Rampage

1988Don't we all sometimes get so cross that doors slam, flowerpots shatter to smithereens and computer hardware, after some aggressive handling, turns into software? At moments like that you'd love to be able to tear to pieces not just the petty movables but the whole real estate. Well, now everyone can give free rein to their lust for destruction, because Rampage, familiar(?) from the coin-op boxes, has arrived on home computers. Admittedly the house-smashing and other vandalism happen only on screen, but never mind that - at least the money you'd have spent on renovation is saved for, say, buying new arcade conversions.

It so happened that three unsuspecting customers of Lardburger Consolidated got into their systems, along with their lunch, some experimental additives that had ended up in the food by accident. An incredible mutation took place, and so George, Lizzie and Ralph tore their clothes to shreds and turned into a fifteen-metre gorilla, lizard and wolfman, who charged off roaring, without paying their bill, to destroy the city.

So in Rampage the players' task is to rip, crush, shatter and destroy as many city blocks as possible before their energy runs out and the reverse transformation back into a human takes place. Up to three players can join the wrecking bash at once, either as a team or - which is definitely the most fun - against one another, competing in their frenzy of destruction.

On the C-64 the multiplayer game has been done by leaving the third player with keyboard control while the other two wrench at the joysticks. Especially at first it feels as if your monster isn't really taking the joystick's commands seriously, but once you get used to the controls the monster starts toddling along as it's told. The keyboard players, for their part, get extra fuel for their rage from the illogical placement of the action keys.

On screen the mutant monsters clamber up the walls of apartment blocks, bashing windows, walls, tanks, police cars, helicopters and each other while the concrete colossi collapse into clouds of dust to the accompaniment of a rumble. The people and objects found in the crumbling buildings can be gobbled up before you give the heap of cement its final mercy blow. Mind you, a television or a cactus isn't good for the digestion.

The animation is successful on the whole, and the monster characters look fun. I was left missing a little polish in the graphics, though - most irritating are the projectiles flying across the screen, which could do with standing out properly from the background and also flying less jerkily.

The game has no background music, just plenty of crashing and exploding sound effects. There is title music, though, and it's apparently the same as in the coin-op version.

As an idea, Rampage really is a fun game. Especially with two or three players it's good for a laugh for a while, but how many of you can be bothered to do nothing but smash sorry excuses for houses for fifty screens' worth? Rampage doesn't seem to offer anything more to rack your brains over, after all. So I'd guess the game will split its audience in two. Some will love it and never tire of playing it; others it will leave cold. Before you sacrifice your wallets to the block-smashing party, consider which group you belong to. On the arcade side Rampage has become something of a cult game - time will tell how it fares on the home micro side.