"The supposed sequel of Rush 'N Attack"

Missing In Action is a game that should have been a sequel to Rush ‘N Attack. The game play as well as the visuals, the audio and the way that you control your character is all the same as Rush ‘N Attack with just one small twist. In this outing, you’re not just trying to get through a snowy field and Russian bases, but rather you’re going through the jungles of Vietnam and trying to free P.O.W characters. As the game progresses, you can pick up other weapons, but you’ll find that the knife is your only tried and true friend throughout all six missions!

-The Game Play-

The game play is straightforward in what you have to do and what you have to complete. Your job is to make it from one end of the stage to the other and kill off whatever gets in your way without getting wasted in the process and save the P.O.W. in that stage. This sound pretty easy at first, but you’ll soon realize that the fact you have a knife and they all have guns makes it twice as hard on you to get through! The difficulty level of the game is so high in some points of the game, that you’ll find yourself looking at a game over screen more often than not. In order to kill your enemy, you have to rush at them, and start jabbing with your knife while avoid shots that are being fired at you from all directions.

If you don’t contact with the knife, then they kill you with one touch and you start from the beginning of the stage all over again! What makes the game so addicting though is that once you’ve gotten the basics down on how to move and what to avoid while killing, the game is just as fun as it is hard. Through several stages of madness you’ll do this until you come to a point in the game where it’ll seem like it loops over, but you can always tell that you’re progressing simply because the stages change a little from one to the next! Controlling your soldier is something that takes plenty of practice and infinite patience in which timing and jumping are the key to getting through all of the stages.

You can crawl along the ground, jump and climb, but your weapon still remains that stupid little knife you use to stick your enemies with! If you think about it like this, you have to time your jumps according to what is being fired at you, but you also have to avoid rushing soldiers who are looking to kill you in the process. During that time, you have to jump, avoid the enemies coming up behind you and then turn in mid air and stick the ones that are rushing you from behind. This is where all the learning of timing and patience comes into play; otherwise you’ll break your controller because your hero didn’t move quite fast enough or in the right direction!

-The Visuals

Visually, the game has plenty to offer in the backgrounds and even with some of the foreground action. Slow down can become apparent in some of the later stages when the enemy starts firing guns off at you, but it doesn’t happen all that often to really become a bother. The stages are also done a little differently when you’re going through them, and the detailing in the far background is pretty impressive when you stop and take a look. Probably one of the better moments in the game is when you get nailed by something and your hero simply crumples to the ground in a heap! While it doesn’t sound like anything special, it really is one of the better visual effects in the game other than the backgrounds that show the instances of this being the Russian Army you’re facing off against.

-The Audio-

The audio in the game is meant to be something along the lines of adventurous and a little subverted at the same time. While I really can’t place the type of music that it is supposed to represent, it does have a pace to it that keeps up with the action on screen nicely. Constantly moving is what you should be doing and the music represents that in the best way, giving the game an urgent feel to it! The sound effects are also rather limited with some of the more prominent sounds featuring gunshots and groaning of people you keep sticking with your knife. Probably the most prominent sound effect is that knife, which you’ll hear shooting out about a thousand times as you play through the stages! If you blend all of these things together, you have a pretty good mix of sound and music that adds nicely to the overall quality of the game and really does keep the game in the genre it should be.

-The Verdict-

You’ll find that Missing in Action is just a transplanted version of Rush ‘N Attack without all of the snow and Russians running around trying to kill you. Though the visuals and the appearance of the game is slightly better than RNA, you’ll still find that this game matches the premise to a tee. If you like the mindless side scrolling games, then you’ll find that this game is set at just your pace and you won’t have to go too far. However, if you don’t like the games that require timing and mindless action, then you might as well leave this one in the back of the arcade and move onto something a little more challenging!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/06/02, Updated 08/06/02