Steel Rats

It's not perfect - a clumsy button lay-out and some weird physics definitely hold the game back at times - but Steel Rats still manages to combine different genres in a surprising and consistently fun way.

Steel Rats is a title that we want to promote, thanks to a successful hybridization of playing styles that are not too simple to match and an immediate, amusing and at the same time varied and satisfying play structure. The smudging of the title is mainly linked to an excessively minimal narrative segment and to a sometimes ineffective sense of progression. Nonetheless, these are rather marginal aspects in the calculation of such an immediate, frenetic and enjoyable experience.

If you wish Trials games had more killer robots and allowed you to move in a third dimension then Steel Rats is definitely worth playing.

Steel Rats tries to combine so many seemingly incompatible elements both aesthetically and mechanically, that it actually shouldn’t work. But surprisingly, it does, and aside from the overleaden controls you’ll start to enjoy most of the elements that Tate Interactive integrated.

A highly enjoyable and polished if relatively unambitious bike-fueled action romp, fans of high-octane action platforming will be served very well by Steel Rats.

Mixing Sonic-style platforming with Trials-esque, inertia-driven gameplay, Steel Rats is a bold and often fun concept, but some awkward level design holds it back from matching the quality of its inspiration.

Steel Rats is an undeniably daring experiment; fusing gameplay mechanics, varied visuals and control inputs that have no right to go together. The game should be an absolute mess, but it deftly weaves these disparate elements together and what we are left with is a thrilling and refreshing stunt=based shoot ’em up.

I think I would have liked the game better if the characters were on foot or the bikes were less touchy. In the end, I give Street Rats some credit for its creativity because I haven’t seen a mashup of gameplay like this before. It’s fun and has a great sense of style that works with the world it’s trying to show off.

Steel Rats has the merit of proposing an original concept and a neat universe but too monotonous, not very engaging in its game objectives, it also disappoints by gameplay sometimes too fanciful and a poorly adjusted progression curve.

There is something enjoyable in Steel Rats, but there is a lot it doesn't get quite right. Against the other games of the season, Steel Rats just can’t compete, nor can it live up to the game most people will associate it with.

Cool as it sounds, if you stick a circular saw on the front wheel of a motorcycle, it might slash the tire, or sever the brake line, or spark through the spokes. As good as Steel Rats is at world-building, it often fails when it lets you take control. Sometimes the answer it finds isn’t the answer it needs.

If Steel Rats does offer an unexpected gameplay and a tough challenge, this all comes at the expense of pure fun. Seen what's available on the indie scene at the moment, you can easily find a better use for your dough.

Tate Multimedia tried to pack too much into Steel Rats for all of its parts to work together in a fun and cohesive way. It can be done, as proven by roguelike rhythm game Crypt of the Necrodancer, which stuck to the core elements of each genre. Frequently in Steel Rats, the solution is to use one tactic and move on, or skip it entirely rather than fumbling through the different genres. When this kind of gameplay meets the unassuming visuals and banal audio, the title becomes lackluster.

Even if it enjoys a nice art direction, cool audio and nice level-design, Steel Rats hardly deploys its full potential, mostly because of a poorly calibrated gameplay.