Rampage: Total Destruction follows a similar formula to the original arcade classic, attempting to keep solid in its roots and progress on the somewhat basic gameplay of the 80's masterpiece. For Total Destruction, Midway tried to elaborate on what made Rampage a hit, banking on fully destructible environments, busy city streets ripe for the wrecking and above all else, monsters with serious attitude. In fact, Rampage: Total Destruction includes an unprecedented cast of characters, headlining with the original stars of George, Lizzie and Ralph, along with more than 25 others to unlock.
Each character can also be upgraded, offering different skills that can be used in the Campaign mode, Vs. battle or various multiplayer scenarios. In fact, the game's environments do the series justice as well, offering seven different major cities, teamed with fully destructible 3-D environments. All in all it seems like a perfect equation for a solid arcade title, but the entire package is crippled with some of the most clunky gameplay the series has yet to see.
For starters, Total Destruction continues to bank on the classic 2D feel of the original arcade, incorporating the 3D environments in levels that scroll primarily left and right, with only a small amount of depth to explore. Characters can walk into the street to pick up cars or traverse into the background in a very minimal amount to interact with buildings, which really is the extent of the 3D level design. The idea was to keep the gameplay in its classic design, so players won't be able to walk around the back of buildings or free-roam through cities. While we would have loved to ravish entire towns a la Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee, the 2D presentation is understandable.
Unfortunately, the small amount of 3D control included actually hurts the gameplay rather than helping it, adding in new issues of orientation to the previously intuitive design. For example, the original Rampage had characters walk up to buildings, pressing up to climb up them. Simple, right? In Total Destruction, however, object interaction isn't as seamless, as the up control will move your character into the background. Players will have to continuously press against a desired object to interact with it, which feels very clunky. In fact, you'll have no way of knowing if an object can actually be climbed or not, so many times it'll take a session of trial and error, walking against buildings and objects for a few seconds to see if your monster sticks to it. It's simply unintuitive.
In fact, the compromised gameplay can be found everywhere in Total Destruction. When climbing buildings in the original Rampage arcade, characters would move tile to tile, making it easy to determine which specific area of the building the monster would hit. In Total Destruction, however, the animations are more fluid and fleshed out, but the gameplay fails to retain the tile-to-tile feel, so knocking a building down will take considerably more time. Everyone remembers the feel of hitting block after block as George progresses up the side of a tower. In Total Destruction, a good chunk of time will be wasted as characters will repetitively hit the same area of the building, forcing the player to readjust their orientation slightly. It just doesn't give the same feel. That type of trial and error gameplay exists virtually everywhere, whether it's jumping from building to building, picking up cars and people, interacting with other monsters or avoiding in-level danger zones. The progression graphically is obviously needed, but the gameplay needed to remain distinct and crisp regardless of how the actions play out.
The characters have a great look, the environments are full of life, and the over-the-top audio design feels a ton like the Rampage world. Even though none of the production value is stunning in any regard, it has the Rampage look. Buildings fall with virtually the same formula as the originals, crumbling from top to bottom in a cloud of smoke. Reaction animations to getting hit or eating poisonous food is still just as quirky and over-the-top as it's ever been, and the voice over dialogue is just as obnoxious (which you can take any way you want).
In addition, each city has a true design which sets it apart from its neighbors, adopting casinos in Vegas and street trolleys in San Fran. Character level-ups are based on special objectives in each city, so characters will have to find the right poker cards in Vegas to unlock George's charge punch. Little extra nuances in the gameplay will give players two reactions. They'll love how much was crammed into the budget title, but they'll also hate the fact that gameplay hurts what could potentially have been a great pick-up and play party game.
Bringing it to Wii
Which brings us to the Wii version. Since Wii is all about multiplayer party games, this one could have been a must-have for retro gamers. Unfortunately, the game is just as much of a wash on Wii as it is on previous consoles, and in the end you can chalk it up to being a sloppy port with an added $10 on the tag. For an extra 50% of the cost, players can chuck away the GameCube controller and take in hand either a single Wii-mote or a nunchuk combination to beat the hell out of the city with.
At the same time, that's where the game lacks any serious entertainment. Using the recommended Wii-mote/nunchuk combination enables players to not only steer around their character with the analog stick and jump/melee using the left hand controller, but also smash and sweep attack with motion functionality. The problem is that even with the controller recognizing actions about 80% of the time (not great, but it's the equivalent to a button-masher for Wii control) it still isn't any fun to do. Lose the nunchuk control and attempt to play the main game with just a Wii-mote and the game gets even more frustrating, using the controller itself as a simulated joystick. As an odd decision though, the control is opposite of what we expected. Tilting the controller towards the screen has the character walk towards you. Pulling the Wii-mote back pushes the character into the background. Strange. If you're going to try Rampage: Total Destruction, go with the Wii/nunchuk combination.