"Bumbling Fighter"

Rumble Fighter is, at best, a poor man's Smash Brothers. The premise of the game sounds great, up to eight players battling it out either in team play or a free for all. However, after only playing this game for a few hours you will realize that this game is just a generic rip off of all the great "chaos fighters".

Gameplay: This game sounds great on paper, but it just doesn't work like it should and that is very heartbreaking. Theres up to eight maniacs bashing each other at once with different game modes to partake in: survival team mode, survival (free for all), king of the hill, etc. You'll have ample opportunity to pick up items that will restore your health or special skills meter, but sometimes your character will stand over top of the items and refuse to pick them up. You can also "morph" into your special form after filling a meter that runs off of your ability to smack people around. Morphing is a lot of fun, but some of the special abilities are really cheap and can be bought with real money (not earned). Unfortunately the characters in this game move like Tonka trucks, the characters are slow and will often miss the target they're trying to punch and kick. If that weren't bad enough, you won't be rewarded with good equipment for winning. You'll get a certain amount of "carats" after each match, the better you do the more carats you get which you can use to buy stuff in the item shop. Too bad all the good stuff can only be bought with actual money charged to your account. When it comes down to it, its not about who the better fighter is, its about who is willing to spend their paycheck on items.

Controls: The controls for this game are clunky, sure you can assign the controls in whichever manner you like, but fighting games on the keyboard just don't work. You can use a controller, but a lot of the controllers aren't compatible with the game. Granted configuration isn't totally the developer's fault, but the horrible button delay (not lag, I'll get to that) makes this game extremely vexing. There will be countless times when you'll push a button repeatedly and your character will just stand there like he's dumping out in his pants.

Graphics: The graphics are simply awesome, the backgrounds are a nice, hi-res, fully 3D environment and the characters have a playful, cartoony, cel-shaded look to them with big heads, giant hands and feet to match. Sometimes there will be a bit of a frame rate drop, but it doesn't happen to often.

Lag: Seeing as how this game is totally based online, I feel that lag is just as important as gameplay or anything else. Of course there is lag, but this game has a unique take on it. Instead of the lagger seeing everyone teleporting around, everyone else sees the lagger teleporting around and disappearing. Nothing is more frustrating than seeing your team running around trying to hit someone who theoretically may or may not be there and moves like Nightstalker after doing lines with Lohan. Nine times out of ten you will never get your hands on the lagger and will just have to wait for time to run out.

Overall: This game could have been fun, but so many things have been overlooked. Many players will be frustrated to find out that in order to be "good" at this game you'll have to charge items to your credit card which can't be bought with the in game currency. Another free game is ruined by a developer's scheme to make money instead of making a stable game.

4/10

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 08/16/07