Overall 8.6 Graphics 7.5 Sound 8 Addictive 9 Story 6 Depth 5 Difficulty 8
10
The Cold War Redxsparrow
When I was seven years old, I used to have one of those controllers that you can plug into a T.V. and play the variety of games that was on the controller. The controller was shaped like a box with a joystick, two buttons, and I think a start button. I usually sit in my playroom with a little T.V. that was placed on a rack with my brother sitting next to me. All the games on the controller were all arcade games, and most of them were released on the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Atari 2600. Some of the games that I remembered were Galaga, Frogger, this Kung-fu, Street Fighter sort of game, and Rush’n Attack. Some of the games were easy to play, and some were difficult and frustrating. The Street Fighter kind of game was the one I mostly played, and I typically reach up to level twenty and die. Galaga is the game I die on the third or fourth level. Frogger is one of the easiest games on the controller. The game that I am focusing on in this review is Rush’n Attack.
Rush’n Attack was first known as the title “Green Beret” in the arcade industry. The arcade game was created by Konami, one of the best companies to manufacture video games in the late 1980’s through the 2000’s, and produced in the year 1985. Green Beret and Rush’n Attack are both similar games but have different elements in graphics, characters, and mostly the name. Green Beret is about an American person who is sent out to free his soldiers from a Russian prison camp. The American wears a green camouflage uniform, and the Russians wear different kinds of uniforms. There are a total of four levels in this arcade game.
Two years later, Konami released the arcade game on the NES but changed some things. They changed the title name, the main player, the Russians, the plot, mostly everything. Ok, maybe the two games are different but has the share of graphics in sort of way. Anyway, they changed the name from the Green Beret to Rush’n Attack. Rush’n, Rush in, Russian! Yeah, the object of this game is to kill Russians. While killing the Russians, there is an important mission that you have to do.
The plot of this game is you’re an American, just like the Green Beret arcade game, and your mission is to destroy the enemies, that are the Russians, secret weapon. This plot is different than the Green Beret. Moving forward, the American has to travel through six levels, making it different than the arcade by adding two additional levels for the NES version. As you go through each of the levels, thousands of Russians would want to kill you. There are four types of Russians, if you include the yellow Russian that looks like you. The brown, dark Russians are those who run all over the place. It feels like that they were just trained and now they are going off to war. The orange ones are the Russians that do a kick jump to your face. They are tough to kill unless you attack in mid-air or keep tapping the B-button. The yellow ones that look like you always carry a weapon with them. They are always lying on something like a truck or the road and a few seconds, like two to three, they stand up and run toward the direction that they were facing in. Some of the weapons that they drop are rifles, little guns, and grenades. You can only shoot three bullets out of the rifle and throw three grenades. The little guns have a time limit. There is an invincibility item that you can get from a yellow Russian, but there is only one in the entire game. The invincibility item is shaped as a star. How original. The yellow Russians are the almost smart ones. These Russians carry a gun around and only can shoot you when you are in the opposite direction and standing still. Sometimes the yellow Russians descend from a parachute, making it difficult for you to block.
