Rampage: Total Destruction

- Reviewed on GameCube -

Rampage: Total Destruction released on April 24th, 2006.

Developed by Pipeworks Software, Rampage: Total Destruction is exactly what the name entails. 

Filled with destruction, humor, monsters, fighting, and more, Rampage: Total Destruction is a nostalgic game for me that I had fun playing years later and definitely recommend trying out with others in multiplayer! 

Although the nostalgia and gameplay were great at the time, replaying this title unfortunately did not last long (at least for me). 

This review WILL have Major Spoilers so keep that in mind before continuing...

Rampage: Total Destruction is a completely fine and substandard game in the arcade genre. 

Yes, there are a lot of enjoyable mechanics that feel great when executing, but unless you're playing this game with others, you might not get a lot of longevity out of this title. 

The story (SPOILER) is shown right away in the game's opening cutscene. The scene shows a board meeting of sorts with a bunch of businessmen, watching a video of a man (named George) taste testing a soda called, Scum Soda. 

This lime green soda though takes a turn for George as it mutates him into a giant Ape monster.

Afterwards, the game begins! I love the brief and subtle introduction to how this mutation spread so quickly to the locations around the world (that you play in). It was quick and easy to understand and showed how / why there are so many characters to unlock and play as. 

The list of monsters (people who drank the Scum Soda) includes...

    - George (Ape)
    - Lizzie (Dinosaur)
    - Ralph (Wolf)
    - Ramsey (Ram)
    - Gilman (Blowfish)
    - Rhett (Rat)
    - Boris (Rhino)
    - Ruby (Lobster)
    - Cal (Squid)
    - Leon (Lion)
    - Crock (Crocodile)
    - Kyle (Cyclops)
    - Squirmy (Worm)
    - Fabio (Flea)
    - Marco (Shark)
    - Rojo (Bull)
    - Plucky (Chicken)
    - Fifi (Poodle)
    - Icky (Echidna)
    - Venus (Plant)
    - Wally (Warthog)
    - Harry (Yeti)
    - Shelby (Tortoise)
    - Amanda (Armadillo)
    - Natalie (Nautilus)
    - Kingston (Cobra)
    - Rocky (Rock Monster)
    - Sarah (Spider)
    - Brian (Brain Monster)
    - Edwin (Invader)
    - Joe (Wild Man)
    - Bart (Bat)
    - Jack (Jackalope)
    - Jill (Jellyfish)
    - Nick (Demon)
    - Cyril (Squirrel)
    - Vern (Abomination)
    - Philbert (Ungulate)
    - Myukus (Martian)
    - Eyegore (Alien)
    - Bubba (Blob)

Different console versions will have a different amount of the above list of characters, but even so, the vast amount of people (monsters) to unlock in Rampage: Total Destruction makes for great longevity (even if you don't play a lot per session like me). 

You can always use cheat codes too if you want to unlock all the characters at once. 

The locations that are in Rampage: Total Destruction, include...

    - Las Vegas
    - San Francisco
    - London
    - Dallas
    - Los Angeles
    - Chicago
    - Hong Kong
    - New York City

Same with the characters, you can also use cheat codes to unlock all locations at once too. 

There are four game modes in Rampage: Total Destruction, which includes...

    - Campaign
    - King of the City
    - King of the World
    - Time Trial

With all these great amounts of content, you would think Rampage: Total Destruction was a gold mine for great, lasting, and addictive gameplay, right? Well sadly (as mentioned earlier) this wasn't the case.

The gameplay is extremely fun with friends and such, but playing alone in this arcade, action style adventure... it just got boring extremely fast. 

Your goal is to destroy all the buildings in a lot (level) before moving on to the next (whilst a timer runs down). 

You can climb the buildings, collect items inside of destroyed portions of the building(s), throw vehicles, eat people, destroy helicopters and tanks, and also burp. 

The gameplay is fun the first few levels (lots) but gets very exhausting after doing a lot of button mashing. 

There are challenges each level (lot) to try and accomplish in order to get either a bigger score, or one of the four monster upgrades (which can also be automatically unlocked with cheats). 

At the end of all the levels, before finishing that world location, you will also have to fight Mr. Z. 

Mr. Z is the main antagonist that shows up in various military like weaponry. 

Maintaining the timer, buildings needing to be destroyed, health, and your total lives are crucial to completing an entire world location. 

Rampage: Total Destruction in my eyes is a multiplayer must! 

With its crazy number of characters to unlock and the fun scoring mechanic, Rampage: Total Destruction shines best when you're competing against one another.

With the core gameplay lacking in improvement, Rampage: Total Destruction is still a fun couch co-op game where everything revolves around destroying the world! 

Pros: 

    - Huge Cast of Characters
    - Fun and Enjoyable Music
    - Outstanding Multiplayer Content
    - Multiple Game Modes
    - Quick and Easy to Understand Plot / Lore

Cons:

    - Uninteresting Gameplay
    - Not the Best for Single Player
    - Frame Rate Drops (occasionally on GameCube)
    - Not all Characters on all Console Versions

My Rating for Rampage: Total Destruction (on GameCube):

3 / 5


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All Reviews, Ratings, Pros, Cons, and Opinions Shared on this Blog (Press A Reviews) are my (Connor Butler) own Thoughts and Feelings.



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