One of the few truly funny video games ever made...
Every Build game has its share of fantastically creative weaponry -- from severed gargoyle heads to voodoo dolls to shrink rays – and RR is no different. In addition to pistols, shotguns, and dynamite, I was delighted to run across a powerful wrist-mounted laser that was still clamped to its former owner’s ragged detached arm, a bodacious Martian leather goddess’ high-caliber mega-bra, and – one of my eventual favorites -- the unpredictable ripsaw. The game uses the same inventory interface that first appeared in Duke 3D, but the individual items are suitably specific to Leonard’s backwoods world. The most notable change is in RR’s use of beer, whiskey, and moon pies in place of the sterile health kits found in other shooters. Replenishing health with snacks and booze adds the whimsical challenge of moderation to avoid sending Leonard -- hale and hearty but three sheets to the wind – stumbling sideways off of a cliff.
The slat-sided slaughterhouses and saloons in Redneck Rampage and its Route 66 expansion pack are incredibly well-rendered and detailed for a 2.5D game. Although a few of the game’s indoor areas are slightly crowded, there is always plenty of room available on the forest trails and rural roads to shuck and jive through the thickest of barrages. Some levels even manage a subtly creepy vibe; aside from having one of the best layouts, the insane asylum was also somewhat disquieting in its abandoned-torture-chamber squalor. Every area contained plenty of artifacts and tableaus based on truths and perceptions of the hick lifestyle. My absolute favorite details were in the ratty portraits of severely mutated hillfolk that dotted the walls of several ramshackle abodes.
There was something about the old Build games that made even the most mundane locations like gator farms, mini-golf courses, cornfields, and those ubiquitous sewers feel fascinatingly surreal. Redneck Rampage, its blistering Cuss Pack, the all-too-brief but satisfyingly difficult Route 66 expansion, and the amazingly good Rides Again sequel were available for years in the Family Reunion compilation. That package’s low price already paid for itself twice over after only the first playthrough. The fact that I still enjoy Leonard and Bubba’s adventures – and intend to as long as my old, mothballed Win98 Pentium 2 still works – should serve as a testament to the quality of RR’s truly funny scatological hijinks as well as its timelessly entertaining Build-based action.