Rusty Spout Rescue Adventure | Xbox One Review

If you read the title of this game, you probably had the same thought as well. Rusty Spout Rescue Adventure from 7 Raven Studios sure doesn’t sound like the title of a game that would be for me. At first glance, I assumed it was going to be a children’s game. While the theme comes across as very childlike, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it’s actually a very familiar puzzle game. As a fan of Bust-a-Move, I eagerly jumped in, convinced my experience with the genre would help me dominate. Although the game adds some clever twists to the formula, it lacks the smoothness of its inspiration. Still, the price is right and should scratch the itch for fans of this genre.

A Tale for All the Fellas

A match 3 puzzle game may seem an odd place for a narrative, but Rusty Spout Rescue Adventure has one. It makes sense, considering there are bosses (more on that later), even if it is pretty bare bones. The pirate Rusty Spout is a friendly one. He travels the high seas looking for adventure and opportunities to help people. An evil pirate by the name of Cocco kidnaps all the children from Rusty’s village, and it’s up to him to rescue them. Now the game’s title seems very apt.

Look, no one plays puzzle games for their in-depth story, and this is no exception. It’s minimalist at best and only serves the purpose of giving a reason for boss puzzles. What’s interesting is the fact that the game’s aesthetic appears to be very kid friendly, yet exhibits some adult language. It’s very odd, but obviously doesn’t detract from the game in any way.

You’re on a Mission, and You’re Wishin’

If you’ve never played this type of game (where have you been for the past twenty years?), let me explain. The top of the screen is filled with multi-colored spheres in random orders. At the bottom of the screen is a launcher, which fires one of two available spheres towards the top of the screen. If you match three spheres of the same color, they disappear. Your job is to clear the board of everything before any leftovers reach the bottom of the screen, which prompts a game over.

It’s a popular formula that has been mimicked before, but Rusty Spout Rescue Adventure compounds on the formula in interesting ways. Some spheres require multiple combinations to remove, others are indestructible, while some actually help to clear the board faster with explosions. Outside of that, the game functions almost identically to the games it mimics.

On top of all of that, every ten levels pits you against a boss. This is a new concept for me with this type of game, and I really appreciated it. Each boss has a certain number of hit points, and in order for you to deplete them, you must fill canisters to launch an attack. This is accomplished by matching a higher number of spheres of the same color. All of this must be done before any of the playing field reaches the bottom. Oh, and the boss randomly throws up random spheres on the field to make things tougher for you.

From Frustration First Inclination

I have two major issues with the gameplay. First off, the movement of the launcher feels very sluggish. A bumper speeds up the movement when you press it, but this feels backwards from how I would want it played. I’d rather the default speed be quicker, with the bumper slowing down the movement for more precise shots. I found myself constantly holding this button down, which gets very old after a while.

The other problem is that there’s no saving of your progress. Rusty Spout Rescue Adventure has fifty stages with a boss battle at the end of every ten. You’re provided three lives to make it through all fifty levels. Lose all three of them, and you have to start all the way at the beginning. This doesn’t give much incentive to replay, which is very frustrating.

The game does also offer an endless mode and local multiplayer mode to compete against your friends. These are nice additions, but would be more enjoyable with better controls.

Rusty Spout Rescue Adventure Final Verdict

I love these types of puzzle games. They’re very satisfying. Although this one doesn’t shake things up in a drastic way, it was a nice distraction from the onslaught of open-world games out there at the moment. Could the controls be tweaked? Definitely. Could they have let me save my progress? Absolutely. I still don’t regret playing it, but would only recommend it as a casual replacement for better games in the genre. It’s hard to argue against the price, however.

This review is based on an Xbox One copy of Rusty Spout Rescue Adventure provided by SuperIndie Games for coverage purposes. It is also available on Nintendo Switch.