Rush 'n' Attack (NES)

Rush 'n' Attack is an arcade game released in 1985 that was ported to the NES later on for its popularity. The game is set during the Cold War (get it? Rushn Attack? Rushin Attack, Rushian Attack, Russian Attack? Huh?), where you play as a lone soldier sent into enemy territory to destroy their "secret weapon." Why always with the secret weapons, anyway? How is he even supposed to find it? Plus, why on Earth is he running through enemies alone? What is this, Contra? Anyway, that's the plot; you can also dispatch enemies with a knife and weapons you pick up, but touching an enemy means death.

Just yesterday my dad and I were sitting out in the backyard, and we were on the subject of video games, so I asked him what his favorite arcade games were. The first thing that came up was the fact that he and my uncle (his brother) would always go to the arcades in their spare time. They were big fans of Double Dragon, but the first one he told me about was Rush 'n' Attack. He told me the basic idea and with my having access to nintendo8, I decided to try to find it. I found the NES version, which was different from the Arcade version, but roughly the same, so I decided to review it.

I think that the whole idea behind this game is insane. I mean, the U.S. army ends up setting off an alarm, but still dropping one commando in with nothing but a knife, left to his own resources. I mean what, is he Rambo? John McClane? Well, I'm partial to Roy Rogers myself, love those sequin shirts.

Anyway, despite the complete bizarreness here, the game is really cool. The big issue for me is that real weapons never come up often enough. You can sock down as many enemies as you like, but it all depends on whether the game feels like giving you an advantage.

Some of the enemies are tricky to bring down too; you know, some are faster, some are lying down to get you, some jump into you, which makes it hard because they touch you, and you die. That makes it quite stressful considering the fact that you're being swarmed by enemies who will rub you and kill you. I guess they're radioactive or something.

Although regardless of the crazy level of challenge this game has to offer, it is completely awesome otherwise. Think of it - you're actually able to live out the fantasy of plunging into a barrage of enemies and taking them all down one at a time, delivering righteous justice at every turn! This is one game where you really get to feel like a "bad dude" and battle against enormous odds, which for the right people, is priceless.

As such, I definitely recommend playing this game, because it's fun by nature and you'll come back to it over and over.