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Since its announcement back in December, I’ve been looking forward to playing through Scrap Rush!!, Acquire’s new versus game. The game itself takes place on a grid, and gave me the vibes of a classic Bomberman-esque title.
Well, I wasn’t wrong, but I didn’t expect just how different-yet-similar it plays to Bomberman.
#scraprush #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/mvS2kXn9Z1
— Some numbers guy (@s07195) April 17, 2019
The game itself takes place on a grid like Bomberman, and is filled with scrap blocks that block your way. Yet, because of how attacks are performed in this game, it really changes up how maps feel in this game. To be more specific, you have three attack types in this game, the soft push that pushes a block immediately in front of you 1 space, a hard push that moves it 3 spaces, and you can hold the hard push button (defaulted to A) to do a charge push.
Although the soft and hard pushes have their uses, it’s the charged push you should be using, as it pushes the block all the way to the end of the row or column, which is particularly useful for squashing opponents to reduce their lives. In other modes, squashing opponents drops half their scrap for you to pick up. Meanwhile, you can also create blocks of your own right on front of you, costing some scrap. Some modes require you to have the total highest amount of scrap by the end.
It’s really interesting how this really affects stage design, as instead of full rows and columns, players are usually blocked off by a wall somewhere mid-way, meaning strategic placement and pushing is needed in order to get anywhere. And of course, the game will also throw in extra stage gimmicks like directional blocks depending on the stage. Thanks to these dynamics, each of your actions have their own uses.
#scraprush #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/nO9To9W4RJ
— Some numbers guy (@s07195) April 17, 2019
Yet despite its seeming complexity, I was feeling the same type of joy as when playing Bomberman. The feeling of pulling off a great push that defeats multiple opponents in a go is a great rush of fun, while having your plans backfire on you is also pretty funny. While Bomberman prides itself on being quite basic and easy to pick up, Scrap Rush!!’s complexity is also an interesting take that doesn’t forget what makes these games fun.
Scrap Rush!! is available on the Japanese Nintendo Switch eShop. The demo has full English support, meaning that the game is likely coming West sometime soon.
