Rampage Part 2

    ****Continued Spoilers of the Rampage series ahead****

     Hello again and welcome back to this series overview on Rampage. In the last blog I took a look at both the original arcade game that started it all and it's sequel/remake, Rampage World Tour. Both games were very similar to each other which in the long run hurt World Tour despite it adding a number of new features. Rampage World Tour would sell well enough that a sequel would be made. The game picks up after the events of World Tour. George, Lizzie, and Ralph have been returned to normal size. George is transferred to a holding facility in New York City, Lizzie in Tokyo, and Ralph in London. Think about all of that for a second. See if you can figure out the three references there. I'll throw them out there at the end of the segment if you haven't figured it out by then. Along with the world, Scumlabs has been rebuilding until disaster would strike once again. The Scumlabs facility in Salt Lake City would have yet another toxic event and accidentally unleash three new mutants on the world. Rampage Universal Tour has begun. 

    Boris becomes a massive Rhino, Curtis turns into a huge rat (not to be confused with Larry from the Atari Lynx port of the original arcade game), and Ruby turns into a huge lobster-like creature. The three set out to do what Scumlabs mutants do best. Destroy everything. This time though they also have the objective of freeing George, Lizzie, and Ralph from their respective prisons. One by one, the original three mutants join the three newcomers and continue to devastate the world until..... Aliens invade.... Suddenly the mutants start to defend the world they just wrecked and chase the aliens to Area 51 where a mysterious cyclops mutant named Myukus is released. Myukus and the other mutants then chase the aliens to their home planet where the mutants return the favor of invading to the aliens and devastate their cities. 

    The gameplay is more of the same. Go from city to city and destroy it. There is no World Tour feature this time as you will be focusing on releasing the original mutants instead of just trying to wreck the world. Much like World Tour, Universal Tour adds some new features and also expands on the previous game. This time around there are over seven playable characters though the last two are just recolors of Myukus with different names and stats. Yes, each character now has different stats for climbing, power, and overall walking speed which adds a bit more variety. Bonus stages return, but are more varied and involve things from long jumping to smashing buildings quickly, to eating a number of people. All of these bonus stages are far more entertaining in multiplayer though. Under the health meter you will notice a second bar. That is actually a power meter that when filled can unleash an incredibly powerful attack that can level even the largest building in one shot. The attack varies from character to character. For example, Boris charges forward and slams into a building while Ruby spins like a tornado shredding anything in her path. Boris's attack pretty much guarantees a building coming down, but Ruby's does more widespread damage. 

    The cities are actually expanded again, but not in size. Actual landmarks have been added into the game. For example, when you visit London, you will find yourself climbing and bringing down Big Ben and the Towers of London. In New York City you will take down the Empire State Building and World Trade Center (this game came out before 9/11). In Washington D.C. you'll have the opportunity to take it to the political system and destroy both the Capitol building and the White House. That'll get some frustration out right? Time however, has become of the essence as the world's (and alien) military will send bombers to attack you if you take too long in a city. Unlike previous installments in the series, you only have a few lives so getting hit by those bombers will severely hamper your efforts. Another update to the cities is their backgrounds. Unlike World Tour which offered generic city backgrounds, Universal Tour tries it's best to emulate what the city looks like, even in the background. That means if you are in New York City, you may recognize the design of some of the buildings in the background. It's a small change, but meaningful as far as immersion goes. One final change to the cities is weather. In a nice change, you'll sometimes be destroying cities during sunny days, or stormy days, or in the black of night. It gives you the feeling that time is passing as you move around the world. That's something that up until this point was lacking. I once thought to myself in Rampage World Tour if the mutants just decided to attack at the same time in a different place everyday. That feeling is dealt with with this small, but impactfull change.  

    Universal Tour improves on World Tour in every way. The graphics are better, the sound is better, the gameplay is.... marginally... better, and the cast of characters is better. That being said, a lot of the features that were added in were basically the other half of what should have been in World Tour. Honestly, if World Tour came out today, Universal Tour would be DLC as opposed to it's own game. That's not a knock on Universal Tour, just a reminder of where World Tour fell short and yeah, a shot at a lot of half finished modern games needing tons of DLC (Star Wars Battlefront) or day one patches. I digress... Rampage 2: Universal Tour was the best in the series at the time and remains my personal favorite. 

    There are two more games in the Rampage series that I am going to look over. I will not be looking at Rampage Total Destruction as it did not appear on any of the consoles I normally cover here, nor have I actually played it... Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the final installment in my Rampage overview!

Rampage Part 1

    Way before video games were fun to make movie adaptations of there was the arcade. In 1986, one of my favorite arcade games would be unleashed upon the world. That games is now the next game to be made into a movie. If history has taught us anything it is that movie adaptations of video game,s more often then not, do not go so well. Time will tell if Rampage will be a hit or yet another blunder, but for now I want to look at some Rampage games. For those who are not sure on what Rampage is, it's quite simple. The original arcade game stars three humans whom through a few different events mutated into monsters. George mutated into a massive ape, Lizzie became a massive lizard monster similar to Godzilla, and Ralph became a giant wolf.

