Rampage on the Nes plays like the arcade original, but that really doesn't mean anything good whatsoever.
To be fair, Rampage is very original, and that gives it points. Following the styles of King Kong and Godzilla, you are the monster and your goal is to destroy all the buildings in a time setting before the military does, which makes sense of course (false). You do this by simply grabbing onto a building and start punching the crap out of it, as well as eating people using those homes. To be fair, humans have taken away wildlife, so it's about time animals took back the land! You can also blow up helicopters, and once you destroy a building, it will collapse, which looks quite good I admit.
You'd think a simple concept like this would make a fantastic arcade to Nes port, so how come Rampage is so BORING?! The arcade original wasn't even that good, so the Nes port is the same, which is to say, it sucks. The reasons for why it sucks don't include because of how repetitive the game is. You're just limited to just smashing buildings people built with their OWN HANDS like a complete savage. Still, that doesn't justify why I don't like this game that much. Maybe I wouldn't have a problem with the repetitiveness if the game wasn't TOO EASY!! Excellent arcade games like Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, Mortal Kombat II, Contra, and Area 51 all are very challenging, which keeps you playing no matter how much you die! In Rampage, you'll be BEGGING to get a Game Over! Yes, it's fun for the first three minutes, but afterwards your insomnia will be cured if you're playing this game late at night (what are the chances you'll even be doing that?).
The game is too easy because you take little damage from anything! Helicopters and people shoot you a lot, but it will only take a teensy tiny bit of health from you. Commiting video game suicide just isn't going to cut it for this type of game. The fact that eating people generates your health makes you question why the difficulty wasn't cranked up more! It also lowers my opinion of whatever positivity I had for the gameplay. There's 85 levels to play, but they all look the same and frankly after 10 stages you'll bored to death. Finally, you get to play as a gorilla or a giant lizard (sorry, Ralph isn't in this game) yet they play the EXACT SAME!! As a result, the multiplayer only makes things EVEN EASIER (and more boring)! You'll probably go through four levels before shutting your Nes off and leaving this game on the shelves for good!
Gameplay aside, the graphics are pretty good. The buildings look decent enough, and the silhouetted buildings in the background look cool. If only the game was THIS COOL!! The animals are nicely animated too. The sound effects are great, but the music (consisting of one song repeating through 85 levels) is awful.
Rampage on the Nes plays like the arcade original, but that really doesn't mean anything good whatsoever. The success of this game prompted Midway to make the exact same game with updated graphics many times. Yes, Pokemon did this too, but at least the original formula was FUN (therefore making later games in the series fun as well)! I think Rampage would've ranked higher if the difficulty was tuned, and the amount of levels was cut by 2/3. It's ironic that one of the most original and creative games ever is also one of the most boring video games I've ever played. If you are a Rampage fan this will satisfy you, but I'd rather spend my time watching Johnny Test. Yawn.
Gameplay: 4/10: Great Premise, but it gets really, really, REALLY old after a short amount of time. Too easy, way longer than it should be, and boring. Multiplayer just makes things way easier
Graphics: 8/10: Cool background drops, nicely animated animals and buildings. Would be better if the scenery changed or if the graphics were used for a game that was much better
Sound: 5/10: Great sound effects but the looping music will drive you insane! When will it all end!
Value: 3/10: *The reviewer of this game is currently asleep and therefore cannot finish this review.*
Final Score: 4.7/10 (F)