Sonntag, 5. Mai 2024

Rumble Club (PC) Review

 

Rumble Club is an isometric Brawler Battle Royale Game, that just released on Steam/Epic Store and mobile devices. It is often being compared to Fall Guys and Stumble Guys. At least visually this comparison makes sense. Rumble Club looks like the Fight Club version of Stumble Guys, but gameplaywise those games don't have too much in common.

While Fall Guys and Stumble Guys can certainly not be accused of being overly complex, their gameplay is simple, but effective and overall quite varied with their multitude of stages. The gameplay of Rumble Club on the other hand is painfully simplistic. You can walk and punch players. That's pretty much it. You have to chose between a normal weak punch or a charged punch. Every player can take 3 punches before he goes to the ground. Downed players have to be picked up and thrown off the map. The picking up happens automatically if you stand close enough to a downed player. After 3 seconds however downed players already get back up. Rumble Club has different game modes by name only. Yes, there are Solo, Duo and Squad matches. In some you have to just be the last man standing, in others you have to play variants like King of the Hill. The gameplay however remains always the same and doesn't get anymore exciting, no matter which mode you pick. I can understand why people might find this amusing for a few minutes, but after this it gets stale. I think this would be a fine start early in development, but certainly not the full game.

Another big controversy is the monetization system of Rumble Club. The game not only has two different premium currencies, but also P2W aspects. There are so called gadgets, which are randomly generated items in every match, that players can pick up and throw at other players. Those gadgets can be leveled up and improved. Buying the Battle Pass gives you items to upgrade those gadgets and you can also get those gadget shards from the shop. One could argue that the items are not that relevant in comparison to the punches, but this system is just bad.

Asmongold is a publisher of this game and has also been heavily criticized by many players for promoting a game, that has many of the features, he heavily criticized himself in other games. Personally I think he probably was just brought in as an external investor and had no idea which game he actually invested in. Nonetheless, it is certainly a bad look for him.

 

Result:

It is very clear that Rumble Club was designed in every aspect as a mobile game only. The gameplay, the visuals, the P2W monetization system, they all send a clear message. As a foundation the gameplay would be okay, but I doubt they are going to add anything on top of it. Practically requiring only one button to play this game makes it a perfect mobile game, but as a PC game it is a flop (Honestly it is impressive how you can make the game use only one button outside of WASD and yet it controls badly with a keyboard. With a gamepad the controls are slightly better). The awful monetization also just leaves me to believe, that this is quick cash grab. The game tries to capitalize the popularity and reach of Asmongold, while fully knowing that the game's playerbase will collapse after only a few weeks (Steam playerpeak is already 90% down in less than a week). I honestly believe they put more effort in the fight club inspired trailer of Rumble Club, than they did in the actual game.

 

4/10

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