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Evolution is a natural process (religious controversies aside). If you’re old enough to remember the classic Rampage games from arcades well over a decade ago, you likely have a happy, nostalgic recollection of scaling tall buildings, destroying vehicles, and eating gobs and gobs of people. Midway’s newest version of the franchise - Rampage: Total Destruction - has you, well, doing the exact same things. Maybe it’s the fact that you’re not pumping handfuls of quarters into a huge machine, perhaps it’s the lack of the oversized joystick and arcade buttons, or it could be that today’s console gaming spectrum offers much more robust experiences. Regardless, the lack of gameplay evolution from Rampage in its original state in the smoky arcade to Rampage: Total Destruction on the Playstation 2 will likely leave you wanting.
Appetite for Destruction
To be fair, it’s not so much that the game is flawed. Rather, it just feels a bit uninspired, especially when compared to today’s crop of mature current-generation titles (budget and otherwise). Nor is it fair to say that Rampage: Total Destruction doesn’t accomplish what it sets out to do. It does, to a large degree. For the uninitiated, the concept of it is fairly straightforward. Choosing one of several available monsters (starting off with the classic Rampage characters of George, Lizzie, and Ralph) your task is to destroy entire cities, block by block, as quickly as possible. This is done by causing mayhem on as grand of a scale as can be imagined, as these towns are your destructive playground. Buildings get climbed and then flattened into piles of rubble; vehicles get picked up and thrown around like little Hot Wheels; army men get kicked to the proverbial curb like, um, little green army men.
The story – such as it is – unfolds in the main mode of the game, called “Campaign”, and briefly explains why cities around the world have gotten into this mess. Seems that the makers of a new cola have accidentally created a concoction that, when consumed, causes normal people to turn into hideously large and angry super-monsters. Once transformed, their goal is the annihilation of the planet and all of its inhabitants. Unfortunately, quite a few unlucky souls have tried the new soda, and their afternoons just won’t be the same.
You’ll start off with the traditional characters of George, Lizzie, and Ralph, but different monsters become unlocked to be used as playable creatures as progress is made through the levels. In fact, there are a heck of a lot more of these than in any other version of Rampage - a total of 28. The monsters all have their own charms, but there’s so small of a variance to how they operate that there is little reason to experiment with all of the different mutants. They all basically jump, punch, climb, kick, and flail the same ways, eventually powering up their moves as levels and challenges are cleared. All the while, the city’s denizens scurry at their feet and in the structures. Cars and trucks whiz by on the street, building dwellers open windows as you scale the skyscrapers (certainly a curious choice considering the circumstances), while civilians, police, and military forces walk the avenues below.
Loss of Control
While the single-player gameplay is rather tepid, the exasperation factor is increased by controls that don’t always do what you want. Trying to grab the bonus point and/or health power-ups while climbing buildings can be difficult at times, as switching your smashing hands is not the most intuitive mechanic. Even worse, many times you’ll go to grab a car or pound on the ground to rid yourself of an annoying tank or SWAT truck only to perform something decidedly different, like kicking air or swatting innocent lamp posts.
The biggest issue with Rampage: Total Destruction, though, is that it is just... so... painfully... repetitive. From one area of the city to another, the areas of play are small and, after a few levels, virtually indistinguishable from each other. While there are a nice variety of cities in theory – Las Vegas, New York, Chicago, among many others – in reality they all play so much the same that it’s almost sad. No matter where you are, the object is always the same – bash some buildings, stomp some annoying pedestrian enemies, and knock down some pesky helicopters. There are some moderately interesting context-sensitive challenges that appear in many levels, but it doesn’t take long to yearn for something – anything – more to do.
Taking it to the streets
The multiplayer aspect heats up the action a bit, even as it’s limited to the same machine and not available online. The co-op mode is basically an extension of the single player, but the versus mode adds some spice to the mix. Battling another monster for the most destruction points contains a layer of challenge and strategy that doesn’t really manifest itself in the other game types. But even this leaves you wanting more, as the monsters don’t really get to battle each other (except for knocking each other down here and there) as opposed to simply racing each other to bring down the cityscape. We understand that this is not in fact a fighting game, but if it were more of an integral part of the multiplayer then the fun factor would be ramped up even more.
Granted, Rampage: Total Destruction is a budget title, so demanding something out of the ordinary would be unfair. The vibe of the game is clearly to pay tribute to the original arcade game that so many of us remember fondly, without necessarily introducing elements that would turn off the hardcore fans. In that vein, it succeeds. In fact, the original arcade game and another past issue - Rampage: World Tour - are included in the package. On the other hand, it gets to feel so repetitive that the novelty and nostalgia factor can wear off far too quickly. Longtime fans of the series will find something to like, to be sure. The rest of the gaming public will do best renting it, thinking wistfully of days gone by, then moving onto something a little more involving.
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