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63 lines
3.4 KiB
Plaintext
63 lines
3.4 KiB
Plaintext
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RAMPAGE
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RAMPAGE is the home computer version of the popular arcade game. The
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translation was done by Ken Hurley, and the package is published by Activision.
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This review is based on the Apple II version.
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I've been looking forward to the day when I'll find a game that looks and plays
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even halfway decently on an Apple II (in this review, a Laser 128). That day
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will be miraculous, indeed; unfortunately it is still to come. RAMPAGE is
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sinfully ugly. Gameplay is lethargic, but -- irony of ironies -- no time is
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squandered. Although the Apple II is a less than desirable machine, I have no
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doubt that programmer Ken Hurley did his best with this game. You don't need an
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Apple II with 128K; you need a different computer.
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The idea of RAMPAGE is not new but it's still neat: Instead of preventing your
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character or your ship from getting trashed by vile beasts, you get to swap
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places with the vile beasts and do the trashing yourself. The forms these vile
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beasts assume are Ralph the Wolf, George the Big Ape, and Lizzie the Lizard. The
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goal of the game is to earn points by tearing down cities (there are 132 in this
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version), and by picking up certain items. You must keep your energy level high
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by eating people and food, which, for all practical purposes, are one and the
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same.
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You'll gain energy by eating people, goldfish, hamburgers, and bowls of fruit.
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You'll lose energy by eating poison, dynamite, and candles, and also when you're
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shot, hit with thrown dynamite, or fall off buildings. When you run out of
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energy, you become human, and in RAMPAGE, becoming human is the end of the line
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-- a role reversal of evolutionary significance. You'll earn poi by picking up
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money, flowers, and light bulbs that are off; you'll earn more points for
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punching buildings, helicopters, trains, and televisions that are off.
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The Apple II screen display consists of a street and a handful of buildings.
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There are pedestrians around, and cars, trolleys, tanks, soldiers, and
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helicopters. Ralph, George, and Lizzie can climb the buildings, punch gaping
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holes in them, and jump from one building to another, chomping helpless humans
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and grabbing the correct items along the way. Helicopters shoot at you, as do
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soldiers. Eating dynamite will give you a bad case of indigestion.
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The game requires an Apple IIe, IIc, IIc+, or a IIgs in Apple II mode, and 128K
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of RAM. In single-player mode, either the joystick or the keyboard controls
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RAMPAGE. In two-player mode, both players can use the keyboard, because the keys
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that control each creature are grouped separately.
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The most obvious problem with RAMPAGE is that it looks horrible. The shapes of
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the items are so deformed, and the colors are so flat and washed out that it's
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all but impossible to tell what anything is, especially if it's smaller than the
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beast you're controlling.
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Worse, everything that moves does so at a pace far beyond the realm of slow
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motion, so far beyond it that _all_ motion is nearly _no_ motion. The manual
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claims the helicopters fire machine guns: If that's machine gun fire, all the
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armies and every lunatic in the world will want the bullets.
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The approach to take with RAMPAGE is simple: Do not buy the Apple II version.
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Instead, go to an arcade room that has the original version, drop a quarter into
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the slot, and play.
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RAMPAGE is published by Activision and distributed by Mediagenic.
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*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253
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