Running with Rifles

 PC
User Score
7.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 32 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 32
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 32
  3. Negative: 4 out of 32

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  1. kjarpr0
    Mar 4, 2017
    10
    Okay. I'm too lazy to write a detailed review so I'll just make it simple: tons of freedom, awesome gameplay, and a really good co-op mode makes the game more than just another top-down shooter.
  2. 2john
    Nov 6, 2015
    7
    Running with rifles review
    Graphics
    RWR does certainly have its own graphical design, it uses 3D visuals and looks acceptable. I don’t have any complaints but it quite could possibly be better. I have not run into any graphical glitches either. 8/10 Audio The sound is pretty decent and could use improvement. A lot of the guns sound the same and the music is not very enjoyable.    Running with rifles review
    Graphics
    RWR does certainly have its own graphical design, it uses 3D visuals and looks acceptable. I don’t have any complaints but it quite could possibly be better. I have not run into any graphical glitches either.
    8/10
    Audio
    The sound is pretty decent and could use improvement. A lot of the guns sound the same and the music is not very enjoyable. Thankfully the music only plays on the main screen, and is not present during battle.
    6/10
    Controls
    The controls can be a bit clunky at times but are pretty standard. WASD to move and mouse to aim and shoot. My main complaint though is that, your characters aim does not follow your mouse, and that there is not really any diagonal movement.
    6/10
    Story/Campaign
    RWR is not a very story driven game, but it does feature a campaign mode. The campaign mode is basically a set of several missions that you can rank up within. Overall there seems to be no story in the campaign. But, the campaign is a fun way of doing missions.
    7/10
    Gameplay
    The gameplay is what makes RWR worth buying, the funnest parts of the match are when you and like 20-30 others try to force your way into a base of enemies that are in even bigger numbers. It's essentially a massive war simulator, with you as just another soldier (until you become higher ranked and are able to lead a squad of up to 10 others).
    9.5/10
    Content
    The game has a small amount of guns to start with, and can look deceiving. Over time though you can find enemy weapons and unlock them in your armory as well as finding special weapons that are not available in any armory. Besides guns there is also different types of explosives and secondary weapons. You can also find and buy different types of armor.
    8/10
    Replayability
    This game is very replayable like any sandbox game. But it does get a little boring over a long period of time like most games.
    7/10
    Overall Score
    73.5/100    … Expand
  3. jpizaro
    Dec 7, 2015
    10
    Fun game. Very large maps, giant battles. Barely any noticable flaws except the horrible AI drivers. Captures the essence of Battlefield in a top down way.
  4. ChosenUndead99
    Apr 29, 2018
    8
    A really fun shooter that involves working together in large armies to take various bases from the enemy. As you play, you rank up and unlock new weapons and the ability to command a squad.
  5. Tylorian
    Apr 3, 2014
    7
    The video game industry needs innovation. From personal experience, this is definitely innovative. The gameplay feels smooth and the AI are not retards (They are not perfect but, better than most modern shooters that we see). It's not your average top-down "hero" game; "one shot, one kill" on pretty much all weapons. Gore settings is really how much blood you want, no blood, scrape, savingThe video game industry needs innovation. From personal experience, this is definitely innovative. The gameplay feels smooth and the AI are not retards (They are not perfect but, better than most modern shooters that we see). It's not your average top-down "hero" game; "one shot, one kill" on pretty much all weapons. Gore settings is really how much blood you want, no blood, scrape, saving private ryan, and then shogun II.

    The main reason you would want to buy this game is because you want something new from the same thing that the "top dogs" of the gaming industry keep on pumping out. It gives you a different perspective and a different experience. Also, it's somewhat of an open world so, you can play the way you want. You could go guns blazing to the front lines or you could go commando around enemy lines to take out their comms truck and effectively taking out their means of giving their troops support.

    The game right now has three factions, green, gray, and brown; green representing America, Grey is Germany, and brown is Russia. I personally hope for more than that, if not them, the community as this game has an option just before you start a game to activate mods for your custom battle. This should increase it's value already.

