In Chapter 8 of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, you will end up visiting the Dustbowl and be forced to find some Sylkis Greens to rejuvenate Piko. This has you going all over the area to complete various tasks and minigames, one of which will be 
Desert Rush. If you played Remake, then you might remember the Whack-a-Box minigame and this one is just about the same, with a few new twists. This page will detail how to get the highest score in Desert Rush.
Desert Rush is another box-breaking minigame, with some new things added.
How to Complete the Desert Rush Minigame¶
The Desert Rush minigame is similar to Whack-a-Box from Remake, or the Shinra Box Buster from the Intermission DLC. The main goal is to break boxes with Cloud to score points, but Desert Rush adds some different elements. There are Gear Boxes littered throughout the area, which cannot be broken by normal means. In order to destroy them, you will need to find Shock Boxes and break them open. Each Gear Box will have a specific number of lightning bolt icons on them which will indicate how many Shock Boxes you need to destroy first.
As with the similar minigame in Remake, there are special boxes that grant you more time. The smaller ones give you an extra five seconds, while the rarer, larger ones will give you an extra ten seconds. Additionally, there are elevators in Desert Rush, which you must strike with your weapon to make them work. The red ones move you upward, while the blue ones move you downward. These are important because you cannot jump off ledges in this minigame, even small ones you would normally be able to drop off of outside of it.
(1 of 4) Striking the Gear Boxes without breaking the Shock ones will cause your weapon to bounce off of them.
Desert Rush Minigame Walkthrough¶
As soon as the minigame begins, look to your right for the first Shock Box. It’s important to remember that the box itself doesn’t grant you any points, but it will break into five smaller 200-point boxes, so make sure you get those. You can continue in that direction after to get the 50-point boxes, as well as the 1500-point one. Save your ATB for using Braver on the bigger boxes, as this should one-shot them and save you time in the long run. There are three 1500 boxes just to the right of the first Gear Box.
Go beyond where the Gear Box was located and ignore the others in the vicinity, as you need another Shock Box. To the right will be more time boxes, including one that requires using Cloud’s blade beams. There is also a red elevator near here that you can use to reach an upper portion, with a Shock Box. When facing the two blue elevators, take the left one to get back to where you were before. You will now be able to break the Gear Boxes here, allowing you to get a ton more points and gain access to another Shock Box, and even another elevator.
(1 of 4) Keep striking the elevators to make them work.
Head around the Gear Boxes here, to the back of them, to find another Shock Box, which should be the final one you need to break. From there, it’s a matter of breaking just about every other box you see, as well as taking more elevators to higher elevations. Don’t forget to check out every nook and cranny for boxes that give you more time, too. At this point, the rest of the minigame should be pretty linear, since you aren’t really gated anymore and can just destroy everything.
Remember that the top score is 42,000 points, so you just need to beat that. You don’t need to go after every 50-point box, but destroying most of them should be more than sufficient. Start from the bottom and slowly make your way to the top, where you should have more than enough points to get all of the prizes.
All Desert Rush Rewards¶
The following table lists all of the rewards for clearing Desert Rush. Note that you need at least 15,000 points to get the Sylkis Greens, which isn’t really all too difficult to do.
| Points Needed | Reward |
|---|---|
| 15,000 | Sylkis Greens |
| 30,000 | 3,000 Gil |
| 42,000 |  Dragon Claws (Tifa weapon) |
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