Rush Bros.

I’ve been sitting on my rear-end for a while now, staring at an empty word document, trying to figure out how to say what I want to say. You see I’m tasked with reviewing an indie game called Rush Bros. It’s an interesting concept, of a rhythm-based platformer that echoes Super Meat Boy in gameplay, and throws multiplayer racing through courses into the mix, and that sounds like a blast, right?

Unfortunately Rush Bros. is one of those sad examples of a lovely concept completely ballsed up on all fronts when it comes to actual execution.

Rush Bros. really tries to capitalise on the whole rhythm aspect of its gameplay by stating that the music you play along with, whether it’s the game’s soundtrack or music from your own library, changes the environment around you. The music definitely does have an effect on the game world, but not in any real ground-breaking fashion.

Speakers in the background will pulse and vibrate in time with the soundtrack, and moving obstacles will do so along to the music, but that’s essentially it. You won’t go through the same level twice on two different songs and have an experience that’s dramatically different. Don’t be like me. Don’t expect it to be awesome like that.

Another important part of the game is its multiplayer which can be played both online and with randomers across the globe, offline split-screen, or with Steam friends. I booted up a match with our very own John Brown to see how we got on with it, and let’s just say our time with the game ended when we said, with one voice, “I’m not playing this anymore.”

Even while chatting over Skype and racing against one another we just failed to have any level of fun with the game. We raced through the game’s uninspired environments barrelling headfirst into spike traps, getting stuck in death loops, and ruining each other’s ability to play with the, frankly, insane power-ups.

the biggest issue upon being flipped upside down is finding your character again on the densely packed, neon-vomit background.

The effects of power-ups range from making you run a lot faster to switching your opponent’s perspective upside down or reversing their controls. Those last two sound quite good in theory but in execution the change is so jarring (with no visual effect whatsoever) that the biggest issue upon being flipped upside down is finding your character again on the densely packed, neon-vomit background.

The whole game has an air of the incomplete about it, as if someone just hit the ‘compile’ button on a Visual Studio project. The controls are just floaty enough to be incredibly frustrating, and they make that speed boost power-up I mentioned into a complete liability that should be avoided at all costs. The art style is generally quite repulsive. A lot of it looks like the scribblings in the margins of a 14 year old boy’s school work. I guess it’s meant to look rather striking, but there’s striking and then there’s metaphorically gouging out your audience’s eyes with your inability to tell when enough is enough.

But hey, the music’s alright, I guess. Not great, just alright.


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One response to “Rush Bros.”

  1. John Brown avatar
    John Brown

    I’ve got to echo Johnny’s comments. I played a few levels on my own, a couple against an internet ‘random’ and then a few with Johnny for his test. At no time did I every feel compelled to play more and more. I like the tunes, but the rest… no thanks.

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