When I heard the title Steel Rats, my mind jumped back in time 20+ years and an image from the failed 90’s cartoon series Biker Mice from Mars popped into my head. Since you’ve probably never walked into your local Wal-Mart and saw any of these toys on the shelves or on your kid’s favorite cartoon channel, bear in mind it’s because the show was kind of awful. Part of me was hoping that Steel Rats was going to end up being some sort of revival or throwback to the series, if nothing more than to remind our younger generations who are spoiled with their cartoon options that this was at one point a thing. So what is Steel Rats if it isn’t about six foot tall biker rodents who battle the forces of evil? It’s is a unique game that combines 2.5D Metroidvania style gameplay with physics based driving (akin to Trials), with vehicular combat added for good measure.

The story follows the Steel Rat motorcycle gang as they attempt to save their hometown, Coastal City, from an invasion of robots, known as Junk Bots. Why are the Junk Bots attacking? Who sent them? Will Biker Mice from Mars ever get a successful reboot? These are (mainly) questions that will be answered by completing the game’s story mode, which is drip fed between arcade style events. I did not find the story to be all that thrilling, primarily due to the writing feeling like it would be fit for a young adult style series of comic books or novels, due to the constant use of slang no one over the age of 13 would find acceptable, opposed to a somewhat violent video game aimed at an older crowd.

You’ll spend your time in the game with the four gang members (I guess the Sons of Anarchy were not accepting new members?), swapping between them as you see fit; this is more in line with changing a weapon or loadout opposed to actually playing as a different protagonist. Each of the previously mentioned bikers has a unique special ability and weapon, allowing the player a bit of variety when destroying the robots that litter the game’s various stages. As you progress, you’ll earn XP and scrap used to upgrade the riders, allowing for more health, damage, or additional perks to be unlocked as you go. If functional upgrades are not enough to get your motor running, you can also change the riders’ appearances using the same currency. You’ll begin the game with a single character and as you proceed, you will unlock the additional members through normal gameplay. Once unlocked, you can swap between them by clicking in on the right analog stick, which feels slightly awkward and makes finding just the right character to fit the task at hand a bit difficult at times, partially due to how it cycles through them. Even more troubling is the fact that all of the riders look the same via the panned out viewpoint.

The game plays in a 2.5D viewpoint, tasking the player at speeding through the various stages, evading hazards, jumping pits, going up and down ramps, and even going straight up walls. With most of the in-game areas taking place inside of buildings, you will have to master the U-turn ability or lose time fumbling around with the controls, or in my case, lodging the bike into game assets and under ramps. After botching my way through the first few levels, which work wonderfully in getting you acclimated to the controls, you will feel like a badass biker zipping and weaving through the courses with ease, and dare I say, even enjoying yourself.

I found the combat to be much less thrilling, as shooting is a bit barebones due to the lack of options when it comes to aiming. There is an auto aim function and that’s it; no locking on or free aiming to be found. You will have to manage your ammo count as if you were stuck in a punishing survival horror game. Ammo can only be found inside of crates that you will more often than not have you stop, turn around, and acquire due to the fact they are rarely on the proper path forward, thus breaking momentum. I found that the melee attack that each biker comes fully equipped with to be much more rewarding, resulting in me ignoring any missed ammo crates, basically giving them the bird as I passed them.

Regardless of how you choose to destroy the Junk Bot army, the game controls rather well, despite so many moves and skills being thrown into the mix early on. If you’re accustomed to keeping your balance on similar physics based racers, you’ll feel right at home here. The game requiring you to constantly push in on the sticks is the only nagging issue, and this may just be my preference, but the motion never feels quite right on the PlayStation controller, regardless of the game. While you can change up the preset controls, this remains a standard regardless of which option you select.

Aside from the lackluster writing found in the story, the presentation rarely disappoints. The retro-futuristic visuals really sell the post-apocalyptic setting, with its gloomy, gritty backdrops establishing depth in a way that few games can muster. The fully destructible elements are equally impressive, as chunks of the level or items will shatter into bits, leaving fragments littered along the tracks. This only becomes problematic during certain battles, often tasking you to run away from hulking robots that destroy the track behind them, above or below you as you rush through the level as quickly as possible. These scenes really get your blood pumping, but the way that they are designed can cause some huge issues, such as wreckage blocking your path or in many cases, falling on you. Even if gravity doesn’t kill you in these situations, the loss of time is often enough to close the small gap between you and the enemy, resulting in the previously mentioned robot catching up to you. While it’s hard to determine exactly which biker you are controlling outside of reviewing the HUD, the Junk Bot army makes up for this, as the game makes each and every enemy type feel unique in their own way and clearly discernible among a large pack of them.

Death in Coastal City is a bit hard to wrap your head around. If one of your bikers falls mid-mission, you’ll be able to swap to any of your unlocked riders. If you continue to fail like I did, you’ll be able to restart from a checkpoint, but eventually you’ll run out of continues and have to restart the entire level. While most of the levels are rather short, lasting a matter of minutes, others like the boss battle I mentioned a bit ago feel out of place due to being much longer, making death much harder to stomach.

While it has some minor issues, Steel Rats is an enjoyable physics based game that seamlessly blends a number of popular genres and succeeds at blending most of them into a unique experience that deserves your attention, even if it doesn’t have any unlockable rodent skins.

8 out of 10

Pros

• Driving Mechanics Work Wonderfully
• Gritty Environments are Visually Appealing
• U-Turns are Legal Everywhere

Cons

• Death Isn’t Properly Explained
• Some Questionable Level Design
• Boring Shooting Mechanics
• No Rodents

Steel Rats was developed and published by Tate Multimedia. The game was released for PC and PS4 on November 7th, 2018. The game was provided to us for review on PS4. If you’d like to see more of Steel Rats, check out the official site.

 

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