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Rush'N Attack: Ex-Patriot
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Graphics & Sound:
The original Rush'N Attack was a 2D side-scroller, with typically three different levels, usually street level, second story balconies and on top of vehicles and on top of buildings. Rush'N Attack: Ex-Patriot operates as a side-scroller, but utilizes the Unreal engine and all of the graphics are 3D models. This adds a little bit of dimensionality to the appearance, but this often causes more trouble than it's worth. Many times, there are entrances to vent shafts that are all but invisible, on account of the angle. Also, there were several times that I would size up a situation and want to try taking a staircase or hallway, only to realize that you can't actually go that direction; it's merely decoration. That's mildly annoying when dealing with a fully 3D world with some "invisible wall," but much more annoying when the world is 3D and you're locked into a single plane.
The sound effects are higher quality than the original game from yesteryear, but are very reminiscent of it all the same. The alarm siren that went off at the beginning of each level in Rush'N Attack is present here, when you trip an electronic security system sensor. There are some similarities between Rush'N Attack and Ex-Patriot, but overall, this new game seems to stray too far from the original, and not in good ways. |
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Gameplay:
The original game of Rush'N Attack was just that - a game of rushing and attacking... running and gunning. Probably the closest arcade comparison would be Contra.
Rush'N Attack: Ex-Patriot adds a stealth element to the mix, giving our hero the ability to step into darkened doorways in the background, or similar dark areas in the ceiling or ground, then, when a guard happens by, quickly grab him, pull him in and take him out. If the guard doesn't happen to walk all the way to where you are on his own, you can even tempt him over by making a whistling sound to call him over. This new stealth aspect is interesting, and can be used as a primary way of moving through certain parts of the game, but this makes it quite different from the original game in terms of gameplay, changing the game into more of a stealth game than an action game.
In addition to the added stealth ability, the design of most of the maps are quite different from the original as well; rather than sticking to the ground-second floor-roof concept, the first level has you trying to escape a prison, moving around in a multi-story complex filled with ladders, elevators and hidden passage (apparently part of the vent system). You will have to find keys in certain areas and then return to earlier areas to proceed. You will have to find and activate a switch to drain the water from an earlier part of a level so that you can now access a switch that is inside that part that will drain the water out of yet another area... In this manner, you will find yourself covering the labyrinthine complex multiple times, even if you don't get lost, which I, for one, did more than once. This adds to the amount of time it takes to actually make it all the way through the game, but doesn't necessarily make the game more fun.
In addition to your knife, which you always have available, you can often pick up weapons dropped by fallen enemies. There's a gun, a flame thrower, a couple types of grenades, and a rocket launcher... but each weapon you get is good for about three shots. Three. Okay, the flame thrower has "100 units" of fuel, but with careful attempts to use only short bursts, I never got more than four shots out of one. Mind you, the next weapon-laden enemy is probably right around the corner, but still... the same weapons that give you a mere three shots have unlimited ammunition when used against you.
Personally, I preferred using my knife, primarily, and was sometimes annoyed when I killed someone and accidentally picked up their gun, since wielding a gun changes some of the actions to other actions that aren't exactly the same. Case in point, there's a move you can do when you have just the knife equipped, whereby you run towards an opponent and then double tap the (Y) button and our hero slides under the enemy, knocking him into the air and either killing him, if he's a weak enemy or knocking him down long enough for you to run over and finish him off if he's a little stronger. Enemies who are not susceptible to this attack merely block it, but this buys you the time to attack them again, and, since double tapping (Y) when not running will trigger a finishing move, I could, for the most part, simply run through a level hitting (Y) a lot for long periods.
Generally, when I play a game that has one aspect that severely unbalances gameplay, I refer to that game as "broken." Rush'N Attack: Ex-Patriot somehow manages to take this to a new level, with multiple aspects that, on their own, serve to make the game easy, while not necessarily more fun. The stealth gameplay is one of these, since the stealth kills are one-hit kills, regardless of enemy... if you can stealth up behind them, it's over. This "sliding for home" move has a similar effect, making the stealth aspect nearly unnecessary and greatly reducing the need for planning your attacks. However, the aspect that most contributes to the fact that Rush'N Attack: Ex-Patriot is broken is the fact that the game actually is broken; there are several glitches that range from minor annoyances to deal breakers. If I wasn't playing Ex-Patriot to review it, I probably would have given up on it much earlier. |
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Difficulty:
There are three difficulty levels available, and these seem to affect how difficult it is to kill enemies and how much damage they do to you. Once you find a play style that works for you, the difficulty is nearly flat-lined, with difficulty primarily stemming from trying to find a switch or key-card, avoiding environmental dangers or confronting stronger enemies. Remember, however, that if you can get to an enemy and perform a stealth attack, it's a one-shot kill. This leaves us with the fact that quite possibly the most dangerous things in the game are the environmental dangers. There's radioactive water to contend with, and landing in that kills you without a chance of escape. There's also poisonous gas that can kill you (if you don't find and use a gas mask). Also beware the glowing radioactive material that is scattered about in the lab level - typically in places you'd really like to be able to land after jumping. It doesn't kill instantly, but it will continue to hurt you as long as you are in contact with it. Oh, and of course, there's the huge pistons of no obvious function... one hit from those and you're a goner.