    But, every game has a downside. Your own troops tend to be very passive with the vehicles they possess and the game still has a few maps or any kind of content for that matter. Keep in mind that it was in beta when this review was written so, currently I hopefully have just a glimpse of the game that you people of the future are playing.

    The AI still needs a little tweaking, there is little options on what you can do in-game, and the campaign is just another battle. But, the game has huge potential! That is why I'm giving this game a 7 out of 10. It's a great game in desperate need of new content for greater playability.    … Expand
  6. Torro
    Mar 7, 2013
    10
    This game has been out in beta for a while now but it's getting closer to the 1.0. I gave this game a 10 and I really mean it. I was dreaming for a battlefield-series game with a top-down view since a while. And this dream came true with this game. I don't need a monster PC to run this gem and it still looks pleasant to my eyes. Actually I really love the graphic style. The weapons areThis game has been out in beta for a while now but it's getting closer to the 1.0. I gave this game a 10 and I really mean it. I was dreaming for a battlefield-series game with a top-down view since a while. And this dream came true with this game. I don't need a monster PC to run this gem and it still looks pleasant to my eyes. Actually I really love the graphic style. The weapons are fairly realistic and the terrain system is great (height, cover system, etc). The AI is smarter than most AAA titles out there, which surprised me tbh. The multiplayer is very entertaining, even though the servers aren't very populated yet. I highly recommend this title to every battlefield/arma/CoD-fans out there if you want a fresh and clean alternative with a lot of potential. The price is very fair (8 bucks) as well.… Expand
  7. SigilFey
    Dec 23, 2015
    5
    Well, the game has been out for a while now, and I am very disappointed. The game had great potential, and it didn't really live up to any of it.

    1.) Controls are asinine. The game is basically rolling dice in real-time. There is no element of skill involved, just familiarity with each map. It doesn't matter how precise and careful, nor how sloppy and reckless you are, you have an    Well, the game has been out for a while now, and I am very disappointed. The game had great potential, and it didn't really live up to any of it.

    1.) Controls are asinine. The game is basically rolling dice in real-time. There is no element of skill involved, just familiarity with each map. It doesn't matter how precise and careful, nor how sloppy and reckless you are, you have an equally random chance of winning or losing. The game not only creates extremely punishing bullet spread, but there's no chance that your hits will do any damage. That's right, I have an equal chance of firing one-round, and one-shotting an enemy across the map I didn't even see, or I can empty 15 rounds into an enemy at point-blank range from behind, and do 0% damage despite 12 rounds hitting. Incompetent design.

    2.) AI is TERRIBLE. The AI is completely incapable of doing anything that remotely makes sense. Rather than CPU soldiers taking position behind readily available cover, moving to attack open points, or simply bull-rushing a target, AI soldiers stand around, mill aimlessly back and forth, run headlong into the same killzones, or get run over by friendly vehicles being driven by random AI soldiers to random locations. From the beginning of the game until the end. Every mission. Every time. All the time. Once again, incompetent.

    3.) Single player is a waste of time. There is no sense of progression, no sense of accomplishment, and very little fun to be had until you grind your way across 20+ hours of mind-numbing, repetitive gameplay to get at least 5-6 people in your squad and some decent gear/radio abilities. Once you can summon reinforcements, airstrikes, and set up mortar stations and the like, you can single-handedly gain a minor advantage...! Occasionally... Until the game's incompetent AI takes everything it took you 15 minutes to put in place and completely frigs it up in about 9 seconds. It's those 15 minutes of strategic and tactical decision making that are fun, but ultimately futile. Incompetent single-player design.

    4.) Multiplayer can be fun -- IF you have people that know how to play the game and are willing to play the way it was designed. As most multiplayer sessions are either empty or full of typical internet delinquents with every possible hack and cheat enabled, trying to be as obnoxious as possible, and absolutely no moderation being done whatsoever...multiplayer is mostly not an option.

