A remake of a 1985 platformer (which you might remember as The Green Beret), Rush ‘n Attack: Ex Patriot at first appears to be the next Shadow Complex. A game that utilises current graphics technology but retains the retro delights of old 2D platform shoot ‘em ups. Unfortunately this new Rush ‘n Attack quickly reveals numerous flaws and issues that will burn up most gamers before they can make it through the first scene.

The Shadow Complex comparison tricks you early on into thinking you’ll like Rush ‘n Attack. I loved Shadow Complex; the game was pitch perfect on so many levels and remains one of the best games on Xbox Live despite it’s ‘on the nose’ gameplay homages to Nintendo classic Metroid. I expected to like Rush ‘n Attack.

Your character Morrow has that rare game character genetic disorder where he can withstand several missiles to the face

For the first few minutes you’ll probably have the same reaction I did, it looks a little like Shadow Complex, maybe a little uglier, a little rougher on the graphic edges. Then you’ll realise the levels are almost completely linear, with the occasional shaft or tunnel taking you past dangers if you spot it. Followed by this is the realisation you’re going to be using the same knife for the whole game. There’s a few guns and grenades to be found but the ammo runs out quickly and they can only be aimed straight left or right. The game encourages you to use stealth by ducking into doorways or grates and whistling to draw enemies. But every enemy can be overcome with a sliding kick and a stab, so the stealth feels like a waste of time.

Shortly after you realise you’ve done all you can gameplay wise you’ll realise how needlessly awkward the controls are. An early challenge of crossing an acid river on temporary floating boxes is made five times more difficult by sticky controls and your character, Captain Mcstabby (or so I rechristened him, I think his real name is Morrow), will slip off the side of the box to instant death two out of three times. The few puzzles in the game all involve an impassable obstacle of some type, acid pool or electric fence that can be disabled by a switch which you can usually see while standing in front of the obstacle.

Wow, ten years in a Siberian prison and you're still such a fat ass you break bridges

While the environments look okay the character designs are ugly and blocky. The Russian soldiers you need to fight (Rush ‘n Attack? Get it? Ah forget it) look like rejected designs for a GI Joe game. The characters, especially your own Captain Mcstabby dressed in prison clothes with a hanky over his mouth (maybe it’s a bandanna) looks his worst in cut scenes, and he moves like he’s made of playdough. It's quite troubling that this game was made with the Unreal Engine 3, same as Shadow Complex.

It’s also not uncommon to fall out of levels, it happened to me three times on my playthrough and each time I was forced to restart my checkpoint. Your character either falls forever or runs around in the black area surrounding the underground levels after accidentally climbing out of the level.

Damn infrared gun mounted camera thingee's, their smarter than the actual human enemy AI

The game does get incrementally better as you progress through the levels, new enemies and obstacles pop up, but this was barely enough to drive me to the end to write this review. But the gameplay stays almost exactly the same throughout. It’s never so terrible you’re compelled to immediately turn off, but as soon as you hit a challenge that puts the wonky controls to the test you’ll wonder for the tenth time why you’re playing it at all. It’s a broken and ugly game, but if you happen to be that infinitesimal percentage of the population with fond memories of the original you may get a brief kick out of it.