"You can't eat me, I'm a reviewer!"
Like always, Rampage revolves around destroying well-known cities as fast as possible, using giant mutated monsters to level every building in town. Unlike in previous games, though, Rampage: Total Destruction has 3D graphics instead of the primitive 2D ones we've gotten so used to over time. The game even allows limited 3D movement, with some buildings standing in rows behind others, but apart from that, and being able to smash cars and eat people on the foreground, the game still feels a lot like its side-scrolling ancestors - too much, one might even say. The graphics themselves are hardly something to get excited about either, which is not surprising considering this is a port of a game that already appeared on the Gamecube and the Playstation 2 almost a year earlier. Even for those consoles, however, these graphics look below average, let alone for a next-gen machine such as the Wii.
The fact that is game is a mere port also causes the Wii controls to be rather primitive. One can immediately notice that the developers inserted the Wii-customized control scheme just because they could, and it is therefore not surprising that every move you make with the Wiimote is eventually just a long-winded alternative for pressing a button. Although the controls are primitive and not really necessary overall, they aren't broken, so the game is no less playable than its last-gen counterparts. Moreover, the Wii version has some interesting extras, such as 10 extra characters, and the exclusive city Dallas, allowing you to seriously mess with Texas.
There are 8 cities in total, which is far less than in any of the previous Rampage games, yet the composition of the cities also differs from that in earlier installments. Instead having one city per level, Rampage: Total Destruction lets you destroy multiple blocks in a city (usually 8-10 in total), every block being a level. In the final block you face the boss, which is in all cases some kind of machine (a tank or an aeroplane of some sort usually) created by the company which produced the soda that caused people to mutate into monsters in the first place, and is trying to obstruct you in your destructive purposes in order to prevent bad publicity. In the spirit of the game, the bosses are mostly easy to beat, and you don't even have to beat them as long as you still destroy all the buildings on their block.
What does make the game a bit challenging and more lengthy, though, is the inclusion of a challenge on every block in the game, usually consisting of you having to retrieve a number of items out of buildings, or destroying or eating certain types of humans/vehicles. Some of these challenges will gain your monster a skill upgrade when completing them, with there being five skills to collect in total. However, even if the upgrades are the same for every monster, you'll have to earn the skills separately with every one of them. Seeing as there are 40 monsters in total in the Wii version, this activity can take up quite a while if you're planning on fully upgrading every monster in the game. Moreover, not every challenge will earn you an upgrade. Most challenges will just earn you an additional 5000 points to your overall score upon completion, and a lot of monsters (especially the unlockable ones) have 1 skill that can only be earned on 1 specific block in the game. Tedious as this might seem, it's certainly worth the trouble of at least upgrading some of your favourite monsters. Skills such as the jump-smash, the super-punch, and the spin-jump can prove to be especially helpful in dealing more damage to the blocks, thus having you end up with higher scores so you can unlock more monsters. Other monsters can be unlocked by freeing them from capsules find in buildings spread across the game, yet some monsters require you to free them whilst playing as a certain character.
All these extras and challenges, however, are only relevant to those who find enjoyment in playing this game. Rampage: Total Destruction is very linear in terms of gameplay. If you've played the game for 10 minutes you know exactly what to expect for the next 30 hours. Even the music lacks variation. While the soundtrack is composed of some quite enjoyable rock-like tunes, there must be about 6 of them spread over 8 cities, each consisting of up to 10 blocks. A few extra tracks surely wouldn't have hurt the game, as even the menu music is to be heard again and again in tons of blocks, revealing a sheer lack of effort in this area on the developer's behalf.
The overall sound of this game certainly isn't bad, however. On the contrary, many enjoyable one-liners are voiced by the cities' inhabitants, radio reporters, Arnold Schwarzenegger-like grenadiers and tons of other colourful and soon-to-be-eaten people you'll see appearing as you demolish their beautiful city. The sheer addition lines such as 'you can't eat me, I'm a lawyer!' makes this game stand out in the comedy department. In fact, where this game continually fails to impress technically, the artistic efforts compensate a lot. Another key role in this is played by the great character design. While there are 40 monsters in total, every single one of them has a unique look. There are certain subcategories among the characters (squid-like types, primate-like types, etc.), but still a lot of the characters, even within those subcategories, have their own, unique feel, and their own strengths and weaknesses.
For those who do get bored with the main game eventually (which is not unthinkable as lots of players will be chased away by its thoroughly linear gameplay), there are a couple of other modes to occupy themselves with. King of the City and King of the World let you compete against up to three other players (friends or computer-controlled monsters) to see who can destroy the most blocks or cities respectively. Then there's the Timed Run in which you have to destroy a city within a certain time limit, optionally with the help of some other players.
Additionally, Midway was so kind to include a little extra for the Rampage fans: ports of the first Rampage arcade game and Rampage: World Tour, the latter of which being previously released on the Nintendo 64 and the Sony Playstation. While these games will probably not get you too excited, it's a great addition for those Rampage fans who want to replay these old games again, and for newcomers to see where the series' roots lie.
The conclusion of my review is a difficult one. While the game is very linear, unvaried, and technically inferior in many ways, the fun factor (probably the most personal and subjective aspect of a game) makes up for a lot of this game's flaws. Being a fan of the old Rampage games (which were equally unimpressive from a technical angle), I happened to enjoy this game a lot, with its great variation in likeable characters, its good humour, and its overall merry spirit (which is a remarkable achievement considering your basic objective is to destroy the world). Combine that with the low price tag (the game was already priced at $30 when it hit the shelves) and the inclusion of two cult classics, and I can't help but appreciate Rampage: Total Destruction for what it is. It's not a recommendation in the sense that Total Destruction is more of a cult game than anything, so newcomers would be adviced to rent this game first, and gamers who disliked any of the previous Rampage games ought to stay clear of this one.
Report Card:
+ great character design
+ good humour
+ the original Rampage game and Rampage: World Tour included
+ low price tag
- bad graphics
- incredibly linear gameplay with hastily ported Wii controls
- too little variation in the music
Score:
73%