Rampage: Total Destruction

"Why paint the town red when you can just tear it down to rubble?"

Ah, Rampage. The classic godzilla meets King Kong series that got revisited on the PS2 and Cube, and now she gets another breath of air with a port on the Wii. Is it as awesome as it has been all these years? Oh yes. Read on and see.

Graphics. Maybe not the best showcase of graphics against other more major titles in the industry, but obviously you'll be hard pressed to be able to “compare” it to its past titles. Everything has been given a hell of a make-over. Our trio heroes who need no introduction look hellishly damn good, and the levels themselves have an awesome variety. Las Vegas has all the scenery of bright lights, buffets, and casinos going on. While over in Los Angeles, movie studios advertising a Rampage movie can be found, along with tour buses rolling along the roads full of tourists. Neat touches like those for every level keeps them all looking individual, so there'll be none of that “Man, NYC looks SO much like London”. Along with all this way-hey graphics boost, a slew of new monsters have been added. Some are available; others will be waiting to be found. Now, for the most part that's fine and all, but it's a bit of a love hate relationship with me. Sure rats, rhinos and lions look great, but golems, sea creatures and spiders? I don't think so; they just look out of place to me. Just me I guess.
Graphics? 10/10

Sound. There's music, but you'll hear more from the sounds. Monsters roar and grunt as they hop to and fro buildings while pummeling the hell out of them, and delighting watching them fall. As they go about their daily business (as monsters do), they fart, belch, and vomit if they happen to munch something unhealthy. Gunshots, shrieking civilians, commando men yelling and all the more are the norm as the monsters have their fun. There's music, but it's not much more than a repeating riff on a guitar. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I think a full soundtrack would have complimented it all nicely (without vocals I should hope).
Sound? 10/10

Gameplay. As other reviewers have stated, it's pretty much the ultimate party game. But first let's get over the solo side of the game. In all honesty, unless you bring a friend for the 2 player mode, it's really not much, and it hasn't really changed. One small change is that it has a small degree of freedom being that instead of being restricted to left and right, you can walk in any direction. The result is that now you can actually scale the front of a building as well as the sides. Other than that, you simply walk about, climb buildings and smash them until either they all come crashing down or the air raid beats you to the rest. After that, you move on to the next block of the city. In an attempt to keep single player mode entertaining, some new additions have been made. First, bonuses and upgrades can be made for your monster. You'll be faced with all sorts of challenges such as smashing some cop cars, eating skate-boarders, or launching a rocket on the roof (...ok?). Meet the challenge on the block of the city you're on and you earn an upgrade. Along with that, you can take a buddy with you to go through the campaign together which always makes it more fun.

Along with these solo mode features, new Gameplay elements have been introduced. For one, if you busy yourself enough with demolishing buildings (or if you just find the icon in the building), you'll fill up your "rampage meter" which gives you speed and strength. Trashing buildings so heavily has never been oh so fun.

Oh that's right, did I say this is the perfect party game? Trashing a city on your own might not be the most stimulating thing on gaming worlds, but bring a good three mates along with you for some King of the City or King of the World, and watch those buildings buckle and fall to four sets of fists pounding them. There's nothing like it.
Gameplay? 10/10

Replay. Well, if you insist on becoming a rampage god and want to unlock and conquer everything, this ought to last even AFTER the cows come home. But if you have some buddies and want to tear up the town, you'll have a blast that will never end. Oh and let's not forget that even after you're done with this, there's still the bonus games Rampage and his brethren "World Tour". Visiting those and beating them should keep things going. Enjoy.
Replay? 10/10

Final words? PARTY TIME!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 07/20/07