Rustbucket Rumble, F2P Combat Game With Robots, Released And A Few Quick Thoughts

The team-based free-to-play multiplayer game Rustbucket Rumble was released earlier in the week. It pits teams of three players against one another in chaotic and colorful fast-paced gameplay. After playing a couple of rounds, I have a few thoughts to share.


Official About:

SteamRustbuckle Rumble [sic] is a side-scrolling, team-based, arena combat game - WITH ROBOTS! Inspiration for the mechanics was taken from classic run and gun games mixed with more modern, class-based, multiplayer shooters. It’s capture-the-flag where the players are the flags.

Simply put, Rustbucket consists of several players choosing different classes of robots and fighting on maps for scraps to build a giant robot and ultimately destroy the enemy entirely. It's a solid and, admitedly, fun premise. Controls are simple and abilities and gameplay are both straightforward and enjoyable. I played the short tutorial and then hopped right into a multiplayer match without any difficulty.

The game runs well at a steady fps and loading times are quick on my midrange hardware (FX 8350 and Radeon 7870 on Mesa). Unfortunately, the game has a limited gamepad support - mostly limited to xinput pads - so I wasn't able to try any control scheme other than keyboard and mouse. Luckily, the game played well enough regardless. The only other technical issue I had to contend with was forwarding a port to be able to play online.

The free-to-play limitations revolve around the selectable player classes. Without paying anything, players have access to two classes each week which are then rotated the next week. If a player wins a certain amount of matches with a robots a week, he gets to keep that robot of choice over until the next week. It's infinitely renewable so all a player has to do is keep winning to keep the classes he likes. Buying the DLC pack unlocks all classes permanently.

I have a few gripes with the game. My main gripe is that communication with teammates is limited to a handful of preset commands. I think that it should be standard for multiplayer games to have voice chat or at the very least the ability to type messages. Other than that the team size is rather limiting. A total of six players works but I found that there was a high dropout rate and that once in motion, no one else could connect to the match. Upping the limit to perhaps ten players and allowing connections in the middle of a game will likely make the game livelier. I'm sure that there would have to be bigger maps for balance for that to be implemented, however, so I think it'd be an unlikely change anytime soon.

With its fast matches and free to play nature, Rustbucket Rumble is a fun little game to just pick up and play for short bursts. I'm not sure I like the design decision that classes are what's behind the F2P paywall but I concede that it's difficult to monetize games while keeping balance. I would have rather it have a low entry price or just have cosmetic items for sale.

You can try Rustbucket Rumble on Steam. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.