The difficulty spikes greatly when you reach an end-boss, so I would suggest you select a difficulty level lower than you would typically choose for similar types of arcade games. Otherwise, you might find that you reach a boss battle and then simply can't proceed. I found this to be the case when I tried playing on the hardest difficulty and couldn't get past the end of the first chapter. I then restarted my game on the easiest difficulty and found that a couple of hours later, I had not only finished the first chapter, but had finished the second chapter, as well.
As of this writing, I have not completed the third chapter, but I don't know that I will bother to finish the game. A good chunk of the game is very easy, then there are a few places here or there that are overly tricky, usually involving something that kills you instantly or in one or two shots. I can literally run around with so many health packs that I'm not allowed to pick up more, but get killed over and over by these unforgiving dangers that don't allow you to use a health pack and keep going. These typically end up being very frustrating little sections where I keep dying and restarting at my last checkpoint, which really saps the fun out of playing. |
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Game Mechanics:
Rush'N Attack: Ex-Patriot is a confusing game. I enjoyed Rush'N Attack back in the day, but it never really had a huge following, all things considered, so I am not really sure why it was selected to make a comeback on home consoles. If it is intended for the fans, it probably would have had a stronger nostalgic draw if they had simply ported the original game to consoles. If they had done that, they could have kept the original graphics, went with 3D models or offered both options and stayed more true to the original by simply not adding in the stealth aspects.
(Oh, wait... it turns out they did just that. You can get the original game, ported to Xbox Live Arcade, for a mere 400 points and you can play it with the original graphics or updated 2D graphics. And, it has a Teen rating, allowing it to be accessible to a larger market. Why, again did they make this version?)
Regardless of any other aspects of the game, however, Rush'N Attack: Ex-Patriot suffers from a lot of bugs. I have accidentally jumped into walls and gotten stuck there on multiple occasions. Several of the light cones that indicate where the security sensors can "see" have been invisible until the first time I trip them, and then decided to show up... which is an issue, since seeing those cones helps you plan your stealth path around the security. I also managed to die somewhere the testers (or developers, in the apparent absence of testers) never intended me to and somehow confused the game so that it restarted me at the very beginning of the game, which I easily whipped through (since I had previously killed all of the enemies)... at least up until the point that I was supposed to take an elevator up, and I was trapped underneath it, since the game's glitch had teleported me past this obstacle without resetting the elevators location to where I could get into it. Restarting at my last checkpoint merely took me back to the very beginning of the level again; the only way I could proceed was to start a new game. Yup. I had to start the game all over again. And, after running a few feet into the game, I got my first tutorial message again. There is no way to disable these "helpful" prompts, which, at this point, tell you things you already know and interrupt the gameplay to do so. Your first time through, you might like seeing these tidbits of information, but once you know what they say and you're simply trying to get through the level quickly, you'll discover that you're hitting them every five seconds or so. Annoying doesn't begin to describe it. My usual suggestion for a game with issues such as these is to save often. However, since Rush'N Attack: Ex-Patriot only has autosaves and can mess that up such that you actually have to start over to proceed, you're really at the mercy of random chance. Good luck with that.
When I was describing my gaming experience to a friend, he questioned whether I was playing a release version of the game or a beta. Sadly, there were times I questioned this, myself. If you're not familiar with Rush'N Attack, then I would suggest skipping this one, unless you want the practice finding software bugs in games. If you were a fan of the original Rush'N Attack, then I don't really know what to advise; seeing Rush'N Attack: Ex-Patriot may give you some closure, but it may be unsettling to see how badly it's been mutilated. If you're considering getting this, I would suggest downloading the demo and trying that out first.
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-Geck0, GameVortex Communications AKA Robert Perkins |
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