    Since there are three monsters, three players can play at a time. In the arcade game you go from city to city and simply destroy everything. In order to proceed to the next level you will need to destroy all the buildings. Eating all kinds of things will give you health as you are attacked by a barrage of military and police forces. Things you can eat include people food.... and people... It's like a real life King Kong or Godzilla. 

    That's the whole game. Just going from city to city. There is no real story to be had. There is also no real ending to the game. After 768 days spanning five cycles of 128 days the game resets to day one. The game largely takes places across the continental United States along with a couple Canadian cities. The game would be ported to a multitude of consoles including the Atari 2600 and the Nintendo Entertainment System. Version difference are pretty limited, but there are a couple major things. Ralph does not appear in the NES version and the Atari Lynx version actually adds another mutant in the form of a rat named Larry. Overall, the arcade version I think is the definitive version of this game so if you ever happen to stumble across a Rampage machine, check it out. I really wish I had more to say about this game. I still remember pouring quarters into this machine at the local roller skating rink (what's that?) and even having random kids and even adults jump in and help just shred cities. It seems kind of mindless now, but it is still fun to this day. 

****Spoilers ahead from games in the Rampage series*****

    Rampage would see a revival in 1997 with the second game in the series, Rampage: World Tour. The game once again featured George, Lizzie, and Ralph doing what the do best, causing total mayhem and destroying city after city. Unlike the original arcade game, Rampage: World Tour actually has a story. Scumlabs at some point after the original game had captured and imprisoned the three mutants. At the start of the game the trio breaks out and sets out on a world wide war against Scumlabs. They take no prisoners as they smash and eat their way though the entire world in search of Scumlabs facilities. Finally in a desperate move the CEO of Scumlabs transforms himself into a mutant in an attempt of defeating the trio. He fails and is killed, but another Scumlabs scientist manages to shrink and recapture the trio, ending the world tour. 

    World Tour brought a bunch of new features and even some freedoms to the series. As I mentioned earlier, the game came out in 1997 and much like it's predecessor, was ported to many systems including the Sony Playstation, Nintendo 64, and even the Game Boy Color. I have the most experience with the Nintendo 64 version of this game, so that's the version I will talk about for the rest of this portion of the blog. 

    Visually, World Tour is an obvious upgrade from the original regardless as to which system you play it on, perhaps Game Boy Color aside. George, Lizzie, and Ralph can now come in several different colors that can be selected before you start the game. At long last you can change Lizzie into a crazed purple Godzilla/Barney hybrid. Glorious. The gameplay is a bit different than the original as well. The main objective is still smash every building in the level, but that's almost where the similarities end. Unlike the arcade game, World Tour does have that story I mentioned before and such has an ending. In the original arcade game you would go from city to city on a set path. World Tour mixes it up by adding in billboards that when smashed will signify that you are taking your World Tour elsewhere. What this means is one minute you could be terrorizing the west coast of the United States. bash a billboard and the next level will see you starting a conquest of Europe. Don't worry though, you will eventually go back and wreck any skipped cities.

    Another new addition to the game is V.E.R.N. (Vern). Vern is a mutant that your mutant can transform into after eating more Scumlabs toxins. Unlike the other mutants, Vern flies around, completely shreds buildings in just a couple hits, and takes out military forces like they're nothing. Speaking of mutants. As I mentioned earlier, the CEO of Scumlabs, Eustace DeMonic, turns himself into a mutant bringing a boss of sorts to the series, which is something the original arcade game lacked. In the original arcade game you were only able to punch buildings. Well this time around you can both punch and kick which opens up a lot of possibilities as far as combating military forces and other players goes. The kick also has a bit of a humorous side to it as you can punt both vehicles and people. Something about punting people and seeing them just splat on the ground is just funny to me considering how sci-fi the game is. Other changes/improvements/what have you include three player mode on the Nintendo 64 as opposed to the two player mode of the NES port of the original game. Multiplayer also has a sort of head to head where you are graded on your destruction of buildings, vehicles, and people eaten.  The game also features larger levels thanks to scrolling. From time to time you'll also come across bonus stages to pat your scores. They really don't serve too much of a purpose, but it does break up the monotony of busting down buildings. Sadly though, there is only one type of bonus level in the game so it does get repetitive.

    These new features were not enough to really grip critics as the game got average at best scores. It was still Rampage in that it still was all about smashing and eating your way through the game. The problem is that World Tour did not do enough to distinguish itself from the original game. The concept and gameplay were nearly identical and while myself and I'm sure other fans of the original enjoyed it, it left many wanting more. Still though, the game sold very well and was a pretty big hit. Kids seemed to really enjoy the game, so it was only a matter of time before Rampage would get it's third installation in it's series. 

