Rampage: Total Destruction

"Tremble In Fear, Puny Humans, For The Time Of Your Destruction Is Here!"

The fourth entry in the Rampage series, Total Destruction goes above its predecessors in terms of gameplay. I'll admit that I was personally a bit surprised that the humble arcade game even spread to the Nintendo 64 console. I loved the original Rampage, but I didn't think that it had enough to make it further than the arcades. Midway proved me wrong with World Tour, a game that I thoroughly enjoyed, and Universal Tour, which was even better. Total Destruction more than does the series justice, it creates a new standard for the series, one which I'm anxious to see peaked.

Story

None of the Rampage series has a terribly complex story, and Total Destruction doesn't break tradition. A bunch of humans are turned into gigantic monsters after a taste test for Scum Soda. ScumLabs' PR department tries to downplay the issue by saying that the monsters are under control, but the upper management in unusually scrupulous, and when it's discovered that not all the monsters are contained, they decide to take action. As if they had a chance.

Gameplay

The city is under attack by monsters, and you're the monster! There are six different monsters available at the beginning of the game - including the original three, George, Lizzie, and Ralph - but by playing through the Campaign mode you can unlock more. A total of 30 monsters are available, though, interestingly, none of the other ones from Universal Tour are present. Each monster has their own different form and stats, but the controls for each one are the same.

One of the complaints about this game for some is the difficulty in learning the controls. Psh. If you don't have all the controls down in 20 minutes you're not cut out for wanton destruction. I found the controls for Total Destruction much easier to get used to than any of the previous installments. For one thing, they're split up more - you use a different button to punch than to grab, a feature that wasn't present in any earlier game, and I think that's an improvement. Airborne functions are much improved over previous game, as well.

There are four different modes to get into. Campaign is the first mode, where you go through and unlock all the monsters, beat all the challenges, and in general cause mayhem to the city. King of the City is a free-for-all in one city where you try to beat the other monsters and win. King of the World is basically a large-scale King of the City - you go to many different cities and try to win as many as possible. Time Attack is the last mode , and in it you simply try to destroy everything as fast as possible.

Your goal is to wreck all the buildings in the city, eat lots of good stuff, free your fellow monsters, and keep the military off your ass. The further you progress through the campaign, the more military personnel will be on you, so it's not always a simple task. Punching through building walls will reveal items, some of which may be helpful and some which might be harmful. An added improvement over the earlier games is that you can climb around the front of buildings instead of just the sides, which makes destroying everything that much easier. In most areas, there are random vehicles that you can destroy, as well as people you can eat. Each city has 10 “blocks” that you have to destroy; each one is completed once you've taken out all the buildings. On the last block, the rather overconfident Dr. Vector will try one of his unusual machines out on you. You don't have to destroy the machine to finish the block, but it's one of the challenges in Campaign Mode, so learning how to destroy it is a good idea.

Reading the above may give you the kind of feeling you might get from one of those corny Japanese giant monster “B” movies. And that's about the feeling you should get. I think one of the big reasons this game can succeed is that it doesn't take itself seriously - it's ridiculous, and it knows it. The monsters themselves are continually burping or farting, and sometimes puke when they eat something. One of the best animations is when they get electrocuted. Traffic helicopters fly in at times, with absolutely no regard for their safety, making ridiculously mundane comments while the city's being trashed. The people you eat have a tendency to shout out some of the most ridiculous lines in video game history (Best one by far: “You can't eat me, I'm a lawyer!”). Your early resistance is comprised of a lone police officer who shoots a pistol at you, doing next to no damage; his lines when you eat him are also quite funny, and after you eat him and destroy the car, another SINGLE officer comes in and tries the same thing. It's all ludicrous, and you can't help but love it.

Music, Sound, Graphics

The models for the monsters are pretty diverse, even if the animations are somewhat universal. You've got your Godzilla and King Kong wannabes, sure, but then there's your giant lion, your squid, some sort of plant monster, a big turtle (Gamera, anyone?), even a limbed snake monster and shark monster. The detail is pretty good on the monsters. The humans also have some detail; they're small, so there's not much to see anyway, but there's a diverse array of models, and they have smooth running animations and screaming-out-the-window animations.

Even better are the buildings. Buildings were very generic in the earlier games; here, you've got unique buildings to every city. Las Vegas has some large casino-hotels; San Francisco has seafood factories and Chinatown; and it goes on. They go through varying stages of destruction as your monster beats mercilessly on the infrastructure, and eventually collapse. It's yet another improvement over earlier Rampage games.

Audio is good. The music is a comfortable background, and somewhat fitting for the situation. The sounds are quite good; the monsters generally have some unique sounds each, such as when they eat something they like (or, don't like). The humans say their lines, which are pretty funny. You get your explosions, your pistol shots, your machine guns, your smashed windows, your wall crashes...everything you need for a good rampage.

Difficulty

Overall, the game isn't terribly difficult, though the later stages will keep you on your toes. As long as you take the time to keep your health up (which means eating humans and keeping them from attacking you), you should be able to handle yourself. Time Attack can be challenging at times, because you can't always focus on staying healthy, since the timer's not on your side. That presents a whole new challenge.

Replay Value

The game pretty much is replay. Generally, players aren't picking it up because it's a compelling story that they want to experience over and over again, they're picking it up because they want to annihilate stuff. Some may find this repetitive, but I don't think it's any more repetitive than, say, Super Smash Bros Melee, which is an extremely popular game, or any other tournament fighter out there. As another gift from Midway, the bonus content includes the original Rampage as well as World Tour, giving you even more to play with when you have the game. For a retail of $20, that's a pretty good deal.

Conclusion

Obviously, this game's not for everyone. If you don't like fun, then you might want to avoid it. Then again, if you like giant monsters and destruction, how could you not give it a try? And if you don't, then I'll come and eat you.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/30/06