RipTen Review: Rush’n Attack: Ex Patriot (XBLA)

Rush’N Attack is a victim of an unfortunate predicament. You see, when video-games were still being pioneered in the basic sense, sidescrolling platformers were kick ass experiences filled with flashy guns and gigantic boss battles.

Fast forward fifteen or so years and we’re now seeing countless HD remakes of old-school titles pouring out like my drunken emotions. Konami saw luck back in Februrary with Hard Corps Uprising, however lightning definitely hasn’t struck twice in this case.

Rush’N Attack: Ex-Patriot tells the story of a crack squad of knife-wielding special forces operatives sent into a Russian base to discover the true nature of some mysterious secret weapon. The story is pretty generic, and carries a very movie-esque feel.

Based off the original 1985 platformer ‘Rush’n Attack’, Ex Patriot is a reboot of sorts developed by Vatra Games. However even though it’s like a reboot, there’s very little similarities between the older and newer titles.

For those of you familiar with the Bionic Commando: Rearmed title, well you’ll feel right at home playing Ex Patriot. In fact, I’d almost goes as far to say that someone at Konami actively decided to just copy the aesthetic from one game to another. It’s by no means a bad move on their behalf, but it’s definitely noticeable if you’re familiar with the game.

Movement throughout the levels feels weird and there’s an annoying animation glitch that renders your character unmovable between movement animations. There’s also boss battles that left me filled with surplus rage due to the infinite juggle capabilities the AI bosses always seem to exhibit. It’s not that the bosses are unbeatable, they’re just cheap.

As I mentioned earlier, your super team of ninjas sneak through a military base employing the deadliest weapon known to man… a knife. You’ll occasionally find projectile weapons scattered throughout the level, however you’d be stupid to use anything but the knife. Up close and personal attacks take on a violent San Quentin style shanking execution, and you can also sneak up behind unsuspecting idiot guards and give them a taste of the cold steel.

The element of stealth is partially ruined however, and the veil of surprise ripped off so quick it snaps your neck. The scattered guards have a serious case of ‘eyesinthebackofthehead-itis’ and a number of times I was ‘spotted’ by a guard who wasn’t even looking at me just as I was about to ram my knife into him.

Whilst that’s good for Mr. Henchman’s family, it’s a shit situation for me… when I’m dead.

It’s not that Ex Patriot is a bad game – it’s definitely not that – it’s just not good. The visuals look alarmingly outdated, the gameplay is definitely from an era long gone and the cheap AI left me feeling incredibly jaded to the experience.

The Rundown:

+ Cool shanking animations
+ Underneath the problems there’s some fun components
- Poor control
- Enemies feel cheap

Rush’n Attack: Ex Patriot was developed by Vatra Games and published by Konami for the Xbox LIVE Arcade and Playstation Store. Our copy was provided for review by the publisher. Single player was played til completion.