As I said before, there are six levels in Rush’n Attack. The scenery on the first level starts off with a bridge. The bridge leads to trucks that carry large missiles and then leads to missile rockets in the background. The ending boss of this level is a pack of those jump kick Russians. After you defeat the boss, the American jumped onto the fence, climbed up, and leaped over the barbed wires with victory. Why not go around it? You can see the side of the fence is open. Anyway, this is found after you complete the boss in every level. The second level is like a military airport. This is one of the additional levels added in the NES version. This place introduces the yellow almost smart Russians. The ending boss is three dudes in jetpacks, throwing grenades at you. Sometimes, one of them can leave the screen without letting you kill it, yet it still counts as a defeat. The third level is the Harbor. You would see warehouses in the beginning, crates in the middle of the game, and ships at the end. The ending boss for this level is a set of dogs. One line of dogs comes from the right, then the left, then back to the right and left, and then both sides. The fourth level is called the Bridge. You will be greeted with those dark brown Russians that throw grenades out of barrel tanks and a power trooper, yellow Russians in parachutes. The ending boss is to kill the three Russians in mini helicopters. They throw grenades at you in a straight line from left to right while descending down onto the ground. Level five is sort of like a camp. The level has brown house camps, and then leads to the woods, and finally leads to a long and red brick wall. I think behind that wall are American prisoners being captured by the Soviet Russians. The boss at the end is three power troopers, descending from the sky in parachutes. I found this boss to be very tough because the bullets can be shot at any point, making it hard for you to dodge. The last and final level is a warehouse. This is the second additional level added in the NES version. The warehouse is holding the secret weapon at the end, being guarded by the yellow Russians look alike and brown and orange Russian men. I found it unintelligent when the American has to destroy the secret weapon with a rifle. Why not disable it? “Woohoo, I destroy the secret weapon. Now I am going to die.” After you wiped out the weapon, you ran for your life out of the building.
There was not much to offer in this video game. The only thing to do in this game is to kill the Soviet Russians and demolish the secret weapon that was to blow up the U.S.A. If you were compared to a game like the Legend of Zelda, you can see the differences. Rush’n Attack is an intermediate game in difficulty. Even though some of the enemies do not shoot at you, it is not an easy game. The enemies can come from different sides. This game requires reflexes and timing for you to move and murder the enemies. You also need patience. If you lack that in the game, you will have a rough time. The controller is not easy and imperfect. You got your basic shooting button, B-Button, but there is no jump button. The only way to jump is push up on the D-Pad. To climb ladders, you press the same button, up. This can be tricky when you try to jump over something and a ladder is on the other side. You will always get on the ladder.
The graphics and sounds are amazing. I can really see how Soviet Russia’s military location is in the late 1980’s. Moving on, it is clear to see the weapons that the Russians have in storage, and everything looks clear to the eyes. The music in this game is awesome. The music in each level starts off with a siren. This fits the sound of the music because it is saying that an intruder is crossing a private territory. I would say that Rush’n Attack has one of the greatest NES soundtracks.
Rush’n Attack will always be a classic for me. It is fun and addicting to play, and it is a great action game. I find it strange that the box art cover has an American, wearing a green camouflage uniform, while the video game’s American is wearing a blue suit. Some people may not find this classic maybe because it is offending to the Soviet Russians, and people may think that Konami is into that war. Even though this game has flaws, offense, and difficulty, I will always love Rush’n Attack.
Review Rating: 5/5
Submitted: 10-04-11
Updated: 10-04-11
Review Replies: 0
8
Russians Hacked endings
I've reviewed several NES games with soldiers in them, and I think its time to put commandoes aside for a green beret who doesn't fight with a rifle, but with a deadly knife. Rush'n Attack is a simple game. You are a soldier, a green beret who is going one-man army. Go infiltrate the enemy bases and stab them to death. You heard me, soldier! You get a knife. And you will use it to exercise extreme prejudice on the bad guys, who might be from Russia. Maybe. Run and stab. Get to the end of a linear path and fight a group of enemies. Then repeat a few more stages. Its not rocket science. But you will be blowing up a rocket. Did I mention that? So maybe it is rocket science!Graphics: 7When you first play the game, you will notice the detail in the backgrounds is quite good. This is a running theme throughout this