Redneck Rampage

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 This article does not cite any references or sources. (April 2008)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.
Redneck Rampage
Developer(s) Xatrix Entertainment
Publisher(s) Interplay
Engine Build engine based on Duke Nukem 3D
Platform(s) Mac OS, DOS
Release date April 30, 1997 (US)
Genre(s) First-person shooter
Mode(s) Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s) ESRB: Mature (M)
Media CD-ROM

Redneck Rampage is a 1997 first-person shooter game designed by Xatrix Entertainment and published by Interplay. This game features some songs by Mojo Nixon, Reverend Horton Heat, Beat Farmers and other Psychobilly artists. As the name implies, Redneck Rampage has many hillbilly elements in it. The game was followed by Redneck Rampage Rides Again, Redneck Rampage: Suckin' Grits on Route 66 and Redneck Deer Huntin'.

The plot revolves around two brothers, Leonard and Bubba, fighting through the fictional town of Hickston, USA (though the game is supposedly set in Arkansas, the highway signs in the first level of the first episode refer to Interstate 20 and US 71 which are in northwestern Louisiana), to rescue their prized pig Bessie and thwart an alien invasion. The brothers battle through such locales as a meat packing plant and a trailer park, and battle evil clones of their neighbors with weapons ranging from the traditional shotgun, to a gun that fires circular sawblades, to a crossbow that fires bolts with dynamite strapped to them. Another favorite was the .454 Casull revolver. An add-on to the game was the "Cuss Pack" which added stronger language to the game's audio. The add-on was available for download at Interplay's online store, but users had to pay $1 with a credit card to ensure that the buyer of the add-on was of adult age. [1] The add-on was included on the CD for the Mac OS version.

In 2002 the creator of Build engine Ken Silverman wrote a VESA 2.0 patch in order to make all Build-powered games compatible with NT/2000/XP.

In July 2004, the Redneck Rampage license was purchased by Vivendi Universal for $300,000. However VU Games representative said that at the moment there are no intentions of making a new game in the Redneck Rampage series.

Contents

[edit] Music included on the CD

The Psychobilly music from the game is also playable in a standard music CD Player. Tracks available on the CD are

[edit] Characters

Other than Leonard & Bubba, there are several types of alien enemies wielding various types of weapons. The enemies are Sheriff Lester T Hobbs (armed with two .357 revolvers); the skinny old coot; Billy Ray; Turd Minion; and the alien saucers. Boss enemies include Assface, the alien vixen, and the alien hulk. Also present are hostile animals and insects, such as pigs, dogs, mosquitos, cows & chickens, although the latter two can't directly harm the player. Redneck Rampage Rides Again introduced additional enemies, including: Jackalopes; Mama Jackalope; Biker Frank Doyle (clearly based on Dennis Hopper's Frank Booth character from the David Lynch movie Blue Velvet); and cheerleader Daisy Mae.

[edit] Weapons

[edit] Bowling ball as a weapon

In one of the levels there was a bowling alley which was playable as a subgame. The character could keep the bowling ball and use it as a weapon in all future levels. In practice, the bowling ball made a poor weapon and did virtually no damage to enemies. It did not regenerate once used so the character had to physically go and retrieve the ball after using it. If the ball was not recovered after usage, the player lost any future use of it.

[edit] In game power-ups

Like most first-person-shooters, it offered a variety of ways for the character to regenerate health or hit points. These power-ups consisted of the allegedly redneck related moon pies, pork rinds, beer and liquor. A small supply of each could be carried for future use. Each of these power-ups had distinct disadvantages: The more food the character ate, the more flatulent he became, making it difficult to sneak up on enemies as the character would move forward and make a distinct fart sound frequently after eating.

When drinking alcohol, the health was restored and as an added benefit the character became somewhat less affected by enemy fire (the proverbial bulletproof). This only worked to a minor degree, and the more the character drank, the less coordinated they became. This was measured on a 'drunk meter' in the user display. Toward the high end of the meter, after consuming a large amount of alcohol, the character movements would become erratic and the user would have difficulty controlling the character as he moved in directions that did not corespond to the input on the keyboard. The ingame video would also become grainy and less viewable. At the maximum drunk level, the character would simply fall down, followed by the sounds of vomiting and the loss of all motor regardless of user input. All of these effects would pass after a few minutes as the character sobered up. During this time, the character can not use weapons and is essentially defenseless.

The side effects of both power-up types forces the user to use them sparingly and gives another reason to avoid damage during gameplay.

[edit] Relations to Duke Nukem 3D

The gameplay, humor and art style of the game is inspired by Duke Nukem 3D which was also developed on the Build engine. The automap works similarly to Duke Nukem 3D and other Build engine games. Additionally, Redneck Rampage is directly based on the source code to Duke Nukem 3D, under license from 3D Realms.