    (TL;DR) So in conclusion, the game could have been amazing, but this developer just isn't of the caliber the game needed. Lots of talent and a great idea for a game, but ultimately an amateur game released with amateur execution. As I said in my original review: "Potential is not ability." Save your money.    … Expand
  8. wolf80207
    Dec 27, 2015
    5
    This game is pretty bland conceptually with a top down battlefield experience where you must climb the ranks in a imagery army that has no back story and no real plot aside from "that's the enemy go git 'em!". Believe it or not however certain types of games (like this one) don't need a story as long as the game-play is good, not the case here however because the mechanics on displayThis game is pretty bland conceptually with a top down battlefield experience where you must climb the ranks in a imagery army that has no back story and no real plot aside from "that's the enemy go git 'em!". Believe it or not however certain types of games (like this one) don't need a story as long as the game-play is good, not the case here however because the mechanics on display hinder it greatly for example: the camera is permanently at a angle which isn’t a problem as long as you don’t put buildings or some other structures that block your view in a game that requires fast reflexes, which is what happened and plenty of times it feels like the camera is to close any way not giving you enough time to react to your attacker.

    Of course this is all only the tip of the iceberg with the visuals being bland, muddy and uninteresting, the game-play lacking complexity with any of it’s weapons or vehicles, no music aside from the one music track in the menu screen that got CONTENT ID’D when I uploaded to YouTube, a very long time to climb up in the ranks with very little to do in the meantime and it doesn’t carry over through game-plays, and then finally a extremely poor tutorial stage that somehow explains very little and still wastes your time.

    So it sound like this is a worst game of the year contender for me then right? Nope it still does have an online component and even though I didn’t play much of it I did find a welcoming community and I can’t say that the offline game didn’t help me learn to play the game since you can make any offline game online, and it does feature a slider bar to adjust your game-play before you start up a offline map.

    I can honestly say that this isn’t the worst game I’ve ever played but it’s far from the best it’s got plenty problems, but with it’s problems and how little it takes any chances I have to give it the score it deserves 5/10 average.    … Expand
  9. canman
    Feb 20, 2015
    10
    This game is brilliant. It's the best game I've seen to date to really create the experience of being in the middle of an epic battle. Your task as a single grunt is to figure out a way to turn the tide of battle in the middle of the raging chaos. You can accomplish this by leading squads along the main flanks, deploying cover and machine guns strategically, or stealthily assaulting sideThis game is brilliant. It's the best game I've seen to date to really create the experience of being in the middle of an epic battle. Your task as a single grunt is to figure out a way to turn the tide of battle in the middle of the raging chaos. You can accomplish this by leading squads along the main flanks, deploying cover and machine guns strategically, or stealthily assaulting side bases to create diversions or capture a new zone.

    The shooting and cover mechanics are solid, and the AI is very impressive. I never felt like it was cheating or that failure wasn't my fault. The game is very challenging at first, which also makes it extremely rewarding when you're finally able to break a vicious stalemate with a well-executed plan that catches the enemy off-guard.

    Running with Rifles rewards patient and thoughtful play. Battles can sometimes take hours of back-and-forth, so don't expect a conventional shooter. Once you get into it though, the gameplay becomes some of the most fun and addicting I've ever seen.

    As of this review, the game is still in beta, but plays like a finished product right now. Framerate was great even on my crappy old laptop. There were no significant bugs to speak of. The one down side right now is that reading the online manual is pretty much required to understand all the mechanics of the game. I'm sure the devs have plans for a proper tutorial for the final release, though.

    The two man dev team is also extremely responsive on Steam and their own forums. If you have a problem or suggestion, they typically respond within 24 hours. It's really wonderful to see a small, responsive team create such an innovative and fun game.    … Expand
  10. Dhelio
    Nov 19, 2014
    8
    While still in beta at time of writing, this game is near completion (v 0.9.8 as of now), and it sure is a lot of fun!

    The game is basically an isometric shooter with a Call of Duty-esque model of damage: that means a couple of shots can send you happily to the maker. Cover, then, becomes really important, as is posture: a prone soldier will be harder to hit than a standing one. This    While still in beta at time of writing, this game is near completion (v 0.9.8 as of now), and it sure is a lot of fun!

