Previous Next

Prepare yourself for a monster mash! Or should that be smash? Rampage, the cult arcade classic, has finally hit the streets. I must admit to being among those people who said, "Nah! It can never be done!" Well, it's eat my words, hat, or whatever else comes to hand time. Activision has produced a very acceptable version of the game - complete with three player option.

The basic idea is very simple. You control one of three monsters - Lizzie, a Godzilla type reptile, the Wolf Man and a King Kong Gorilla monster and then you go on the rampage, smashing buildings, crushing tanks, knocking helicopters out of the sky and generally having a smashing time.

The best way to play is with two or three friends - that way you discover the true competitive spirit of the game! It's almost as fun kicking and punching your monster mates as it is destroying buildings and mashing tanks!

Eating people isn't wrong in Rampage - your monster will need to snatch a person burger from time to time. These people appear at the windows of the apartment blocks and skyscrapers you're attempting to demolish. Just grab them and munch them for some extra energy. Yummy!

There are 85 cities to smash, kick and crush your way through - the background graphics give you an idea where you are but the buildings you damage look much the same wherever you are.

Controls are via joystick and keyboard - and I found the stick somewhat unresponsive at times. When I wanted to smash something I just couldn't get my monster to do what I wanted.

The graphics and animation are pretty good copies of the coin-op original, even down to the daft expressions on the monsters' faces. They look out of the screen and mouth comments at you. Glad I can't make them out!

Sound effects are nifty too - sort of digitised sounding crashes thumps and grunts. Quite original this. There is an intro tune copied from the coin-op.

Each player can choose which monster he wants to be - so you could get three Lizzie's running around, if you want - Lizzie is my favourite as you might have guessed.

The only thing I'm not quite sure about is the game's lastability. It's fun to play for a while but whether you'll want to batter your way through all 85 cities is another question.

Overall, Rampage is a fun game - if you're a fan of the coin-op then you won't be disappointed by the C64 version at least! We'll let you know about the other versions when we see them.