Bust-N-Rush
Score: 79% ESRB: Not Rated Publisher: Techtonic Games Developer: Techtonic Games Media: Download/1 Players: 1 - 2 (Online) Genre: Action
Graphics & Sound: Bust-N-Rush is one of those games that focuses on one mechanic and explores that, seemingly simple, idea in some interesting ways. In this case, Bust-N-Rush is all about running and doing whatever is necessary to keep running. The game's three locations share a common feel, but are drastically different environments. One location is in space with pathways of floating rocks, with space stations thrown in to keep the level from feeling too stark. Another has you running through caves filled with lava, while the third is a factory setting that occasionally opens up to expanses of churning grinders instead of a floor. The game's futuristic visual theme is complemented by techno music that stays in the background and seems to loop fairly well. The background music is accompanied by the the sounds of the objects you break and a voice that announces what power ups you have picked up. While there is nothing spectacular about the game's visual or audio aspects, they get the job done and fit right with the rest of the game.
Gameplay: Bust-N-Rush sticks you on a one-way, randomly generated track fitting one of the three themes described in the previous section. You play Kovo, an ox of a creature that will bust through pretty much anything that comes in his way. Well, that's not exactly true, he will break through the objects that are outlined in blue, but the red ones will end his charge. Your goal is to dodge or jump around the red objects while hitting the blue ones in order to increase your score and speed. It sounds simple until the game has you rocketing at some fairly outrageous speeds and all of that hand-eye coordination that you've been contributing to videogames will need to be used in order to keep Kovo from dying in one of the various ways Bust-N-Rush has in store. Bust-N-Rush offers up three gameplay modes: Quest, Survival and Bust-A-Friend. Survival is simple enough, run as long as you can and get that score as high as possible. Bust-A-Friend lets you challenge a friend in a race to see who can get the highest score, while Quest Mode meters out challenges for you to complete. These challenges range from staying alive for a certain amount of time to picking up a required number of power ups. There are also some that are specific to a location. These are challenges like destroying a certain number of meteors or forklifts or stalactites. Each of the three locations has 30 challenges that you will be asked to complete, but it doesn't just give them to you all at once. Instead, you will be asked to complete them in a specific order and you will have at most two challenges in your list at a time.
Difficulty: Bust-N-Rush offers three levels of difficulty when it comes to the challenges in Quest Mode, and quite frankly, the challenges themselves are the same, its the scale of the challenge that changes. For instance, a challenge to pick up a particular power up on Easy might ask for just one, while Hard asks for two, and you will need to get three of them for Insane. As a result, nabbing the challenge on a harder setting means that you will get the less difficult ones as well. The key to Bust-N-Rush is fast fingers and persistence. While the level is generated on-the-fly, and there aren't any set patterns to memorize, you can still get a good feel of what parts of the maps can offer and you can get a good feel for how to handle some of the tougher obstacles it throws at you.
Game Mechanics: Bust-N-Rush offers some interesting power ups to keep the game entertaining. In the space stations, you can jump into an item that will flip gravity and you will start running on the ceiling, while the factory setting has various items that will either give you an extra boost, or knock you down towards the ground. While those are themed items you will find in only those particular levels, there are also pickups that will do everything from give you a speed boost (and let you plow through red items), to ones that reveal more orbs that increase your score multiplier. There is even a power up that turns all of the red items near the pickup into blue ones. Overall, Bust-N-Rush is a fun, casual, game that you can just turn on and play for a few minutes while waiting for something else. The challenges presented in the Quest Mode do a lot to keep you playing, but even if you manage to take down all of them, Survival Mode and Bust-A-Friend offer enough replay value to entice you to return.
-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer
Minimum System Requirements: Windows XP/Vista/7, Dual Core 2.0 GHz or Higher Processor, 2GB RAM, 1GB Hard Disck Space, ATi Radeon HD 5700 or NVIDIA GeFORCE 9800 GTX Video Card, DirectX Compatible Sound Card   Test System: Windows 7 Ultimate, Intel i7 X980 3.33GHz, 12 GB RAM, Radeon HD 5870 Graphics Card, DirectX 9.0c
Related Links: Bust-N-Rush Official Homepage
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