Redneck Rampage

Redneck Rampage is a 1997 first-person shooter game developed by Xatrix Entertainment and published by Interplay. The game is a first person shooter with a variety of weapons and levels, but has a hillbilly theme, primarily taking place in a fictional Arkansas town. Many of the weapons and power-ups border on the nonsensical, and in some ways the game is a parody of both first person shooter games and rural American life. It features music by psychobilly and cowpunk artists such as The Beat Farmers and Mojo Nixon. The game has been re-released on GOG.com and Steam with support for Windows and macOS.

Redneck Rampage
Developer(s)Xatrix Entertainment
Publisher(s)
Director(s)Drew Markham
Producer(s)Chris Benson
Bill Dugan
Greg Goodrich
Designer(s)Drew Markham
Programmer(s)Rafael Paiz
Barry Dempsey
Artist(s)Michael Kaufman
Claire Praderie
Composer(s)Mojo Nixon
Reverend Horton Heat
Beat Farmers
Cement Pond
EngineBuild
Platform(s)MS-DOS
Mac OS
ReleaseDOS/Windows:
Mac OS:
Genre(s)First-person shooter
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Gameplay

Redneck Rampage is a first-person shooter and offers a variety of ways for the character to regenerate health or hit points. These power-ups consist of moon pies, pork rinds, and alcohol. A small supply of each can be carried for future use (the two exceptions being pork rinds and Delicious Googoo Clusters, which are used automatically upon being picked up). Each of these power-ups have distinct disadvantages: The more food the character ate, the more flatulent he becomes (represented by a "gut" meter in the user display), making it difficult to sneak up on enemies as the character would move forward and make a distinct fart sound frequently after eating. However, eating food does decrease the "drunk meter" slightly (see below).

When drinking alcohol, the health gets restored and as an added benefit the character becomes somewhat less affected by enemy fire. This only works to a minor degree, and the more the character drinks, the less coordinated he becomes. Alcohol consumption is measured on a "drunk meter" in the user display. After consuming a large amount of alcohol, the character's movements will become erratic and the user will have difficulty controlling the character as he moves in directions that do not correspond to the input on the keyboard. The in-game video will 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't use weapons and is essentially defenseless. The side effects of both power-up types forced the user to use them sparingly and gave another reason to avoid damage during gameplay. However, one other power-up, moonshine, gives the player increased speed for a brief amount of time, at the end of which both the "drunk meter" and the "gut meter" will reset to zero.

Plot

The game's plot revolves around two brothers, Leonard and Bubba, fighting through the fictional town of Hickston, Arkansas 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. There are also male and female alien enemies. The bosses are the Assface and the leader of the alien invasion, the Queen Vixen.

Add-ons and spin-offs

Redneck Rampage: Suckin' Grits on Route 66

Redneck Rampage: Suckin' Grits on Route 66 is a 12-level expansion pack for Redneck Rampage. It was developed by Sunstorm Interactive. The add-on contains several new locations and textures, as well as a new ending.

Redneck Deer Huntin'

Redneck Deer Huntin' is a hunting game for the PC using the same engine as the previous games in the series. It was developed by Xatrix Entertainment and released in 1997.

Redneck Rampage Rides Again

Redneck Rampage Rides Again is the sequel to Redneck Rampage, and includes 14 new single player levels, 7 new multiplayer levels, new enemies, weapons, and vehicles, including motorcycles and swamp boats. After Leonard and Bubba crash-land a UFO, they find themselves in the middle of the desert (Area 69). Along the way, they are hunted by aliens and must blast their way through jackalope farms, Disgraceland, a riverboat, a brothel and various other locales. It was developed by Xatrix Entertainment and released on May 31, 1998.

Off-Road Redneck Racing

Off-Road Redneck Racing is a spin-off racing game released in 2001 for the PC. Unlike the previous games, it was not developed by Xatrix, instead by Rage Games; however, Interplay remained the owner of the IP, and thus they published it. Besides the game's namesake, the only relation to the previous games are of Leonard and Bubba on the box art, borrowed voice lines of Leonard from the original games sporadically used during a race, and slightly similar textures being used on some artwork and also in-game. This is the first and only game in the series not to use the Build game engine.