game. The people's sprites are not particularly great, but some wear combinations of colors which shows variety. Then you get to the second stage, and see all the enemies have changed not just color but their whole outfits. It does this for each stage, snow suits, camo, even boss types like the paratroopers! The various, detailed backgrounds and changes to enemy design helps make graphics very impressive, and get over shortcomings like the weak explosion effects from grenades and such.Sound: 7The music in this game is great! The opening theme is quite memorable, and good tunes follow, especially the finale. The uncommon weapons you find like bazooka sound fine when you fire them, and the explosions also sound good, even if they don't look it. The death sound of your green beret is also classic Konami.Addictiveness: 8This is a fun game. I'd say its close to a twitch game - with lots of foes coming almost nonstop from multiple directions. I chalk it up to the fact every enemy is a one hit kill (and you for that matter). You're horribly outnumbered, but if you strike first, you live. Its visceral in the close-quarter rush of enemies, and each has tell-tale signs to give you a strategy. You might die alot, but the game jumps you right back in quickly. Each level offers a few new surprises and usually a new enemy type, as well.Story: 5There's a super-weapon and you have to get rid of it. You're reminded to keep plugging ahead at the end of each stage. Sadly, mission briefing doesn't clue you into what the super weapon IS, so how will you know when you find it? One of the weak points of this game is the story, BUT the action is fast-paced so you don't have too much time to think on that anyway.Depth: 4Rush'n Attack doesn't do much to expand beyond its arcade roots. The levels like the arcade (which had a flamethrower enemy, and less stages overall). However, there are no secret ladder areas under the minefields, as in the arcade. This is a shame compared to other NES games like the interesting Commando - which added secret bonus rooms. Or even the Gold-star NES game Bionic Commando, which reinvented the wheel and gave the port a complete overhaul that overshadows their original arcade game. Rush'n Attack does not have any of this. You get 3 weapons, a pistol, a grenade, or bazooka, and your trusty knife. In fact, you'll likely get very good at using the knife by stage 3/4/5 so theres almost no need for a special weapon. The addition of special boss type units (like a dog pack, or helicopter units) are neat, but fairly easy to defeat as well.
Difficulty: Learning curve. Once you get it, this game is not too tough. Again, by the middle of the game you should be well acquainted with most of the tricks this game will throw at you. You get 3 main troop types.
1) A running type, he runs fast or slow, in one direction. If you get behind him, he doesn't turn or chase you. The slow one is usually more trouble than the fast one.
2) A karate type. This guy is beginner poison. He runs at you and does a jump kick right for your head. You can actually run under him, and not get hurt. The problem is he sometimes travels in karate guy gangs. Overcome your hesitation and jump and stab out the whole wave.
3) The gun type. This is the only smart enemy who tracks you. If you go up a ladder, he will follow. He also tries not to get too close, so he can shoot you with his pistol. He's not brilliant, but when mixed in with the other two, he can be a tough target. You can usually run up to him right away and stab him before he starts his keep-away tactics.
There are other types, but often one-offs specific to a stage, like mortar soldiers, or the attack dogs. There is nothing really special about any of them. If you can master beating the 3 main types of foes, these guys shouldn't give you too much trouble.
Overall: 8
The game is quite fun, despite lacking any secret levels or even a pistol. Its alot like Rolling Thunder, fast-paced multi-level action with numerous enemies on screen at once. This frantic gameplay is what can keep you coming back. And thats something to sink your knife into.
Graphics 7 Sound 7 Addictive 8 Story 5 Depth 4 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 5/5
Submitted: 09-08-14
Review Replies: 0
10
Rush 'n Attack Maverick987
Rush 'n Attack is an amazing game for the NES by konami who have made somme of the best games on nintendo like contra and castlevania. In Rush 'n attack you play as a guy who goes around killing Russians with only a knife although you can pick up other weapons like a rocket launcher, grenades and a gun. This game is also quite hard when you get to the second level as there are soldiers in towers shooting at you aswell as ground soldiers constantly running at you.
In this game the music is amazing it is one of the best soundtracks to a 8 bit NES game.
The control is not perfect as you have to press up to jump and sometimes you can accidently jump when changing direction and you will have to change direction a lot because of soldiers coming at you from all angles.
Overall this game is one of the best that the NES has to offer.
Graphics 8 Sound 9 Addictive 10 Story 7 Depth 6 Difficulty 9
Review Rating: 3.8/5
Submitted: 04-18-11
Updated: 04-21-11
Review Replies: 0