DbleBassDrummer's Review of Rampage: Total Destruction

Aside from the failed and superficial fluff, Rampage is the same game as it's predicessors, for better, and much worse.

User Rating: 5.3 | Rampage: Total Destruction PS2

By DbleBassDrummer | Review Date: August 31, 2006

When Rampage: World Tour was still popular in arcades, my grandparents would take my sister and I to the arcade to blow all of our quarters on that one machine. It was a fun ocassion, and I was still too young to tell a good game apart from a bad one, and a good one from a great one, so the mindless fun was enough to keep me playing. Needless to say, I think I might have had a temporary lapse of sanity when I picked up Rampage: Total Destruction. Starting the first level, my expectations were confirmed. Rampage: Total Destruction brings so little new to the table that it's almost sickening. I'm all a fan of graphically updated classics. The DS versions of both Sonic and Mario are brilliantly done, in fact. The difference, however, is that the core gameplay for Sonic and Mario is actually very entertaining. Rampage: Total Destruction tries very hard to be like the older versions, while throwing in the list of updates you would expect, such as better graphics, more depth, and the most superficial of them all: more monsters, though most of them are pretty creative and well designed. The idea of Rampage hasn't changed a bit; You must go from city to city destroying block after block of the same buildings vehicles, and innocent bystanders. Yes, it's as repetitive as it sounds. Like the older Rapmage games, only subtle differences set cities apart, such as specialized buildings and vaguely different types of people and vehicles. However, unlike the older games, the cities are fewer, but the amount of stuff you must destroy is greater. This means fewer variety between levels, if there would even be any to begin with, as opposed to the large number of different cities in Rampage: World Tour. To be fair, there were hardly any differences between what are vastly different cities in real life. Presenting the levels in this way in Rampage: Total Destruction feels like a "We might as well," sort of decision.

To judge the game on it's own merits, and not that of it's predicessors, Rampage: Total Destruction feels extremely slow. The controls are fairly clunky, and to smoothly bring down a helicopter, or jump from one building to another feels like a chore. The semi 3D layout makes it hard to position yourself up with a car or a human that you want to pick up. It really makes you think that this game should have either been in full 3D, or traditional 2D. The added depth that the semi 3D would want you to have is that you really can't leave the city block that you're on. The abundance of invisible walls feels really limiting, so it almost makes you feel like you should be able to free roam the city. However, in theory, that would only add to the camera issues, and there are already plenty of those. The buildings are layered, and you can really only see what's facing the screen. The camera will change perspective and follow you, which makes things better, but in two player mode, it will do all sorts of strange things, including the ever frustrating game flaw of not moving if the other player doesn't move with you, something we all thought we were rid of.

For all it's worth, however, Rampage isn't bad at it's core. Had the semi 3D enviornments not horribly backfired as they did, the game would likely be the same sort of action as the older versions, for better and for worse. It's a fun multiplayer experience, for what it's worth, though it's a little too mindless to enjoy on your own. The competitive edge that's been apparent in all of the Rampage games is what makes the repetitive action worth it. Though you'll still be destroying the same buildings over and over is repetitive no matter which way you look at it, trying to do it faster than your buddy makes things a lot more interesting.

For the classification, I put that this game is "All it's cracked up to be." This seems almost too appropriate, since a jazzed up version of an older game is all this is really cracked up to be. The price of $20 seems fair, especially for what it is. Make no mistake, Rampage can be a great deal of mindless fun for two players if you set your expectations accordingly. If you're looking for something a little more fresh, then simply pass this one by.

Rampage: Total Destruction

Aside from the failed and superficial fluff, Rampage is the same game as it's predicessors, for better, and much worse.

GREAT!

An amazing sequel to an amazing series.