Rust Mobile is an excellent version of the popular survival crafting game

Rust is a name that's likely familiar to anyone interested in gaming beyond Call of Duty or GTA. Even if you haven't played it, the reputation for brutal difficulty, where even daring to log off for the day can cost you your entire base and all the resources within, is well-known. And now we have Rust Mobile, bringing all the frustration and elation of its PC counterpart. 

Now, I'm not going to sit here and muse about the pros and cons of a survival-craft game that has existed in some form since 2013. You'll likely know if its take on the formula resonates with you. Instead, I'm going to chat about how well Rust Mobile plays. After all, there's a lot of complexity here, which can be tricky to translate to touch controls. 

For the most part, though, Facepunch has done an excellent job from top to bottom in Rust Mobile. Sure, the screen is littered with virtual buttons, but it needs to be, and they've largely kept them away from the centre, leaving you free to scan the environment for enemies without your thumbs blocking anything important. 

Even then, if you take issue with the layout, it's completely customisable, a feature that should really be standard practice these days - it would have improved my experience with Bloodless immensely. Not only can you move the virtual buttons wherever you please - including pointlessly stacking them on top of each other and making them unusable if you choose - but you can adjust the size and transparency as well. All three types are customisable, including basic, build and vehicle controls. 

Oodles of settings options

It's an impressive amount of options, and it doesn't stop there. In the Basic Settings menu, you can tweak even more things, like toggling on Aim Assist or changing the crosshair's thickness and colour. Essentially, it's all the breadth and depth you'd expect in a well-made PC menu, including that all-important FOV slider. Great for accessibility and personalisation. Bravo, Facepunch.

All of that would mean very little if Rust Mobile didn't run well, and thankfully, it does. When skulking around the island, I had no frame rate drops or stuttering problems beyond an occasionally wonky internet connection. That's likely on my network, of course. 

I did encounter problems entering areas with more buildings and other environmental bits and pieces. In these moments, Rust Mobile actually identified them, recommending I drop the graphics down, even giving me the option to do so by tapping a button. I didn't have to dip out of the lobby to change them or risk getting killed. It's something we're starting to see more of, and long may it continue. Not everyone is willing to spend ages in an options menu, after all. 
 
Admittedly, the graphics aren't outstanding, even on the highest setting. If you're after the best-looking games on mobile, this isn't one of them. It wouldn't be completely inaccurate to call Rust Mobile a tad garish. That said, it is fairly old, so that's not surprising in many ways. It's at least clean visually, though, making it easy to spot enemies on the horizon. Helping that is the draw distance, which is pretty good for locating unsavoury types and planning accordingly.

There is still a little... Rust

All in all, this is a stellar version of Rust. However, there are a couple of minor gripes, mostly when hunting animals or trying to retrieve arrows from their carcasses. With animals, the problems came when trying to grab their resources after killing them. Some hits wouldn't register, making it take longer than necessary. Likewise, finding the option to pick up arrows stuck in a boar's hide is overly finicky. You'll find it eventually, but in a game of fine margins, this could easily mean someone sneaking up from behind and taking you out. 

It's also worth mentioning that there's no controller support here. For me, that's not a deal-breaker since the touch controls are excellent and put everyone on an even keel. Yet, I appreciate it's not for everyone, so I wanted to stress that point.

Ultimately, then, if you enjoyed Rust on PC, chances are you will here too. It runs superbly and has enough customisable settings that most people can find a control set-up they like. Aside from a few hitches, Rust Mobile feels like the full experience, for all the good and bad.