Rampage was originally released in 1986 and put you in control of one of three monsters as they "rampaged" about the country smashing buildings or eating people. Rampage World Tour was released in 1997 and let you do the same thing, as did 2006's Rampage: Total Destruction. If you somehow haven't gotten your fill of smashing buildings, Midway has brought Rampage World Tour to the PlayStation Store for $4.99. It's still an enjoyable game when played with friends, but the fun will be short-lived because the game's formula has gotten old, and Midway has done little with this version to keep it fresh.
Rampage World Tour is a faithful port of the arcade game. You and up to two other people can play as humans-turned-monsters George (a giant ape), Ralph (a giant werewolf), or Lizzie (a giant lizard). It's nearly impossible to follow the story, but all you need to know is that you'll want to smash the labs that were responsible for your transformation. While you're at it, you'll destroy just about every major city on the globe: Chicago, Madrid, San Francisco, Rome, Budapest...nobody is safe.
The goal of each level is to destroy everything in it. You do this by climbing buildings and punching or kicking them as you climb. You can also jump up and down on top of a building to bring it down. Hidden in each building are power-ups, as well as hazards. You can chomp on some turkey to get your health back, but you might not want to punch that toilet unless you want to get sprayed in the face. You'll also want to be careful when punching signs--they'll give you a painful shock. People can also be eaten, which is great fun. Needless to say the residents in the cities aren't thrilled about you wreaking havoc. Helicopters, planes, and jets will all do their best to take you down from the sky while tanks, police, robots, and soldiers with rocket launchers will let you have it from the ground. Fortunately for you, they can all be destroyed with a quick punch or kick.
Initially, smashing buildings and causing chaos is fun, but that's all there is to Rampage World Tour. Each city is laid out differently, but other than a few buildings, most of them look exactly the same. The game is challenging partly because of the imprecise controls and partly because there's so much firepower headed your way at all times. Your greatest challenge will come from having to fend off boredom from the tedious gameplay. Should you die, you press continue to keep going right where you left off, but there's no way to start a new game from any of the levels you've previously cleared, which makes it unlikely you'll ever see the end of the game unless you do it on your first try. The only additions to the PlayStation 3 version of the game are online leaderboards and online play. But there's no voice chat, and there aren't many people currently playing online, so this feature is of limited value.
Rampage World Tour was hardly a visual tour de force 10 years ago, and its presentation is unchanged here, so don't expect any enhanced graphics or even attractive menus. Each level is plenty colorful, and there's always a lot happening onscreen. There are also some funny monster animations here and there, but there is some slowdown too. The game is displayed in a box that has a border on all four sides, which keeps the display relatively small, though it's still blurry even in this small window. This is hardly what people have in mind when they're told that a game is in high-definition. Sound effects are decent, but thanks to the repetitive gameplay, they also get repetitive.
Rampage World Tour isn't a horrible game, but it hasn't aged very well, and Midway has done almost nothing to spice things up. Without voice chat, online play is a drag, and it wouldn't have hurt if the graphics were at least slightly enhanced. If you're really interested in traveling the world smashing everything in sight, you should consider picking up Midway Arcade Treasures 2 because it's about $20, and it has this game, as well as 19 other games.
