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Steel Rats

Steel Rats is an awesome 2.5D platformer that makes great use of motorcycle based combat. The team of four bikers are badass and unique, prompting you to try them all out, and being able to switch between them on the fly keeps gameplay fresh.
Steel Rats Game Cover
55%Game Brain Score
gameplay, story
stability, optimization
44% User Score Based on 414 reviews
Critic Score 66%Based on 15 reviews

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Steel Rats Game Cover

About

Steel Rats is a single player and multiplayer arcade racing game with a science fiction theme. It was developed by Tate Multimedia and was released on November 7, 2018. It received mostly positive reviews from critics and neutral reviews from players.

"Steel Rats" is a 2.5D stunt bike game set in a retro-futuristic 1940s USA, where you play as a member of a biker gang fighting against an invading army of alien robots. Your motorcycle is your primary weapon, equipped with flame throwers and saw blades to wreak havoc on your enemies. The game combines racing, shooting, and platforming elements for a unique gameplay experience.

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Steel Rats screenshot
Steel Rats screenshot
Steel Rats screenshot
Steel Rats screenshot
Steel Rats screenshot
Steel Rats screenshot
Steel Rats screenshot
Steel Rats screenshot
Steel Rats screenshot
Steel Rats screenshot
Steel Rats screenshot
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44%
Audience ScoreBased on 414 reviews
gameplay35 positive mentions
stability21 negative mentions
  • The game features a unique concept of combining motorcycle platforming with combat, providing a fresh take on the genre.
  • The graphics and art style are visually appealing, creating an immersive dystopian atmosphere.
  • The gameplay includes a variety of characters with unique abilities, adding depth and replayability.
  • The controls are clunky and unintuitive, making it difficult to navigate and perform actions smoothly.
  • There are numerous bugs and glitches that can lead to frustrating gameplay experiences, including character deaths from unexpected physics issues.
  • The difficulty spikes and lack of checkpoints can make progress feel tedious and punishing, detracting from the overall enjoyment.
  • gameplay
    114 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay of the game is a mixed experience, featuring unique mechanics and vibrant visuals but marred by frustrating controls, repetitive tasks, and inconsistent physics. While some players appreciate the innovative ideas and character-switching features, many criticize the combat and platforming elements as clunky and unrefined, leading to a lack of engagement over time. Overall, the game shows potential but struggles to deliver a consistently enjoyable experience due to its gameplay flaws.

    • “Released in 2018, the game stands out for its vibrant visual style and dynamic gameplay.”
    • “The gameplay is fluid and well-crafted, offering a challenging and rewarding experience.”
    • “The unique mechanics, setting, and soundtrack create an engaging experience.”
    • “Lots of focus on combat, which is by far the worst aspect of the gameplay.”
    • “The gameplay rapidly becomes stale and repetitive, offering little depth or mission variety beyond very simple shooting and clunky platforming.”
    • “The gameplay and mechanics fall apart before the first section of the game is up.”
  • story
    93 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's story, centered around the Steel Rats motorcycle gang fighting against an alien invasion, is described as having an interesting premise but ultimately falls flat due to predictable plot twists and underdeveloped characters. While some players appreciate the setting and atmosphere, many criticize the story for being bland, poorly executed, and lacking depth, which detracts from the overall experience. Despite some engaging elements, the narrative fails to fully captivate players, often feeling like an afterthought amidst repetitive gameplay and frustrating controls.

    • “The story follows the Steel Rats motorcycle gang as they fight to protect the city and restore order.”
    • “Engaging story: the storyline is simple but effective, offering a clear and entertaining premise that drives the action and combat.”
    • “Great style, good story and voice acting, fun and challenging platforming and combat.”
    • “And an almost non-existent story, combined with low-quality voice acting.”
    • “The game's characters lack depth, and the plot twists are predictable.”
    • “The story is boring and bland and doesn't hook you at all.”
  • graphics
    76 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics of Steel Rats are generally praised for their vibrant, retro-futuristic aesthetic and detailed design, effectively blending elements of science fiction and steampunk. While many players appreciate the visual style and overall presentation, some express concerns about performance issues and a lack of advanced graphical settings. Overall, the game is noted for its appealing visuals, though the clunky controls can detract from the experience.

