Rampage: Total Destruction (Sony PlayStation 2, 2006)

A long time ago I had a simple game that I could play and have fun with on my Commodore 64.

After a few incarnations and a long sabbatical they released basically the same game with updated graphics.

Rampage: TD tries to offer more than the games of yesteryear, but doesn't deliver a roaring success.

The core is still the same. You've mutated into a giant monster, you run back and forth across a few buildings that are lined up, and reduce them to rubble by punching and kicking.

One of the new features is that you'll be given specific challenges to meet from level to level. Something like, eat 5 SWAT team members. If you meet the challenges you get bonuses and power ups. These power ups may include unlocking special moves so you can cause more damage, faster.

As you progress you'll also be able to find and unlock new monsters. There's lots of monsters to unlock, but who cares. Although they are suppose to have their own unique advantages (like better speed, better climbing, or better strength) they really don't mix the game play up very much. Plus after playing through a few levels, are you really going to shelf the monster you've been leveling up to take one that's weaker and has less moves? The biggest problem I have with this game is that the developers didn't take advantage of the systems capability. You're stuck on one street at time. The environment is almost static. What year is this? You should be able to run around a whole city, or at least one block, while causing your carnage. Mix up gameplay a little bit so you're not always doing the same thing the same way. This game plays more like a Gameboy Advance game. The graphics may be 3D, but the playing field feels very 2D.

There's more than enough levels to play through, but the only thing that really differentiates the levels from one another is the occasional boss fight you come across.

The controls take some getting use to as your monster is often feels a little slow to respond.

You do get the classic arcade versions of the game that have debuted over time. All this being said, you can have some fun if you play in short bursts. I'm still going to be keeping it in my collection. Rampage: TD is the type of game you play when you have 20 minutes to kill. You know, when you're waiting for your chicken wings to finish cooking, or for your significant other to finish getting ready. It's a mindless quick fix game. In this respect it provides some entertainment, and satisfies some nostalgia if you were a fan of the original.

I got this game to play with my 4 year old daughter. Whenever we have a few minutes to kill I'll throw this in, she loves it. Calls it the smashing game. What's not to love about a game where the goal is to destroy an entire city with your bare hands. Nice how they added all the extra monsters in this one (the first one only had 3). Fun game, you can get power ups for your monsters however it does get a little repetitive. But the game is challenging enough and bonus objectives help keep it interesting. (Trying to unlock all the monsters and then power them up). Hey, you can't go wrong here for under $10.

This game is a lot like the old one that came out. It is exactly what i wanted you are a monster that smashes the city. The reason i didnt give it a 4 rating is it takes too long in between spots where you can save. I get tired of the game after about 10 minutes but its about 30 minutes of gameplay before you can save. The game is great after a hard day of work to take some agression out on your favorite city.

I don't know why I love this game so much, but ever since the very first generation of this game came out, I have enjoyed every building smashing, monster crushing second! I'm an architect and a contractor and maybe since I design and build things all day this becomes a release to just throw some smack-down on the built environment. Simple, pure entertainment.

the graphics for this game are better than the previous games, but the game play is the same. after about an hour of playing you get tired of it. unlocking new monsters is pretty cool, but not worth playing for hours to get. this game is fun in multi play mode when you have unlocked about ten monsters. over all this game gets pretty boring when playing alone but with friends its great.