Rampage: Total Destruction follows a slightly different ‘plotline’ from the past games. This time around, it’s that tasty new beverage, Scum Soda, which is responsible for the debacle. Thirty people – everyone who tested the product – turn into huge beasts and decide to vent their frustration by destroying every building in a city, then every city in the country. As you do. Of course, it’s merely an opening cut-scene – there isn’t any actual real plot to speak of, but it’s a nice introduction.
Spider-man! Or not.
What’s most disappointing about Rampage: Total Destruction is that it barely shows ANY advancement from the earlier games in the series. It’s simply inexcusable. At the very least, you would expect a cheap, free-roaming 3D affair, where you could go where ever you want in the city and let chaos ensue. But, alas, no – it’s still the same Rampage it has always been. Although, you could say we’re selling the game short, as Rampage: Total Destruction is technically in 3D. That is, you can now walk up and down the screen for about 3 steps each way, rather than just side to side. This actually causes more harm than good though, as it’s often hard to tell just how far forward or back your character is, meaning attacking moves will sometimes just plain miss your intended target. It feels like the game is in 3D for the sake of being in 3D, and it doesn’t really work.
Each of the game’s thirty beasts have some extra moves which are unlocked as you play through the game’s Campaign mode (provided you can complete the simple challenges in each level, anyway). These are capable of bringing down buildings a lot faster than standard punches and kicks – fantastic, as it’s less time you have to endure the game. These vary from charged punches, stomps and a roar. Characters all share the exact same special moves though, which seems rather stupid. Couldn’t Midway come up with some unique special moves for the shark or octopus characters? Was it that hard? Apparently so.
Relax, we'll have that tooth out in a jiffy.
And with those two new features – the half-hearted ‘3D’ and special moves – we come to the end of the comprehensive things that Rampage: Total Destruction adds to the arcade original. You still jump your way around a series of buildings, kicking cars and eating people as you go. There’s a grab button, for, uh, grabbing stuff. And that’s it. Repeat this over. And over. And over. The game really is that basic. Of course, there are a few extra modes – King of the City, King of the World and Timed Run – in addition to the campaign. But, the goal here is just exactly the same as the single player, except you can play with a friend, should you hit your last tennis ball over the fence or run out of beer. What makes this more disturbing as it’s not the first time Midway have tried this – they did it previously with not one, but two sequels on the N64 and PSOne. Simply inexcusable.
Luckily, Rampage: Total Destruction is a budget title, because it sure as hell is presented like one. Aside from a spiffy opening cut-scene – which looks like it was ripped from The Incredibles – and decent visuals for the creatures themselves, the game is not pretty. As mentioned, the monsters do look good, jumping around with some rather good animation and looking generally imposing. However, each of the game’s seven cities looks more or less exactly the same, with low resolution people and cars running around the bottom of the screen, and ridiculously basic buildings in the foreground. The backgrounds are worse, with even more basic buildings and a strange blue fog of sorts covering the environment. The audio isn’t any good either, with the same piece of horrifically generic rock music around almost every corner, and some surprisingly weak sound effects. A collapsing building should sound a lot better that it does in Rampage: Total Destruction.
The ogre contemplates firing his agent after being told the latest Rampage game was a good gig.
If you can manage to sit through the same exact thing for hours on end, you should get a few hours gameplay out of Rampage: Total Destruction. Not too many though, as the game isn’t terribly long. Should you actually like the game, experimenting with the various different characters and going for high scores should keep you occupied a little while longer. But, one of the best bits of the game are original Rampage arcade game, AND Rampage: World Tour, which Midway have included on the game disc. They don’t even need to be unlocked, either. If you play these and then go back to Rampage: Total Destruction, it becomes painfully obvious how the game has made only the barest amount of progress in twenty years, which is a feat to behold in itself.
After playing Rampage: Total Destruction, we’re really left wondering why Midway have pulled the game out of the closet for another revamp – the world has hardly been crying out for more Rampage games, after all. But, even so, you would think that they could have done a better job than this. A free roaming 3D affair – think GTA but with a giant – wouldn’t have taken a whole lot more effort, and could actually have been an amusing little distraction. Instead, the developers have opted for half-assed 3D, and it doesn’t do the game any good at all. If you’re a hardcore Rampage fan (if those even exist), you might like this. Maybe. Otherwise, you’re much better off spending your money on… Well, pretty much anything else, really.
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