Each character can also be upgraded, offering different skills that can be used in the Campaign mode, vs battle or various multiplayer scenarios. In fact, the game's environments do the series justice as well, offering seven different major cities, teamed with fully destructible 3-D environments. All in all it seems like a perfect equation for a solid arcade title, though the entire package is crippled with some of the most clunky gameplay the series has yet to see.

For starters, Total Destruction continues to bank on the classic 2D feel of the original arcade, incorporating the 3D environments in levels that scroll primarily left and right, with only a small amount of depth to explore. Characters can walk into the street to pick up cars or traverse into the background in a very minimal amount to interact with buildings, which really is the extent of the 3D level design. The idea was to keep the gameplay in its classic design, so players won't be able to walk around the back of buildings or free-roam through cities. While we would have loved to ravish entire towns a la Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee, the 2D presentation is understandable.

Unfortunately, the small amount of 3D control included actually hurts the gameplay rather than helping it, adding in new issues of orientation to the previously intuitive design. For example, the original Rampage had characters walk up to buildings, pressing up to climb up them. Simple, right? In Total Destruction, however, object interaction isn't as seamless, as the up control will move your character into the background. Players will have to continuously press against a desired object to interact with it, which feels very clunky. In fact, you'll have no way of knowing if an object can actually be climbed or not, so many times it'll take a session of trial and error, walking against buildings and objects for a few seconds to see if your monster sticks to it. It's simply unintuitive.

In fact, the compromised gameplay can be found everywhere in Total Destruction. When climbing buildings in the original Rampage arcade, characters would move tile to tile, making it easy to determine which specific area of the building the monster would hit. In Total Destruction, however, the animations are more fluid and fleshed out, but the gameplay fails to retain the tile-to-tile feel, so knocking a building down will take considerably more time. Everyone remembers the feel of hitting block after block as George progresses up the side of a tower. In Total Destruction, a good chunk of time will be wasted as characters will repetitively hit the same area of the building, forcing the player to readjust their orientation slightly. It just doesn't give the same feel. That type of trial and error gameplay exists virtually everywhere, whether it's jumping from building to building, picking up cars and people, interacting with other monsters or avoiding in-level danger zones. The progression graphically is obviously needed, but the gameplay needed to remain distinct and crisp regardless of how the actions play out.

The gameplay is obviously a make or break element in a series like Rampage, though in reality a ton of the presentation and style of game is actually a great tribute to the franchise. The characters have a great look, the environments are full of life, and the over-the-top audio design feels a ton like the Rampage world. While none of the production value is stunning in any regard, it has the Rampage look. Buildings fall with virtually the same formula as the originals, crumbling from top to bottom in a cloud of smoke. Reaction animations to getting hit or eating poisonous food is still just as quirky and over the top, and the voice over dialogue is just as obnoxious (which you can take any way you want).

In addition, each city has a true design which sets it apart from its neighbors, adopting casinos in Vegas and street trolleys in San Fran. In fact, character level-ups are based on special objectives in each city, so characters will have to find the right poker cards in Vegas to unlock George's charge punch. Little extra nuances in the gameplay will give players two reactions. They'll love how much was crammed into the budget title, but they'll also hate the fact that gameplay hurts what could potentially have been a great pick-up and play party game.