RAMPAGE

 RAMPAGE is the home computer version of the popular arcade game. The
translation was done by Ken Hurley, and the package is published by Activision.
This review is based on the Apple II version.

 I've been looking forward to the day when I'll find a game that looks and plays
even halfway decently on an Apple II (in this review, a Laser 128). That day
will be miraculous, indeed; unfortunately it is still to come. RAMPAGE is
sinfully ugly. Gameplay is lethargic, but -- irony of ironies -- no time is
squandered. Although the Apple II is a less than desirable machine, I have no
doubt that programmer Ken Hurley did his best with this game. You don't need an
Apple II with 128K; you need a different computer.

 The idea of RAMPAGE is not new but it's still neat: Instead of preventing your
character or your ship from getting trashed by vile beasts, you get to swap
places with the vile beasts and do the trashing yourself. The forms these vile
beasts assume are Ralph the Wolf, George the Big Ape, and Lizzie the Lizard. The
goal of the game is to earn points by tearing down cities (there are 132 in this
version), and by picking up certain items. You must keep your energy level high
by eating people and food, which, for all practical purposes, are one and the
same.

 You'll gain energy by eating people, goldfish, hamburgers, and bowls of fruit.
You'll lose energy by eating poison, dynamite, and candles, and also when you're
shot, hit with thrown dynamite, or fall off buildings. When you run out of
energy, you become human, and in RAMPAGE, becoming human is the end of the line
-- a role reversal of evolutionary significance. You'll earn poi by picking up
money, flowers, and light bulbs that are off; you'll earn more points for
punching buildings, helicopters, trains, and televisions that are off.

 The Apple II screen display consists of a street and a handful of buildings.
There are pedestrians around, and cars, trolleys, tanks, soldiers, and
helicopters. Ralph, George, and Lizzie can climb the buildings, punch gaping
holes in them, and jump from one building to another, chomping helpless humans
and grabbing the correct items along the way. Helicopters shoot at you, as do
soldiers. Eating dynamite will give you a bad case of indigestion.

 The game requires an Apple IIe, IIc, IIc+, or a IIgs in Apple II mode, and 128K
of RAM. In single-player mode, either the joystick or the keyboard controls
RAMPAGE. In two-player mode, both players can use the keyboard, because the keys
that control each creature are grouped separately.

 The most obvious problem with RAMPAGE is that it looks horrible. The shapes of
the items are so deformed, and the colors are so flat and washed out that it's
all but impossible to tell what anything is, especially if it's smaller than the
beast you're controlling.

 Worse, everything that moves does so at a pace far beyond the realm of slow
motion, so far beyond it that _all_ motion is nearly _no_ motion. The manual
claims the helicopters fire machine guns: If that's machine gun fire, all the
armies and every lunatic in the world will want the bullets.

 The approach to take with RAMPAGE is simple: Do not buy the Apple II version.
Instead, go to an arcade room that has the original version, drop a quarter into
the slot, and play.

 RAMPAGE is published by Activision and distributed by Mediagenic.

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