Rack N Ruin Reviews
Blending styles and doing something a bit different than the norm is common in the indie space and it's a calculated risk...
Rack N Ruin came out of nowhere and, although I was intrigued, I didn't expect much.
Overall Rack N Ruin is a game with much unmet potential. After clearing out the same area for the twentieth time, players will realise just how little effect they have on the gaming environment. No single enemy becomes interesting to corrupt or destroy when it is immediately resurrected by walking off the screen and returning. If only there had been a mini-map of some kind to keep track of how the world's individual spaces connect, exploration would be more gratifying. If only the combat had been tweaked to allow greater chance for offensive rather than defensive attack, it would have been more engaging. It all adds up to a game that feels as though it should have been more widely tested before release. There is a kernel of greatness there, but it is hiding within a thick shell of nonsensical game design. Put simply the game doesn't 'play well'.
Rack N Ruin is lost and confused in its own design, a helpless blending of top down adventures and retro shooters without any guidance to speak of.
Rack N Ruin is the very definition of a "mixed bag". It sports gorgeous visuals and an appealing premise, but is bogged down by its uninspired, repetitive combat, boring puzzle sequences and an overall lack of polish. If you're aching for a modern adventure that pulls from the great titles of the past, you might want to take a quick look, but if entertaining and enjoyable quests are more your thing, this might not be your cup of tea.
Rack N Ruin might suffer from an abundance of items and enemies, but there's enough worth experiencing in the game's humour, combat and distinct visual design to make it worth a playthrough.
The kind of challenge where things are so boring but you keep tuning out, defines the Rack N Ruin experience. It is not a buggy or glitchy mess, and most things work as intended. The problem with Rack N Ruin is that it sets such a low bar for itself and whoever picks it up, that it leaves no impression at all.
Amazing presentation and a wonderfully charismatic main character go a long way to making this worthwhile, but a particularly frustrating, dated brand of difficulty makes seeing this adventure through to the end a big ask for all but the most dedicated.
Sometimes the difficulty is great, but map traversal, checkpoints and cheap deaths should be the most difficult things about the game. Still, Rack N Ruin is good for nostalgia and those looking for a top-down adventure shmup with a challenge.
Ultimately, Rack N Ruin is a good game that easily could have been great with a few tweaks. Strangely, the game hides a lot of its enjoyment away from the player by not telling the player what to do next. While it can be an extremely frustrating experience at times, there are enough satisfying moments to recommend the game despite these issues. So, if you're willing to dig into it, give Rack N Ruin a spin since there is a good game there, just hidden.
Rack N Ruin is a lot of fun when everything clicks, but these moments just don't happen often enough. If you're into top-down button mashers, then this may be worth a look. Roaming the world, while confusing at times, can feel rewarding when you make new discoveries, and Rack himself is an endearing character. Some poor design choices bog the experience down, however, and it's a real shame – especially when you consider the types of games that clearly inspired this title.
Rack N Ruin is a twin-stick shooter (sort of) with a juvenile appreciation for wanton destruction. The role-reversal, with you as the bad guy, brings up some interesting questions, but the story doesn't take neart enough advantage of that fact. It can be good to be bad, but Rack N Ruin's character isn't all that deep.
Rack N Ruin redeems itself with a second showing on PC, but only if you abandon your controller for the ol' fashioned keyboard and mouse. The black comedic story of a demon set to enslave the earth pops with colorful backgrounds and challenging, fast-paced gameplay and finds redemption in its PC release.
Rack N Ruin takes great elements, mixes them together, and then adds a ton of frustration on top. There are things to like here, but they are hidden behind bad controls, confusing design, and annoying gameplay elements.
Laced with punishing difficulty spikes that put off rather than urge on, Rack N Ruin falls short with an array of irksome gameplay elements and lack of innovation.
For this type of game, I feel like the combat and puzzle solving should be the strongest aspect on offer, but they ended up being the worst part of the experience. Outside of the lousy checkpoint system, there really isn't anything too terrible about Rack N Ruin, it just doesn't have enough going for it for me to unequivocally recommend it. If you don't mind repeating areas and using the same few abilities over and over again, Rack N Ruin isn't a total loss, just weather your expectations before you enter.