Redneck Rampage

The Good
After Duke Nukem 3D was released to rave reviews, it was likely that other games were attempting to immediate its success, using the same engine that gave users a chance to interact with the environment, as well as boating other features. Xatrix Entertainment was one of the companies that produced a Build game, and I haven't heard of them before they released this game. The company previously worked on Cyberia and its sequel. But seeing how first-person shooters were becoming popular, Xatrix decided to jump ship.

The result was Redneck Rampage, a first-person shooter set in the fictional town of Hickston, Arkansas. Players control a hilbilly named Leonard, who, along with his brother Bubba, has to search for their kidnapped prized pig Bessie, who is held captive by aliens. This involves going around a series of locales that make up almost every level of the game killing everybody that stands in your way, and collecting up to three keys that are needed to progress to the level's exit.

The game offers some unique features not found in previous FPSes, such as the excellent music that comes on the CD. This blends well with the gameplay and, since the game changes songs mid-level, it doesn't get boring quickly. Also, instead of health packs, you get items such as beer, pork rinds, and moonshine. The best thing about these is that all of these have a side effect, you can either burp or fart (making it impossible to sneak up on enemies), or walk around erratically. Another unique feature is that they are no exit doors; most of the levels involve you finding your brother and hitting him with your crowbar, and killing him with weapons instead makes the level unwinnable.

The art style is also unique. The different locales include barnyards, a trailer park, chicken processing plant, bowling alley, and a drive-in movie theater. I can only remember these, but there are other ones. What I like about these locales is that there are a good source of exploration. You search every nook and cranny for the items that you need. However, one thing that I enjoyed most is the interactivity. You can shove animals out of the way, and even jump on them, to get to areas not accessible on foot. There are pigs, chickens, and cows. Shooting most of them will not do anything, but shooting the pigs causes them to take revenge.

As I said, there are different enemies you have to kill, and all these enemies have different taunts depending on which one you come across. Some will say “git off our land” while others will say something like “charge ye”. There are also some female vixens who are quite sexy but have the ability to cloak, and some gremlins that throw feces at you (I'm not kidding).

Each one of these enemies sprout some bad language if the Cuss Pack is installed, and I believe that this is a precursor to Kingpin: Life of Crime, another Xatrix game that contains bad language. There are a variety of weapons you can use against the enemies, and some of them are quite creative, such as the crossbow which is only effective against those mecha-aliens you may come across.

The Bad
Although creative, some of the weapons are useless. For example, the pistol that you start off with has a poor firing range compared to the one in Duke Nukem 3D, and the dogs in the game take about eight shots to kill with the shotgun. Also, as someone pointed out earlier, the humorous lines get tedious after a while. It was OK the first couple of ties, but after that...

The Bottom Line
Redneck Rampage is one of those games that cashes in on the success of Duke3D. The game is great. For me, walking around and exploring each locale thoroughly was a good thing, so is gunning down anyone who stands in the way. The level of interactivity is great, and the soundtrack really blends well with the gameplay. I believe that the game got a great reception, so it's no surprise that Xatrix went ahead and released two expansion packs for it – with even more locales and fighting. So if you want to play a FPS that shares the same quality with Duke3D, then I suggest you get this one.