Let’s face it. Recycling is something we do because we know its right to help the Earth we live on. But it really isn’t very exciting to think of our recyclables becoming new material. Sure, we all know that our recycled paper can become new notebooks and packaging without tearing down new trees, and that’s damn cool. But the thought lacks a certain entertaining element to it. Rector Studio must have thought that this was unacceptable when endeavoring to create Rustbucket Rumble, a game that could change your mind about the entertainment value of scrap metal. So, does using left over pieces of metal to create an enormous fighting robot interest you? Yes? Then Rustbucket Rumble may just be the casual action game you are searching for.
In the story, humans made a mess of the earth and left for greener pastures on a new planet. Left behind were machines that once served them without reserve. Left their own devices (rimshot), the arch-rivals robotic heads of the Robotic Engineering Depot (aka the Red Team) and Blucom Discarded Plastics and Metals (I think you can see this is the Blue Team) decided they could have their own robot battles. Each company is now searching for materials they can use to build a gigantic and powerful robot to blast the opposing team into nothingness.
This 2D, side-scrolling, team-based combat game is fun to play when you’re in the mood for a bit silly fighting. There are six different robot fighters; each equipped with their own stats and weapons. With bombardier, brute, engineer, grunt, ninja, and sniper models, there is robot with its own fighting style for everyone. Working as a team, three players must attack the opposing company and – literally – turn them into a scrap heap. Once the enemy becomes nothing but scattered recyclables, you can collect and bring them back to your base to help contribute to the construction of your team’s giant robot. There is a catch, though; there’s always a catch. You have a limited amount of time to do so as each player’s robot has a set time to re-spawn with full health after being deconstructed down to scrap.
Speed and thinking ahead are key in Rustbucket. Using a keyboard to control your robot can slow you down, so I highly recommend using a game controller if you have one available. Making your moves as fast as you can is vital, especially if you are playing one of the slower, heavy-duty robots.
Each robot’s stats are simple and to the point. Health and speed are clearly marked, and each one’s abilities are fairly easy to execute after working through the tutorials. Playing 3v3 is fun because there aren’t too many players hogging up the map; there’s already enough chaos with the recycling taking place on each side. The only thing that I found lacking in this simple, yet amusing game is a chat feature. There really isn’t a whole lot of time to talk during the fights, but having a few key or button-set words would be helpful for teams to coordinate better. Despite this, I was impressed by a few players helping each other out after someone was scrapped.
The colorful maps are reminiscent of children’s TV shows like Bob the Builder. Rustbucket is really for any age, but it definitely has kid-friendly vibe to it. I could see it being the type of game that schools would encourage their students to play during computer classes, mostly because it puts a very positive, and cool, spin on recycling in a very subtle way. When playing, there are no written, or spoken, messages that preach the recycling memo. It’s just all about the fun of trying to build a giant robot to decimate your opponent.
As the game progressed, and being turned into scrap metal for the opposing team’s robot a few times, I became determined more than ever to destroy the other team in order to complete my robot. But Rustbucket Rumble is one of those games that is fun to play in half-hour intervals, or when you’re not in the mood to get submersed in the more technical games. For what it is, though, Rustbucket Rumble is a very entertaining casual fighter game that lets players release some energy. I recommend playing the game to see for yourself how it can help you maybe change your opinion and find that recycling isn’t so boring after all.
4 out of 5