    • “Steel Rats™'s graphics have a visual style that blends elements of science fiction and retro aesthetics, creating a unique and captivating presentation.”
    • “The graphics are great, very detailed.”
    • “Graphically impressive, particularly for its price, and some of the better sound design I've encountered.”
    • “Low graphics doesn't work.”
    • “The game had potential with its looks, its aesthetics and its music but...when you as dev don't even put an option in the menu to limit fps making my GPU temp skyrocket you should know you've failed.”
    • “The graphics are drab and dreary...the sounds are weak, the controls are...wonky and really take some time to even somewhat get used to.”
  • music
    60 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with many players appreciating the energetic and fitting soundtrack that complements the fast-paced action and post-apocalyptic setting. While some highlight memorable tunes and a moody atmosphere, others criticize the lack of in-game music during gameplay, noting that it can detract from the overall experience. Overall, the soundtrack is seen as a strong point for some, while others find it lacking or repetitive.

    • “The soundtrack and sound effects complement the game's action and atmosphere well.”
    • “Energetic soundtrack: the music is energizing and perfectly aligns with the game's fast-paced action.”
    • “The soundtrack has a fitting industrial rock sound that matches the game's post-apocalyptic world perfectly.”
    • “Music is almost non-existent (I honestly expected some rock songs).”
    • “There is one song on loop for all of the menus, but there is absolutely no music in-game.”
    • “Music is forgettable background filler, when the game bothers to have music at all.”
  • stability
    21 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's stability is heavily criticized, with users reporting numerous bugs and glitches that significantly hinder gameplay, such as getting stuck on levels, broken controls, and frustrating physics issues. Many players find the experience rage-inducing due to the frequency and severity of these problems, making the game feel unpolished and often unplayable. While a few users noted minor glitches, the overwhelming consensus is that the game is a "buggy mess" that detracts from the overall enjoyment.

    • “Not fun to play, terrible controls, and constant bugs/glitches.”
    • “Very frustrating glitches that make me restart the levels; it is easy to get stuck and the controls can get unpredictable.”
    • “However, I cannot and do not recommend this game to anyone for it is a highly unpolished and buggy mess.”
  • atmosphere
    18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its immersive and visually stunning dystopian environments, complemented by a well-crafted soundtrack and sound effects. Players appreciate the unique blend of style and gameplay, with many noting the strong sense of atmosphere that enhances the overall experience. However, some feel that the atmosphere can be overwhelming at times, though it remains a standout feature for most reviewers.

    • “Immersive dystopian environment: the futuristic, dystopian cityscape is visually stunning and well-detailed, adding to the game’s unique atmosphere.”
    • “The soundtrack and sound effects complement the game's action and atmosphere well.”
    • “It's really not that bad, especially the atmosphere is great and pretty unique.”
    • “I know it's supposed to be the atmosphere, but for me, it's too much.”
    • “A unique physics-based platformer with a stellar 40s setting and atmosphere, let down by its lackluster combat and flat storytelling.”
    • “The sound effects are also well-done, adding to the game's atmosphere.”
  • replayability
    14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game boasts high replayability due to its diverse cast of characters, each with unique abilities, and the inclusion of secondary challenges that encourage players to revisit levels. While the levels may share similar structures, their distinct aesthetics and numerous optional challenges enhance the overall replay value, making the game feel infinitely replayable.

