How to play & controls RUST BUSTERS · Co-op Arcade Shooter
RUST BUSTERS is a 3D arcade gallery shooter in five stages — Jungle Outpost, Downtown Avenue, Container Harbor, Red Canyon Base and Legion Fortress — each made of two battle areas and a boss area. Your commando stays on a cover line 8 m wide at the bottom of the screen and only moves left and right, while you aim anywhere on the field with the mouse, a finger or the right stick. The enemy is a runaway robot legion, not people, and nothing bleeds.
Two arcade habits shape every fight. As in CABAL, you roll along the line to dodge, scenery breaks apart, and an ENEMY gauge must be emptied before the next area opens. As in Virtua Cop, a ring closes over a robot about to fire, and civilians must not be shot. Here a closed ring launches a visible plasma bolt you can still step away from, and grenades, shells, missiles, shockwaves and beams each draw their own warning.
A friend joins with a link or a four-character room code, even in the middle of a fight, and more robots arrive the moment they do.
Goal
Scrap the runaway robot legion. Empty the enemy gauge to advance through each area, then beat the boss in the third area to clear the stage.
How it works
- Shoot wherever you click or tap. Hold to keep firing; the pistol reloads every 12 rounds.
- A ring over a robot means it is aiming. Drop it before the ring closes, or step aside as the shot flies in.
- You can't be hit mid-roll. Get out of red circles on the ground (grenades, shells) and roll right as a shockwave or beam reaches you.
- Crates, barrels and watchtowers break when shot, exposing hidden robots. Shoot dropped weapons, medkits and grenades to pick them up.
- Don't shoot civilians — let them escape for points, and sometimes they drop a medkit or grenades as thanks. With a friend more robots appear, and a downed partner returns after 6 seconds.
Modes
Go solo
The five stages in order; clearing one unlocks the next and earns up to three stars. Solo can be paused, and if you go down you may continue on the spot with full health, which caps that stage at one star.
Co-op with a friend
Two commandos on one line, blue 1P and orange 2P. The host can deploy alone on any of the five stages; the friend opens the invite link or enters the room code and appears beside them, even mid-fight. Co-op never pauses.
Controls
| Action | Mouse & keyboard | Touch | Gamepad |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shoot (hold to keep firing) | Left click | Tap the field where you want to shoot; keep the finger down to keep firing | RT or RB |
| Aim | Mouse | Slide the finger that is firing | Right stick (slows over robots) |
| Move left / right | A/D or ←/→ | Floating stick: put your thumb anywhere in the lower left | Left stick or D-pad |
| Roll (invincible while rolling) | Space, Shift or S | Roll button at the bottom right | A or LT |
| Grenade | Right click, Q or G | Grenade button — thrown where you last tapped | B |
| Reload | R | Tap the weapon panel | X |
| Switch weapon (special ↔ pistol) | E, Tab or mouse wheel | Tap the weapon panel while holding a special weapon | Y |
| Pause (solo) | P or Esc | ⏸ at the top left | Start |
Tips
- Robots are weak in the head; on bosses the yellow diamonds mark the weak spots. Weak-spot hits do more damage (double on small robots).
- You can shoot incoming grenades and missiles out of the air (Nice shot +200).
- Earn ★★★ by clearing without continues and taking 3 hits or fewer.
Strategy tips
Beat the ring
The ring over an aiming robot turns green, yellow, then red, and is drawn thicker when you are its target. It lasts 1.6 s on stage 1 and 1.01 s on stage 5. Each hit on an aiming robot pushes its shot back 0.22 s, twice at most (not tanks), and a robot dropped before the ring closes never fires.
Step out of the bolt
A bolt only hurts within 0.46 m of the point it was aimed at when fired. Robots aim where you would be 0.2 to 0.55 s later if you kept moving, so stop or turn back as the ring goes red; from a standstill the commando covers 0.92 m in about 0.27 s. Holding fire slows walking to 72%.
Red circles are exact
The red circle under a grenade, shell or missile is exactly the area that hurts, and its inner disc fills as the hit approaches. A tank drops one shell on you after 1.45 s and a second 1.9 m to one side after 1.75 s, so move away from both. Grenades and missiles can be shot down for NICE SHOT! and 200 points.
Roll into shockwaves
A shockwave covers the whole line, so it can only be rolled through. A roll is invincible from 0.03 to 0.42 s after you press, carries you about 3.2 m and can't be repeated for 0.78 s; you can't shoot while rolling. Press when the band is a few metres away.
Break props for the gauge
Destroyed props fill the ENEMY gauge too: 3 for a watchtower or bunker, 2 for a fuel tank, container or radio tower, 1 for a tent, car, van or generator. A turret on a falling tower or bunker dies with it and adds 2 more. Explosive barrels blow up over 3.4 m and set off props nearby.
Heads, then explosives
A weak spot takes double damage on small robots, so two pistol shots to the head drop a basic robot instead of three. The heavy robot takes only ×1.6 there and the tank ×1.2, but explosions hit tanks ×1.5, so keep grenades and launcher rounds for tanks.
Where the points are
Finishing an area without being hit pays 5,000. Kills less than 1.3 s apart build a combo worth ×1.2 from the third, ×1.5 from the fifth and ×2 from the seventh, and weak-spot kills pay ×1.5. A hit resets the combo, and shooting a civilian costs 1,000 points and a heart.
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