Rusty Spout Rescue Adventure Review: Shake It Off

I thought that Rusty Spout Rescue Adventure was a euphemism at first, and upon starting it up, realised that this game was too cute to be something so disgusting. That said, what had I gotten myself into? Retro pirates with an RPG flavour? 

Without knowing anything about the game from 7 Raven Studio, I started to have my reservations until the brief intro finished, and a puzzle game began. What kind of puzzle game? A bit like Peggle sort of thing with an Arkanoid and Puzzle Bobble heritage.

You have to aim your cannons and fire coloured balls at matching colours for them to disappear in rows of three or more, thus clearing the level. All very familiar territory then. Rusty Spout Rescue Adventure doesn’t change up the game and removes any unnecessary bloat.

There’s a bit of a story in here. You play the dread pirate, Rusty Spout – he probably isn’t dread, but I wanted Princess Bride fairly recently for the billionth time, so it was on my mind. There is a baddie pirate, though, and his name is Cocco, and he’s mean.

When you start, you have a guide on where the ball will be fired, but it soon disappears, and you’re on your own. If you die and use a continue, it comes back for one level, but off again as you’re left to calculate the shots. This was the first hurdle for me as working out the trajectory isn’t accurate this way, and more often than not, I’d fire a ball just missing where I wanted it to land – and I’m talking easy shots, not the awesome ricochets you can execute.

With the left analogue stick, you can move the cannon to the left and right, and as indicated above, you can get the ball to rebound off the side. Something that I liked about Rusty Spout Rescue Adventure was the ability to bounce a ball off the side behind a group to connect. 

When you link three of the same colour, they drop and usually take everything with them that’s below. Consequently, this trick can be a great way of clearing the level and also getting a bonus on time. That’s right; levels are timed, but if time is up, it’s not game over, you don’t get the bonus points. Though there isn’t a time-up factor, the rows will gradually drop, and like Space Invaders, if they hit the floor, it’s game over.

It is possible to select the next colour in line by scrolling, but there are only two available, so it doesn’t give you too much freedom, but it’s better than nothing. Additionally, some specials can blow up a row, or blockers that can’t be destroyed, and you have to work around them.

Rusty Spout Rescue Adventure is a rescue mission, but you forget about the kids you have to rescue – eff ’em. Besides, the story mode is so challenging that most people won’t get through the 50 levels on offer. Instead, the Endless Mode is a pick-up and play option or the two-player mode.

The latter will probably appeal more as you go up against a chum, and it removes the difficulty and frustration of playing through the campaign. As a party game, it gets a bit more of a boost, but it’s not likely to be your go-to party title, as the level of accuracy soon becomes a chore and picking up Puyo Puyo Champions seems on the cards.

Rusty Spout Rescue Adventure isn’t a bad game, and the asking price is reasonable. Still, considering the number of levels and difficulty attached, it may put off the more casual gamer, which this appears to be marketed at on the surface. I didn’t dislike it per se, but the accuracy and boss battles did put me off. I liked how, despite the loose story element, Rusty Spout Rescue Adventure didn’t muck around with tutorial screens and interruptions – it’s straight to business.