I guess that games set in wartime are popular for the same reason that movies set in wartime are popular. Folks like seeing some super-macho tough guy defeating an army that’s armed to the teeth (possibly even to the gills). Rush ‘N’ Attack is no different.
In Rush ‘N’ Attack you control a guy that’s armed with a knife. He has to run to the right, brutally murdering everyone in his way as he searches for P.O.W.s. Most enemy soldiers can be killed with one knife stab to the stomach. You’re equally as fragile, as you can be killed by one touch from anything: kick to the head, dog’s teeth to the face, flamethrower to the front, rocket to the chin, etc.
The big challenge in this game comes not solely from the fact that your character is about as tough as a wet piece of tissue paper hanging from a clothesline on a windy day. It comes from the crazily ineffective controls. Enemies have the uncanny ability to leap onscreen just out of range of your sharpened letter opener, and kick your face off. Without a ludicrous amount of memorization and laser-sharp reflexes, you’re going to lose a lot.
I got tired of losing around the end of stage 2, and hung up my fatigues and butter knife.