    Personally, I think World Tour did do a lot of things half baked. Pretty much all the new features moved the game in the right direction to a point. Vern, kicking, DeMonic, larger cities, an actual story, and a bonus stage were all good to a degree. Many of the cities look similar. Sometimes I could have swear I'm doing the exact same level multiple times. Vern is awesome, but only appears in a few levels and there is no way to unlock him. DeMonic turning into a mutant is cool and all, but overall he's just very underwhelming as he just bounces across the screen. As I mentioned, the bonus level is nice, but repetitive. The story element is there and while I am alllllll for games not having much of a story attached to it (Donkey Kong Country anyone?) seeing Eustace DeMonic smoking his cigar all annoyed upon the completion of each area left me wanting him to at least say something. Honestly, it's weird for me to think this, but kicking is something the game nailed. As I stated earlier, it's funny to kick people around. It's also a good strategic way to deal with certain enemies.... or beating the crap out of your friends... I wouldn't rush out to your nearest retro shop or internet shop of choice to grab this game, but if you enjoy mindless smashing, eating, etc. like I do, then this game is worth a play. It's long like the original, but at least there is an ending and it's an improvement in almost every way.

    With that I would like to wish all of my fellow Americans a very happy Thanksgiving! This blog was a quick look at the first two games in the Rampage series. Stay tuned as Part 2 of this blog will cover even more monster sized mayhem! Thanks for reading! 

NES Remix Thoughts

    The Wii U will probably go down in history as one of Nintendo's biggest flops. The console failed to live up to its expectations, failed to reach the demographic it aimed at, failed to reach many gamers, and failed to really be that insane looking frames per second monster to match up with it's competition. Yes the Wii U had many, many failures and I can go on and on about them despite my personal opinions on the console being very underrated despite it's issues. One of the reasons I say this console is underrated is due to it's small, yet often times impressive library. It is one of those oft forgotten about titles that I want to look at briefly today. The main reason I am looking at a Wii U game is that it is actually just a bunch of NES games cut up and made into various challenges. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the NES Remix!

    The NES Remix Pack is a compilation of both NES Remix Pack 1 and 2. The game is simply a series of challenges from some of Nintendo's greatest classic games including Super Mario Brothers, Metroid, Excitebike, Kid Icarus, Donkey Kong, Ice Climbers, Balloon Fight, The Legend of Zelda, and Kirby's Adventure to name a few. Each game has a number of challenges and upon completion you will be given a rank between one and three stars. The faster you complete a level, the better your ranking. You will also score points towards stamps for the now defunct Miiverse. You gain more points for beating challenges for the first time as well as completing them without failing to meet the requirements once. You get a set number of chances at each challenge before it's game over. As you collect stars you will unlock remix challenges. These are wacky takes on the various NES titles. For example, one challenge sees you playing through the first level of Donkey Kong as Link. Sounds simple right? Problem is as in The Legend of Zelda, Link cannot jump. To make it even tougher this is Link from the start of the game, so you do not have a sword either. Another example of a challenge is playing through a level of Super Mario Bros Mario cannot stop running. Overall the remix challenges add a great deal of well, challenge to the game.

    The difficulty curve to game makes it so you do not have to have any experience playing the original game to pick this pack up. Before you even take on a challenge, there is an optional tutorial for each game that will teach you the basis of the game. Then the first challenge usually involves something very simple. Then the challenges get progressively harder. I think Nintendo did a real good job with the difficulty scale. Some games are certainly easier to master than others and the challenges reflect that. That being said, the gloves are generally off for all the remix challenges. 

    One of the only issues I have with this pack is believe it or not, the controls. This is something that has nothing to do with the game though and for people who never played these games on an NES, it probably isn't an issue. To me I find the Wii U's game pad to be very clunky with this game. For whatever reason I just find the size of the thing to be a bit awkward with this title. I honestly feel the same way about a few other Wii U games such as Bayonetta 2, but that's a whole other story. Luckily there are other controllers such as the original Wii controller that can be used with this pack, which makes life a whole lot easier as a sideways Wiimote is basically an NES controller. 

    There's no real point in focusing on the sound effects or music of the various games. It's all from many classic games and to review the sounds on all of them would take a long time. Long story short is this. These are challenges from some of the best games on the NES. All of these games contain great sound effects and music from the system they were originally designed for.  Same can be said about the graphics. They have all been respectable for what they are for a long long time and as long as you do not look at them and try to compare them to other Wii U titles, you'll agree I would think. 

    Overall I the the NES Remix Pack is a great pickup for any Wii U owner. It has an incredible amount of nostalgia and challenges for those who have played the games before while being friendly enough for new players to be introduced to them. I also can't help but think that the NES Remix Pack was a little bit of a tool in helping boost the sales of virtual console titles. I mean if I had never played The Legend of Zelda and played the NES Remix challenges, I'd be spending the few dollars on it in the e-shop to play the full game. I feel like that had to at least be in the back of Nintendo's heads with this thing. At the end of the day it's a great pack with a bunch of challenges to complete. It is also a real treat to those who like to race through things as the game encourages you to get through the challenges as quickly as possible for max star scores! 

    As always, thanks for reading! This blog was certainly a bit different as I took a look at a game that is kind of retro, but not cause it's on Wii U, but is cause of what it is.... Whatever... Stay tuned!