Sometimes a game will be made complicated with a range of skills and techniques that need learning, with the player requiring the exploration of a university course in order to understand it. Sometimes a game will take you to many different worlds, levels of reality, or multi-dimensions. Sometimes a game will tell a story that spans decades, shared over a myriad of different characters. But sometimes a game just lets you shoot things with a turret.
And Turret Rampage is a game where it does exactly what it says on the tin. You control a turret, going on a rampage, shooting things until they are all dead. Any questions?
Turret Rampage is a hard game to cover in a lengthy review because the beauty of it is the simplicity; you can explain it in a couple of sentences. It’s a micro-arcade game, feeling very much like something you would have found on a mobile phone decades ago.
The price reflects the nature of the game though, coming in very reasonably. And if you are a Gamerscore freak, and yes I can see you, you’ll be in your element – there is a hefty 2000 Gamerscore on offer here and you can probably get it all cleared up in about an hour.
In Turret Rampage there isn’t any story, nor any cutscenes or a reason for you commanding a turret that is intent on shooting monsters. Maybe you can make your own one up? What there is though are seven levels and one that is an endless mode, letting you rack up online scores forevermore.
However you play, you are faced with a 2D screen, your turret in the middle, under your charge. On either side of this are corridors and it’s in these in which monsters of all shapes and sizes come, heading towards the turret in waves. On the first level there is just one level of corridors, but on later levels there are three. All you do is shoot these monsters, switching from the right to the left and back again, moving up and down, trying to control the onslaught.
The enemies coming your way range from simple alien creatures that require one hit from the gun. Others need a couple of hits to get rid of their armor first, and then it’s curtains for them. Next up you have virus-like baddies that need a different weapon to take them down. Then you have creatures that require a mixture of both types of weapons, whilst more still need you to create an earthquake attack to get them above ground so you can kill them. But just remember, whilst they are alive, they are constantly getting closer to the turret. Thankfully, you have a couple of health bars so can get hit once or twice, but after that, your little turret will succumb to their advances. As you would expect to hear, each level is harder than the last, whilst those hordes of monsters get faster.
Visually, Turret Rampage is far from impressive, but it works completely in line with its budget. It almost looks a bit like a Gameboy title at times, with the option to change the template of all the levels, via a range of colour schemes. Similar goes for the sound effects and music; all very retro and simple. But you’re not here for the bells and whistles. You’re here for turret rampage gameplay.Â
If you want a short burst of fun and some mini arcade action, then Turret Rampage does the job. The action is fast and furious, coming across like spinning a ton of plates that are on fire. Perhaps it needs more levels, even for the low price that is being asked, but it’ll mostly be the easy achievements that gamers will go hunting down.
In need of some simple gaming action for the price of a coffee? Turret Rampage is for you.Â
