Rush'n Attack: Ex-Patriot

Rush'n Attack: Ex-Patriot
Developer(s)	Vatra Games[1]
Publisher(s)	Konami
Engine	Unreal Engine 3
Platform(s)	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Release date(s)	March 29, 2011 (PSN) March 30, 2011 (XBLA)
Genre(s)	Platformer, sidescroller, stealth, action, Metroidvania[2]
Mode(s)	Single-player

Rush'n Attack: Ex-Patriot is a platformer action game, the sequel to the 1985 Rush'n Attack.^[3] It was developed by Vatra Games and published by Konami. The game follows Sergeant Sid Morrow, an American special agent sent with his team to recover a prisoner from a secret Russian military base. It was released March 29, 2011 on the PlayStation 3 via PlayStation Network and March 30, 2011 for the Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade.

Gameplay

The player primarily engages enemies with a knife in Rush'n Attack: Ex-Patriot. Players are rewarded for stealth kills from behind and from the shadows.

Rush'n Attack: Ex-Patriot is inspired by many of the action gameplay elements from the original Rush'n Attack. The game is played from a 2.5D perspective, with players being able to move horizontally and vertically. The game has several new features over its predecessor such as non-linear levels, stealth-based combat, attack combos and usable equipment such as gas masks and night vision goggles.^[1][4][5] Associate Producer James Wong stated in an interview that the original game was "wave after wave of enemies" and that the development team sought to "go a little deeper" while retaining the "pick up and play nature of the original game."^[6] The game spans three large levels that are traversed both horizontally and vertically.^[6]

The player character is initially armed only with a knife, but can pick up other temporary-use weaponry such as grenades, rifles and rocket launchers.^[1] The game sometimes requires the player character to use stealth to avoid enemy units or security cameras. Triggering any alarm will result in nearby enemies rushing to the source of the alarm trigger. Alarms can by triggered by making too much noise or by being noticed by one of the security cameras within the game's setting.^[7] In a departure from Rush'n Attack, the player character is given a health bar instead of the original one hit death.^[8]

shank combos are the primary way in which players can earn points.^[9] The combat system is based on systema, a Russian martial art.^[9] As the character progresses new combos can be unlocked.^[8] Chaining combos together will result in the player gaining more points earned.^[10] The character can also dispatch enemies using stealth tactics. Generally stealth kills reward the player with a higher score.^[10] Stealth kills can be performed by hiding in dark areas or by entering dark doorways, then exiting for the kill as an enemy passes.^[9][11]

Plot

Rush'n Attack: Ex-Patriot takes place fifteen years after the Cold War struggle between Russia and the United States. During a flashback the player watches as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) learns that the Russians have discovered a previously unknown material called Ulyssium that could be used to create the world's most powerful nuclear missiles.^[9] To combat the threat they form Harvest, a secret CIA task force designed to investigate and infiltrate the Soviet weapons program. The Cold War ends without confrontation, and the team is extracted from Russia, save for one member. Fifteen years later new Harvest operative Sgt. Sid Morrow, callsign Wolf Spider, is sent with a team on Operation: Angel Tear to retrieve original Harvest team member Rory Gibson, who had been abandoned in Russia during the extraction.^[12] Having received intelligence that the missile program may have been re-initiated, the CIA also tasks Wolf Spider with re-evaluating the missile threat, sabotaging it if necessary.^[1]

Development

Rush'n Attack: Ex-Patriot was revealed by Konami on April 12, 2010 at Konami Gamers Night.^[1][13] It is a sequel to the original Rush n Attack video game.^[14] It was developed by Vatra Games and published by Konami. It was released March 30, 2011.^[1] It is powered by Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3.^[1] During E3 2010 Ex-Patriot Associate Producer James Wong said in an interview that the team wanted to "retain the fun and quick pick up and play nature of the original game, but there's a little more depth.^[6] Wong also revealed during the interview that scores would be posted to online leaderboards. He estimated gameplay time to 6-8 hours.^[6] In an interview Pearl Lu, Brand Manager revealed that Ex-Patriot was built using Unreal Engine 3.^[14]

Reception

Rush n Attack: Ex-Patriot
Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings 47.30% (PS3)[15] 51.12% (X360)[16] Metacritic 47/100 (PS3)[17] 51/100 (X360)[18] Review scores Publication Score Eurogamer 8/10[19] Game Informer 6/10[20] GamesRadar 3/10[21] IGN 4/10[22] Joystiq [23]

Prior to its release, Rush'n Attack: Ex-Patriot drew comparisons to Shadow Complex and Bionic Commando Rearmed by the media.^[10][24] Upon release it was received to lukewarm reception from critics. It currently averages 47.30% on the PlayStation 3 51.12% on the Xbox 360 at the aggregate site GameRankings.^[15][16] Metacritic reports similar scores; the PlayStation 3 version holds an aggregate score of 47/100 while the Xbox 360 version has a score of 51/100.^[17][18] The lowest score came from PSNStores' Ben Jones with a 20% approval rating,^[25] while the highest score came from Kristan Reed of Eurogamer who gave the game an 80% approval.^[19] Sales data during the game's first week revealed that only 652 players had scores on the game's leaderboard, the lowest opening week for any game in the month of March 2011. In contrast the next highest game, Strania had 3,250 players posted to their leaderboards, with the highest opener, Beyond Good & Evil HD, posted 41,629 players.^{[26][note 1]}

Arthur Gies of IGN was disappointed with the game. In his review he begins simply with "Let's get straight to the point: Rush 'n Attack: Ex-Patriot is not a good game".^[22] He stated the game "plays badly, it looks dated, and its design is uninspired and boring."^[22]

Notes

References