Rush Bros (PC) - Review

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If you're looking for a beautiful platformer with tight controls, an engaging story, and addictive gameplay, then this game is not for you. However, if you are looking for a decent game that teases you with moments of creativity then maybe Rush Bros is exactly what you're looking for. 

The plot for Rush Bros is fairly odd. Two former DJ partners decide it's time to go head-to-head with one another. Most DJs would have some kind of a "DJ-off" in a club to see who could scratch the best remixes, but these are not your average DJs. They instead choose to race through insane obstacle courses filled with death traps. Makes a lot of sense, right? Putting the weird plot behind us, this concept still has the potential to make a great video game. 

The goal of each level is to race to the end while avoiding the traps and obstacles. There are several possible routes to take, power-ups to grab, and abilities to master, and setting a good speed run is heavily based on the gamer's ability to experiment and really get to know all of the different options that exist within a course. 

With that in mind, the main focus of Rush Bros is speed runs. Ghosts, based off of your best time, will run alongside you to provide a reference for how well you're doing. There are also online leaderboards, so you can compare your best times with users across the world. Speed runs are where Rush Bros really shines; if you're the kind of gamer who will play a level on repeat to shave off fractions of a second, then you may find this game enjoyable. On the other hand, if you are not such a gamer then you will want to pass on Rush Bros. 

Although Rush Bros best shines as a single player speed runner, there are a few nagging issues that keep the overall experience from being greatly enjoyable. The game's controls are sketchy at best. They are not precise, which makes avoiding the obstacles more of a chore than a test of your ability to perfect a racing line. The wall jumping is also laggy at times, which can really throw off your timing. These issues will not bother you much at first, but as you advance to the more difficult levels, where precision is truly necessary, you will find yourself screaming at the game. 

Another glaring issue with Rush Bros is the ability to import your own music. This concept is one that should have made the game great. However, the music import feature is buggy and hard to navigate. The game will oftentimes have problems locating your music or will tell you that your music is inaccessible. When Rush Bros does manage to detect your songs it will often, seemingly at random, choose and pick which ones it can import. 

Rush Bros also has a relatively decent multiplayer mode that is reminiscent of Sonic 2. In this mode you will race against an opponent, but unfortunately there is no kind of character interaction between the two of you as you both run through separate versions of the level. Despite this, many gamers will probably pick up Rush Bros for this mode alone. Racing against your friends provides a decent level of entertainment despite the game's setbacks.

Then there is the issue of online multiplayer. Unless you have friends who play this game, you will most likely not get to experience the multiplayer mode at all because finding people to play with is near impossible. 

Rush Bros is one of those games that had the potential to be a really unique gaming experience, but ultimately drops the ball down the stretch. The game promises to be a fun Super Meat Boy-style platformer, but with a twist. The most interesting feature of Rush Bros is the ability to import your own music into the game, which will then create unique levels and challenges based upon your tracks, but even this falls short. These concepts all sound appealing to the ear, but Rush Bros is filled with several flaws that prevent it from delivering on its potential.

This review is based on a review copy of Rush Bros for the PC, provided by the publisher.

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