The Rampage franchise holds a lot of weight to its name; the original game that was released in 1989 was an arcade classic and made it onto consoles such as the Atari and the Sinclair Spectrum [Ah, fond childhood memories! Ancient Ed] before being recreated on almost every machine imaginable in some form or another.

My first experience of Rampage was Rampage World Tour for the Game Boy Color, and it hasn't changed too much since then. Staying true to its original roots - apart from becoming slightly 3D - it's much the same as it has always been. This will of course split fans of the original into two groups. Some will be saying, "It's brilliant, it's just the way I remembered it, only now I can play it on my PS2," while the other half will be saying, "They've hardly bothered to change it at all - can they not think of anything new?" If you are part of the latter group who want something significantly new from the franchise, then I won't beat around the bush - don't buy it, you won't like it. Those of you who are still here, read on!

For those of you who haven't played any of the Rampage games, let me enlighten you; they involve huge monsters that have mutated from human beings to become giant apes, werewolves or lizards, among others. These monsters, which you control, are determined to destroy everything in sight - police cars, pedestrians, helicopters, trams, tanks that come to attack you and, most importantly, buildings. Only once you have destroyed all the buildings in one area can you progress to the next, with the police and the army adamant to stop you from doing so. Can't a huge monster wreak havoc without being shot at nowadays? [Sigh, it's always been that way I'm afraid! King Kong]. Luckily there are plenty of people to eat in order to replenish your energy and even the odd steak or two hidden behind the windows of the buildings you smash.

This all sounds like endless fun I'm sure - to tell you the truth it is fun, but it can hardly be described as endless. On the positive side, a huge element in the game's favour is its pick-up-and-go gameplay. Select from Campaign, King of the City, King of the World or a Timed Run - choose one of the thirty monsters on offer - and you're ready to start destroying everything in sight. The Campaign game starts off really easy, so you can soon get to grips with the controls and figure out the best ways to destroy things. This also gives you time to learn what the various power-ups do; some give you life while others can hurt you - for example, electrocuting you or making you puke if you eat something that doesn't agree with you. There are also power-ups such as a speed boost or an instant Rampage. Normally to get a Rampage you have to build up your Rampage meter (by destroying things, of course). Once this is filled, or you collect an instant one, your monster is much stronger and faster until the meter empties.

There are also monster upgrades as a reward for completing sub-challenges - for example, gulping down as many street mimes as you can find! One such upgrade is the fury punch, which gives your monster the ability to wind up a stronger punch for a more devastating effect on a building. However, if you destroy buildings too quickly by using your special attacks, you may risk loosing the goodies within - because power-ups are usually obtained by smashing an opening into part of a building and reaching inside to steal the goodies within. This is a feature that was in the original games, only now there are a few new power-ups and there are a lot more of them per building. There are also a lot more monsters to choose from this time around (including the original cast) which vary in their ability to crush, run and jump. Although this is very basic, at least it makes them play slightly differently rather than just being aesthetic.

A nice touch that wasn't possible in the old 2D games is the ability to scoop up and throw cars into buildings, or you can just kick them away and watch them explode. The real challenge is trying to hit a moving helicopter with them, which is a task I am not sure if you can achieve. Although the 3D graphics don't eliminate the side-scrolling style gameplay, it does allow your enemies to attack you from different angles. The policemen, SWAT teams, attack helicopters and tanks are no longer entirely confined to moving back and forth across the screen. However, the environment of each stage is very limited and it never gives you the freedom to roam. They are also very similar from block to block and city to city; apart from the fact that the enemy becomes harder each time, each stage is basically the same, with tall buildings to smash and foes to defeat.

This leads us to the game's biggest problem - its repetitive nature. Although it does eventually become challenging by about the third city (out of seven), you may already have become bored of the limited ways to destroy buildings. You can stomp on them from the rooftops, cling onto the sides and hit them in a few different ways, or throw cars at them. The novelty of eating people and destroying things soon wears off, so I wouldn't suggest playing Rampage for extended periods of time; it's more of a game to have a quick bash on if you have some spare time before school. This is especially apparent with the 12 rating and all the farting and burping your monster does - younger generations are certainly catered for in its sense of humour, along with its simple style of gameplay.

Although they are valid additions to Rampage: Total Destruction the other modes do very little to break up its repetitive characteristics. The King of the City and King of the World modes are strictly a two-player battle (either two human players or a human and a computer player) where you compete to destroy more things than your opponent. Whoever wreaks the most destruction on a block wins that stage and the one with the most wins is the victor. This is not too different from the Campaign game, because all the environments are the same and you destroy things in the exact same way; however, it does make it a bit more competitive and is more of a challenge than the early stages of the Campaign. Nevertheless, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realise that it is mostly about who can steal the last hit of a building before it crumbles to the ground, as this is how you can gain the most points. So, alas, this is another mode that can become stale if you play it for too long. At least the two player element doesn't require a split screen though; because of the confined nature of each level, both players appear on the same full size screen.

The Timed Run mode, as you expect, gives you a time limit to destroy a city block and the less time you use up, the more you have for the next block (with some additional time added between blocks as well). The cities are still the same and destroyed in the same way; the only thing that makes this challenge different is that you tend to ignore power-ups and your health bar a lot more. This mode also doesn't reward you with upgrades for your monster or anything significant, but it does allow you to destroy the cities you haven't yet unlocked in the Campaign mode.

The graphics and sound of Total Destruction are certainly redeeming features of the repetitive gameplay. Although they are not amazing by today's standards, they are a significant leap from the older titles we have seen in the franchise, and the colourfully rendered environments and characters suit the arcade style very well. Although the music cannot be described as anything greater than generic, many of the sound effects are close to perfection. The odd expression from the voice actors can get annoying after long periods of play, but the stomp sound as you walk and the smashing of windows has been given great attention by the developers, emphasising the scale of these controllable mutants.

When you inevitably get a bit bored of the main game, there are two bonus games included, which are the original arcade versions of Rampage and Rampage World Tour. While the original Rampage seems ugly and sluggish, with poor sound quality and building destruction that's unrealistic and unsatisfying, World Tour has ironed out all of these problems; it has a much faster pace and the sound quality is extremely good for an old game. Although the graphics are dated, they are far more bearable than the original and the gameplay is more of an instant challenge than Total Destruction - so you may end up playing it just as much. On the negative side, switching between games is a confusing affair, because the controls are needlessly different for each title, which is almost unforgivable.

It's hard to look past Rampage: Total Destruction's repetitive and unoriginal style, but this doesn't warrant a huge deficit in its overall score. Although it deserves a big-slap of a wake up call in the lifespan department, it does cater for younger gamers by being easy to pick up and play and more progressively challenging than the older games are (Rampage World Tour throws you in at the deep end with no armbands). Furthermore, it may appeal to older gamers as it stays true to its now-retro roots, because it still plays like Rampage but with updated graphics and a few new power-ups. To sum it up in simple and somewhat obvious terms, it's Rampage on the PS2 - nothing more, nothing less.

Reviewed by Liam Bennion for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).