PixlBit

Similar to Contra, but more civilized and less fun

Rush 'N Attack was released for the NES in 1987. It was developed and published by Konami, the same company behind the hit Contra the previous year. It's considered a run 'n gun, but is much different from its alien-blasting cousin. Your main weapon is not a gun, but a knife. Also, it's set during the Cold War, and you play as a Special Forces operative invading Russia. That's far more realistic than Contra ever was. But as we'll see, blasting aliens is far more fun than knifing Communist guerillas.

After choosing 1 Player or 2 Player the game starts right away. Your mission is given to you immediately as your character parachutes from a helicopter: "Your mission: Destroy the enemy's secret weapon." Sounds simple enough. But it's not. In order to just get to this secret weapon, you'll have to make it past countless enemies and avoid all kinds of deadly attacks.

The button configuration is a little different. B attacks with your knife and A does nothing until you grab a special weapon (such as a bazooka or grenades). In order to jump, you have to press up on the d-pad. This can be a problem, as it's easy to accidentally jump when you turn around. In order not to do this, you have to lift your thumb off the d-pad and move it to the other side, but when swarms of enemies are coming at you from both sides, you don't have time to do that. Dying is also a problem. Like in Contra, one hit will kill you, but unlike Contra, when you die you're sent back to a previous part of the level. Every time you die after that you'll start farther and farther back in the level, making progression a pain.

The level layout is very simple. All you have to do is run to the right and dispatch anyone in your way using your knife. Occasionally you'll need to jump over a mine, but there's not much to it besides that. Enemies will come at you from front and behind. Some will just run at you, others will jump when they're close to you, others will stop and shoot, while others shoot at you from the safety of a tower. You have to pay attention to the color of the enemy (they're all pallette swaps of one guy).

If you pick up a weapon, such as the bazooka or grenades, you can use it three times before it disappears, which is such a shame. The bazooka fires a massive bullet which can shoot through multiple enemies on the screen. The grenade makes a blast a couple of feet in front of you. You can also find the revolver, which is a special weapon that you can use for a short time, firing it as many times as possible before time runs out.

The bosses are very disappointing when you compare them to the frightful and huge Contra bosses. Level 1 has you fighting off three groups of enemies as they run at you. Level 2 you fight three guys on jetpacks that swoop down so you jump up and knife them. Level 3 you fight a group of dogs that run at you from both sides. Pretty boring, if you ask me.

By level 4, things really start to get chaotic. Paratroopers shoot at you from the sky, cannons fire at you, plus footmen are running everywhere, some of them stopping to shoot at you too! RNA is just too frustrating because there's too much to look out for; you really have to pay attention to the color of the enemies and even then you'll slip up and die. You only have five lives to use, and after that, it's Game Over (no continues!). The bad news is, the Konami Code doesn't work in this game! You just have to tough it out.

The music is good, although they reuse the same tunes a few times. It's very militaristic in sound and does a good job of conveying the fact that you're fighting in a war. The game is also two players, Player 1 controlling the blue guy and Player 2 the red guy, just like in Contra. I suppose the game might be a little less aggravating with a friend.

Final Verdict--3 Stars: It's Okay

I expected better things from RNA considering Konami made it. Sadly, it disappoints due to its tricky controls (that would be the jumping part) and multiple frustrations. There's just too much going on, and one slip-up will send you back in the level. Granted, I'm sure it's easier than real life guerilla warfare, although I'd probably die in that pretty quickly too. If you like Contra, you may enjoy this game, but just know that it doesn't match up to blasting alien scum with a bare-chested dude holding a giant gun. Knives are okay, but guns are far superior, and those are not common enough in RNA to really make the game special.

Join me every Saturday as we take a look back at all kinds of retro games, good and bad.