Rampage World Tour

They did it with Tempest. They did it with Pong. Heck, they even did it with Frogger. So why not remake an arcade classic like Rampage? Simple: Rampage wasn't WORTH updating. Or at least, not if a game like Rampage World Tour is the result!

As the name mentions, this Rampage is a WORLD TOUR. It certainly doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that this must mean that you will be visiting many of the worlds greatest locales. As you can imagine they hit just about every place that any other "world tour" would. The funny thing is that not only do you go to New York and Amsterdam, but also Pittsburgh and Peoria, among other lesser known areas.

And while there are tons of different cities to destroy, after awhile they start to look the same. Now, don't get me wrong, a lot of the levels look different. Long Island, for example, looks a lot different than Newark, but after awhile I started to notice that the levels looked the same. Toledo looks an awful lot like New York, for example. Not just similar, but they used the exact same graphics. There are far too many levels as well, a complaint I do not normally have.

The first thing everybody will notice is how good the graphics look. Sure, the Saturn's hardware makes it slightly grainier than it probably should be, but compared this makes the original look like The Lost World ... and I'm not talking about the sequel to Jurassic Park (but rather the 1925 classic). Even though the game is fully 3D, the game uses an interesting "claymation"-like effect.

Something that has always troubled me about the Rampage series is it's complete lack of variety. Each level is basically the same through and through. Sure there are different looks, people to kill, and buildings to demolish, but the game play never really changes that much. Something else that has always troubled me was the multiple missed opportunities. Where are the flying creatures? Why can't there be bosses in the same vein of the Godzilla series? Why can't you win over the more liberal of the onlookers who don't mind you destroying their "commercialism"? All these, and may more unanswered questions haunt a game like this.

But even worse than the repetition, though, is the horrid play control. While it's true that there are more moves than in the original, it also feels like the game is just not very responsive.

But when everything is said and done this game just doesn't work as well as it should. For an upgrade to a decade old game, Rampage World Tour does not live up to expectations.