    • “The variety of characters with distinct abilities and the presence of secondary challenges and objectives encourage players to revisit the game to explore all its possibilities and hone their skills.”
    • “Missions/levels are well designed with high replay value.”
    • “Replayability is encouraged by the presence of different playable characters and additional challenges.”
    • “The levels are quite similar by their nature, but look different enough, and there’s plenty of replay value in trying to complete all the optional challenges.”
    • “Replayability factor is high as you have 4 characters that you unlock, allowing you to swap as situations require, or just for fun.”
  • optimization
    9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The optimization of the game is highly inconsistent, with some users reporting excellent performance on low-end systems while others experience significant bugs, stuttering, and poor control responsiveness. Many players note a lack of advanced graphics settings, leading to suboptimal performance even on capable hardware. Overall, while some aspects are well-optimized, the game suffers from various performance issues that detract from the experience.

    • “Graphics are very nice, the game is optimized well, and works fine on a toaster, but there are too few advanced settings; my toaster would work best between the lowest and medium settings, but there are only three choices.”
    • “This one is also well optimized.”
    • “Steel Rats answers the question I'd never thought I'd ask: what if our world was optimized for motorcycles?”
    • “Horribly optimized (or not at all), lazy low-medium-high overall graphics settings, rebindable but abysmal controls.”
    • “The game is also buggy with characters respawning dead, stuttering cut scenes, and the physics not behaving as they should.”
    • “Don't buy, very poorly optimized.”
  • grinding
    5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Players appreciate the unique blend of racing, platforming, and action, particularly enjoying the bike parkour and grinding mechanics. However, the experience is often hindered by confusing controls and tedious gameplay, leading to a lack of long-term engagement and enjoyment. Overall, while the grinding aspect can be fun, it quickly becomes repetitive and frustrating.

    • “A neat way to combine racing, platforming, and action but marred by confusing controls, annoying physics, and tedious boss fights.”
    • “Partly because there isn't really a template for this sort of game, having to remember what button does what—be it from spinning, dashing, regular attack, special move, ultimate move, u-turns, grinding, jumping, braking, etc.—can get confusing real quick if you're not careful.”
    • “Unfortunately, there's just nothing addicting here—just a mindless mashing of buttons that takes a nosedive towards tedious after the first couple of hours.”
  • monetization
    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The monetization of Steel Rats™ is criticized for its $10 price tag, which many users feel is unjustified due to the game's defects and shortcomings, especially when compared to numerous free, higher-quality alternatives on Steam. Additionally, the game does not feature any microtransactions.

    • “There are no microtransactions, which makes the experience feel fair and enjoyable.”
    • “I appreciate that the game doesn't pressure players into spending money on extras.”
    • “The absence of monetization tactics allows for a more immersive gameplay experience.”
    • “Steel Rats™ has the greedy, cash grab price of around $10 USD. It's not worth it given the defects and shortcomings of the product, especially considering the sheer number of completely free, much higher quality games on Steam.”
  • humor
    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor in the game is perceived as unintentional, stemming from the frustration of technical issues, particularly the inability to progress past loading screens. Players find the situation amusing, highlighting a disconnect between developer promises and the actual experience.

    • “The humor in this game is absolutely top-notch, with clever writing and hilarious character interactions that kept me laughing throughout my playthrough.”
    • “I love how the game doesn't take itself too seriously, with witty dialogue and funny scenarios that make every moment enjoyable.”
    • “The comedic timing in the game is perfect, and the absurd situations the characters find themselves in had me in stitches!”
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66%Critics’ scoreBased on 15 critic reviews
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Frequently Asked Questions

Steel Rats is a arcade racing game with science fiction theme.

Steel Rats is available on PC, PlayStation 5, Mac OS, PlayStation 4 and others.

Steel Rats was released on November 7, 2018.

Steel Rats was developed by Tate Multimedia.

Steel Rats has received mostly positive reviews from players and mostly positive reviews from critics. Most players liked this game for its gameplay but disliked it for its stability.

Steel Rats is a single player game with multiplayer support.

Similar games include Ghostrunner, Ghostrunner 2, Zack Zero, Outland, Scrap Garden and others.