
Sound/Audio
It's what you would expect from an arcade game of this age. Very basic 8-bit chip tune. Levels open with a siren. There's a military themed song that plays during the level, a jingle that plays when you beat a level, a game over tune and a short simple version of Star-Spangled Banner when you beat the game. There's sound effects when stabbing and shooting, jumping and for explosions.
Pros
As a level opens you hear the blare of sirens as the Soviets are alerted to your position. It makes for an intense and exciting opening for each level.
The theme that plays during levels is made to sound like marching percussion commonly heard in the military and sets a better atmosphere. All the sound effects simple as they are all fit. Standard affair from a game of this age.
Cons
Nothing to really complain about, it's what you would expect. Does the job and are good quality.
Overall
The sound quality and design are all good for the time. There's no catchy, legendary theme song or memorable sound effects here, but all make the game a better package overall by being good quality and fitting for the setting that improve the atmosphere.
Verdict
Rush'n Attack is very much an arcade game of its time. A heavily gameplay focused military action game that is both addictive and brutally difficult, unfortunately hindered with some poor game design but still manages to be a fun and somewhat memorable experience. While I wouldn't reccomend this to modern gamers, fans of retro games or gaming history should at least check this cult classic out... just be prepared to fail. A lot.
Story/Campaign
Rush'n Attack, also known as Green Beret, is set during the cold war as you take the roll of a United States spec ops soldier tasked with going behind enemy lines in a Soviet military base to rescue some POWs.
That's it. There's no twists, no lore or depth that I could find and with some serious skill can be over within 10 - 20 minutes. It acts as a theme for a 1985 arcade action game, as was very common for games back then. A gameplay heavy game with a particular theme to appeal to a certain audience. It is what it is and I personally won't penalise it for that.
Gameplay
Addictive and infuriating, very much so, simultaneously. Over the duration of 4 very short levels, you run from A, while killing or avoiding (but mainly killing) soldiers of the Soviet variety, to reach B where you fight a boss and proceed to the next level. You start with 3 lives and start right back from the beginning when you're out, only gaining more when hitting the next threshold of points. Enemy types vary and you must learn their behaviour and movement patterns. You can jump and go prone to help avoid enemies and projectiles and levels often have 2 or 3 tiers which you can use ladders to reach. Armed mainly with just a knife, at a close enough range you stab enemies for a one shot kill. There are also 3 different weapon pickups. A flamethrower, a rocket launcher and grenades that have no more than 3 or 4 shots depending on which you pick up. These act as power ups and take out multiple enemies at once, but do vary in how you must use them.
Pros
It is addictive and fast paced. Learning the levels, enemy routines and behaviours and breaking it all down to finally master a level and move on the next with maximum lives and points is very satisfying. Once you get into your flow, running back and forth laying waste to enemies with merely a knife, jump here, use one of your very limited flamethrower rounds there, up this ladder down that one... it becomes tactical and sort of rhythmic. It makes you feel pretty badass, the main character puts John Wick to shame it's ridiculous fun.
Enemies are quite varied aswell keeping things fresh, not including bosses I counted roughly 10 different enemies with different behaviours or methods of attack. Some have guns or rocket launchers, some jump kick or shoot from parachutes gliding down from the skies, it definitely keeps you on your toes.
Cons
The cheap deaths. My god this wound me up. You can't jump to avoid enemies near a ladder. You will grab on mid jump, you won't expect it and you will die. This is not ideal in a game with very limited lives where you start all the way back at the beginning when they're gone. Not only that but dying can put you in an impossible position, because enemy fixed pattern sequences can change after resulting in you being in a very bad position completely blind to what's coming with no room to manoeuvre. You also lose your power up weapon which you very well may need to get out of the situation you're left in, because of the hugely overwhelming amount of enemies thrown at you in the last 2 levels, which leads me on to my next gripe.
The amount of enemies or at least the combination of enemies thrown at you. The best example would be this. Soldiers dressed in brown have no weapon. They run in a straight line and if they touch you, you're dead. These are the most common enemy and are easy to overcome... on their own. Mix them with the enemies dressed in green however and this creates a problem. The green enemies like to jump kick you, which leaves you with 2 options. Running straight under them or jump and stab. If these enemies are mixed and you jump and stab the green one, you land on a brown and die, but running under the green isn't an option because that requires no stopping or hesitation until you're completely past them, and you would have to stab the brown which stops you from moving. This on top of the fact that enemies can come from both directions and dying can leave you with no power up weapon means you are starting from the beginning, like it or not.
Another complaint in a way is the bosses. I felt relieved reaching a boss, because they're easy to work out and defeat. Bosses are meant to be hard not a breather due to the difficulty of the rest of the game, but they are varied and will probably catch you out the first couple of times you fight them, it's just they do feel underwhelming.
Finally the length. This is essentially a quarter of an hour's worth of content stretched into hours due to brutal difficulty. You will see the same levels over and over again to reach the later levels, just to scratch the surface learning them before being wiped out and starting all over again. This ultimately can come down to skill (I'm not the most adequate at these games) but a lot of gamers will probably quit before completing this game.
Overall
The gameplay is very fun and very addictive, but does suffer from some poor game design. It also suffers from some brutal difficulty tropes common to older arcade games that feel unfair, but this is to be expected.
Graphics/Design
So the game takes place in a high security Soviet military base. As you progress you will see locations like missile silos, air bases and harbours. You will come across multiple types of military vehicles and personnel.
Pros
Solid. That's the word I would use to describe the graphics and design. A because it's well rounded and used well and B because it looks like you're in Russia and everything I've seen of Russia looks hard. There isn't a massive amount of colour but where it has been used it fits. The red bridge, the cold bluey green sky, the red brick walls, the military green tanks and jeeps, it all pops out from the grey and white snowy mountains and hard grey concrete buildings. Colour is used well with the enemy types aswell, clearly distinguishing them from each other. It's all designed well and fits.
Cons
There isn't any really. There isn't a huge amount of colour, but that's fitting for the setting.
Overall
It isn't the most memorable looking game ever, like it doubt anything about it will blow your mind, but its very well rounded and looks good especially if you like the look of old school 8-bit games.
Sound/Audio
It's what you would expect from an arcade game of this age. Very basic 8-bit chip tune. Levels open with a siren. There's a military themed song that plays during the level, a jingle that plays when you beat a level, a game over tune and a short simple version of Star-Spangled Banner when you beat the game. There's sound effects when stabbing and shooting, jumping and for explosions.
Pros
As a level opens you hear the blare of sirens as the Soviets are alerted to your position. It makes for an intense and exciting opening for each level.
The theme that plays during levels is made to sound like marching percussion commonly heard in the military and sets a better atmosphere. All the sound effects simple as they are all fit. Standard affair from a game of this age.
Cons
Nothing to really complain about, it's what you would expect. Does the job and are good quality.
Overall
The sound quality and design are all good for the time. There's no catchy, legendary theme song or memorable sound effects here, but all make the game a better package overall by being good quality and fitting for the setting that improve the atmosphere.
Verdict
Rush'n Attack is very much an arcade game of its time. A heavily gameplay focused military action game that is both addictive and brutally difficult, unfortunately hindered with some poor game design but still manages to be a fun and somewhat memorable experience. While I wouldn't reccomend this to modern gamers, fans of retro games or gaming history should at least check this cult classic out... just be prepared to fail. A lot.
Mini Review: A very simple and addictive side scrolling action game. Very easy to jump and can technically be completed in 10-20 minutes. Good luck with that.