Compilations/Demos
  • The Cuss Pack is an add-on which added stronger language to the game, was released on July 22, 1997.[2] The add-on was available for download on 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. The add-on was included on the CD for the Mac OS version.
  • The Early Years is a limited version of Redneck Rampage, which allows players to play the first five levels. It also features eight multiplayer deathmatch levels.
  • Possum Bayou is an alternate limited version of Redneck Rampage released in 1998, which allows players to play the first seven levels. It does not have any multiplayer options.[3]
  • Redneck Icechest of Value is a compilation that includes Redneck Rampage: Suckin Grits on Route 66.
  • Redneck Rampage/Redneck Rides Again Dual Jewel is a compilation that includes Redneck Rampage Rides Again.
  • Redneck Rampage: Family Reunion is a compilation that includes the original game, the Cuss Pack add-on, Redneck Rampage: Suckin Grits on Route 66 and Redneck Rampage Rides Again. Another edition of the Family Reunion contains only the original game and Rides Again.[4]
  • Gamefest: Redneck Classics includes original game, Redneck Rampage: Suckin' Grits on Route 66, Redneck Rampage Rides Again, Redneck Deer Huntin', Redneck Rampage Theme Windows 95 theme pack, and a Redneck Rampage Screen Saver.[5]
  • Redneck Rampage Collection includes all but Redneck Deer Huntin' and Off-Road Redneck Racing.

Reception

In the United States, Redneck Rampage debuted at #7 on PC Data's computer game sales chart for May 1997.[6] It claimed 13th place the following month,[7] before falling to positions 17 and 20 in July and August, respectively.[8][9]

Reviews for the title were mixed, but even the harshest reviewers were able to appreciate the game's energy and sense of humor. Arinn Dembo writing for Cnet Gamecenter gave the game three stars, and said it deserved "big points for its psychobilly soundtrack", "big points for being genuinely funny at times", and offered "good fun using a crowbar to beat aliens, 'Old Coots' and 'Billy Rays' to death".[10]

Next Generation reviewed the PC version of the game, rating it three stars out of five, and stated that "As creative as much of this game is, its gameplay is same-old, same-old. It's fun, but when it's over, you're more likely to remember the 'Yee-has' and health-replenishing whisky bottles instead of any of the challenge or gameplay."[11]

Redneck Rampage was nominated in the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences' first annual Interactive Achievement Awards in the category "Computer Action Game of the Year".[12]

References
  1. Staff (April 23, 1997). "Rollout for Redneck Rampage". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on February 18, 1998. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
  2. Saltzman, Marc (July 22, 1997). "Redneck Rampage gets a foul mouth". CNET Gamecenter. Archived from the original on October 6, 2000. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
  3. Redneck Rampage: Possum Bayou at MobyGames
  4. Redneck Rampage: Family Reunion Archived July 26, 2009, at the Wayback Machine at IGN.
  5. Gamefest: Redneck Classics Archived January 20, 2012, at the Wayback Machine at IGN.
  6. Staff (September 1997). "READ.ME; PC Data Best-Sellers". Computer Gaming World (158): 31.
  7. GamerX (August 5, 1997). "June's 30 Best-Sellers". CNET Gamecenter. Archived from the original on May 17, 2000.
  8. GamerX (August 29, 1997). "July's 30 Best-Sellers". CNET Gamecenter. Archived from the original on February 23, 1999.
  9. GamerX (September 24, 1997). "August's 30 Best-Sellers". CNET Gamecenter. Archived from the original on May 6, 1999.
  10. Dembo, Arinn. "UFO's, Big Rigs and Bar-b-Q: A review of Redneck Rampage". Cnet Gamecenter. Retrieved April 27, 2011.
  11. "Finals". Next Generation. No. 32. Imagine Media. August 1997. p. 124.
  12. "1998 1st Interactive Achievement Awards". Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. 1998. Archived from the original on October 23, 2010. Retrieved December 29, 2011.
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