Rampage: World Tour, A Reboot of a Great Arcade Game

Rampage World Tour was released in 1997 on the PS1. It would also be released on the N64, Sega Saturn, and Game Boy Color. This marks the first reboot of the Rampage series.

It plays like the original, but has updated graphics. This series and Gauntlet received modern updates for the 1990s. Unlike Gauntlet, Midway didn’t change the gameplay for Rampage. It is a fun arcade game, but this one didn’t do much to change the formula.

I really liked the NES port of Rampage. I hadn’t played this game in a while, so I’m looking forward to this. It will be nice to see what is different about World Tour when compared to the original.

TLDR: It is as fun as the original, but I don’t like the graphics as much.

Narrative

Rampage has never been known for its in-depth story. It is an arcade game designed to get quarters, so the story wasn’t too important. You just need a brief explanation of why there are three monsters and a little speculation about what they want to do.

George, Lizzy, and Ralph were technicians at SCUMLabs International. Something happened, and they were exposed to a chemical that turned them into giant monsters. The three of them go on a rampage to destroy SCUMLabs.

It is a short and sweet story. It tells you who the bad guys are and what the good guys are trying to do. I say good and bad guys to simplify things. Our heroes are trying to get revenge and don’t care about who they hurt in the process.

You end up on the moon, which is something different. There are also some characters in the game trying to stop you. It is a nice addition to this since it adds more to a very thin story.

This reboot of the story is pretty good. You don’t need much more for a game like this. It doesn’t change much from the original and is as ridiculous as it needs to be.

Gameplay

The gameplay isn’t too different from the original arcade game. You play as one of three monsters, and smash all the buildings to advance to the next level. There also wasn’t too much changed to add more value for home console players.

There are three playable characters. This is a nice change from the NES port, which only had two of the three. Here are the playable characters:

• George – He is our King Kong. In this version of the game.
• Lizzy – She is our Godzilla.
• Ralph – He is a werewolf. As far as I know, there isn’t a movie that translates to this.

The first change is that the three were all SCUMLabs International employees. In the first game, they had different backgrounds. We also knew a little more about them.

While destroying all the buildings on each stage, you’ll have to deal with the army, police force, and some special units from Scumlabs. They chip away at your health, which can be replenished by eating people and food.

The game is centered around getting a high score. There is some narrative closure, but points are what really matter. I don’t think this is bad, but it limits what the developers could do with the game.

The initial controller layout is a little annoying. I just don’t like it much. It felt a little awkward, even after I got used to it.

Visuals

I don’t like the graphics as much as the original. The characters look out of place with the rest of the environment, and the stage layout isn’t anything special. It felt like the developers were trying to stay faithful to the arcade, but tried to make it look 3D.

The monsters look like Claymation models. The rest of the stages have the appearance of flat 2D sprites. This is just how it looks to me, so take that with a grain of salt.

I like everything but the monsters. They feel out of place with the rest of the graphics. This makes them appear out of place in the world, which might’ve been intentional, but it felt odd to me.

I like the explosions, humans running around, and the stages’ appearance. There are a few cinematic scenes that look nice. I was also a little thrown off by some things that I thought were destructible.

The stage layout is similar to the arcade game from the 1980s. The stages scroll to give the impression that they are larger than they really are. I don’t think they’re bigger than the original arcade game; they are just spread out more in this reboot.

The graphics are hit-and-miss for me. There are things I like about them. The monsters are the only thing I thought looked off.

Reviews at the Time

The reviews for this game are what you should expect. Rampage: World Tour is an average game from a genre that didn’t translate to the home console too well. The PS1 port did better than the N64 and Sega Saturn ports. I’ll be looking at the reviews from IGN, Gamespot, and EGM for the PS1 port of the game.

IGN gave the game a 5/10. This was mediocre for the time. The reviewer noted, “Nothing really new has been done to the game.” Which is something I thought as I was playing.

Gamespot gave it a 5.7/10. There is something in here that I thought was interesting. The reviewer points out that a three-player mode was planned for the PS1, but was scrapped. This wouldn’t have made the game that much better, but I think it should have been in the console version.

The EGM review is buried in a scan of the magazine. The first thing I noticed was how strange video game advertisements used to be. I know I’m not the first person to point this out, but I just noticed it again while scrolling through the scan of the magazine.

The overall EGM score is a 7/10 according to Wikipedia. This isn’t true. That was the lowest score of the four reviewers. The actual score was a 31/40, which is a 7.75/10. They called it an “Arcade perfect port,” and “A lot of Fun.”

The scores were exactly what I thought they would be. EGM liked this game a lot more than the other publications. I still think this is an average game with flaws, but I was happy that the reviewers mostly liked it.

7/10. It is a perfectly fine arcade experience. Some quality of life features were added for the home console. The gameplay is okay, but I don’t like the graphics much.

Pros

• Good Gameplay
• Decent Graphics
• Can be fun with a friend.

Cons

• Repetitive
• More fun with a friend
• Weak Single-player mode

Conclusion

I have a lot of fond memories of playing the original Rampage. It was fun and felt like I was playing a Godzilla game. My friends and I played it quite a few times.

I remember seeing this game in the rental stores. I don’t remember renting this game, but I know I rented the one with time travel. If I had rented this one, I probably would’ve enjoyed it.

This is a faithful recreation of the original arcade game. There is probably a story behind Midway getting the rights to the game and making more of them in the 1990s and 2000s. I have a soft spot for this series, and I’m looking forward to checking out the other games in the series.

If you liked this post, please check out my reviews of Rampage on the NES and Stinger.