    The game is basically an isometric shooter with a Call of Duty-esque model of damage: that means a couple of shots can send you happily to the maker. Cover, then, becomes really important, as is posture: a prone soldier will be harder to hit than a standing one. This brings freshness to the genre of both iso-shooters and cover-based shooters, as the player vision isn't constricted by a wall, but can span over a decent portion of the battlefield.

    Most maps are also really huge, with objectives that change from map to map (capture & hold, king of the hill, extermination), all the while retaining special objectives (capturing a cargo truck, sabotaging antennaes and water towers, etc.). These maps can be played singurarly in skirmish mode or one by one in the campaign, with player discretion on where to go next.

    The amount of weapons available to the player is staggering: there are machineguns, shotguns, bazookas, sniper rifles, burst rifles, grenades, impact grenades, artillery strikes, mortar strikes, LMGs, pistols, LMG turrets, rocket turrets, and others, with each faction having its version of it (wich honestly looks like little more than a remodeling of the same weapon). There are also vehicles to drive, all with multiple seats (driver, gunner, passenger), such as tanks, jeeps, APCs, trucks and more.

    Graphically it's pleasing, but it takes a little while to get used to voxel-modeled soldiers and weapons on the vectorial map.

    It's also open to mods, which are relatively easy to make, thanks to HTML and the Voxel models. There some already out, such a Warhammer 40K total conversion or a World War one.

    That said, the game suffers of little design problems here and there. Sometimes there won't be enough cover to actually make a push againts the enemy, or the AI of both allies and enemies will insist in capturing a particular zone of the map, causing a stalemate with a discomforting amount of bodies from both sides (which can also be awesome).

    All in all these little defects can also add more character to the game. There are few games that can achieve the same feeling of putting a LMG in the right place, mowing down a platoon of enemy soldiers and proceeding for the capture.    … Expand
  11. jimbobslimbob
    May 13, 2015
    7
    If Battlefield had a baby with Alien Swarm - this would be it.

    It's good. Think of what Battlefield would be like if viewed top-down. That's basically what it is. You get to command a squad (which gets bigger as you level-up) to wipe out the enemy and conquer areas of the map. Once conquered you get access to all their vehicles and weapons - and new spawn points. The armory allows    If Battlefield had a baby with Alien Swarm - this would be it.

    It's good. Think of what Battlefield would be like if viewed top-down. That's basically what it is.

    You get to command a squad (which gets bigger as you level-up) to wipe out the enemy and conquer areas of the map. Once conquered you get access to all their vehicles and weapons - and new spawn points. The armory allows you to outfit your character exactly how you like to play. The vehicles are quite cool as well and the AI is not stupid.

    There seems to be a lot to learn - which must be done via trial and error since the tutorial is pretty weak. Saying that, I think I picked up most of the basics fairly quickly. Once I had sorted out the controls (crouch and prone are for some weird reason not set as toggle keys by default) I got on quite well and won a few matches/missions.

    The multiplayer is fun. You can play the campaign together co-op or against others and it has a variety of different game modes and it also includes dedicated server support.

    Jimbo Rating: 7/10    … Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
78

Generally favorable reviews - based on 4 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 4
  3. Negative: 0 out of 4
  1. Eurogamer Italy
    May 4, 2015
    70
    Running with Rifles is some sort of battlefield chaos generator: often ferociously funny but sometimes also excruciatingly frustrating. An uncut diamond that, albeit in need of some polishing, is a very interesting new take on war/action gameplay.
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  2. Multiplayer.it
    Apr 23, 2015
    80
    Running With Rifles is a perfect co-op experience to play with friends. It's also a good single player shooter, but with many flaws.
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  3. Riot Pixels
    Apr 19, 2015
    85
    I would have never thought that I’d see a game that perfectly captures the spirit of the cult classic Cannon Fodder. The only thing that could have made it better is the destructible environment.
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