Play It:

For the arcade only.



Story:

This game covers the events of Rambo: First Blood Part 2 and Rambo III (but mostly the latter). In case you didn't see those movies, here's the gist...

Rambo's former C.O. and best friend, Colonel Trautman is captured while on a mission in Afghanistan (back when the Soviets were the enemy) and Rambo ain't gonna stand for that. Well, that's actually all there is, but he also has some flashbacks to another mission where he rescues some P.O.W.'s from Vietnam.

Okay, it isn't very deep, but that is what the movies were about and this game is about the movies, so right on. I have to give SEGA props for not wussing out and changing the source material in light of recent events. The Afghan rebels still appear, and the enemy are Russians and Viet Cong forces. True, they are never actually named, but they clearly represent who they are and the tale of Rambo is 100% faithful (well, aside from gameplay opportunities) to the movies. Rambo wouldn't play that shit. However, certain story aspects are simply not mentioned, and since the game uses footage from the movies, on one occasion an unknown character suddenly appears, and then is never seen again.



Graphics:

Very good. No it isn't the most beautiful-looking game on the planet, but for the generation it is good-looking. In addition, various clips from the movies are shown as well to distort the score. No sense grading them (they're real!) except to say that they look as good as the movies (duh!).



Sound:

Even better. The music is.. 50-50 really. Many of the tracks are rap cuts which feature AWESOME lyrics like:

The story of me shall be told/
'Cause I am Ram-bo/
And we'll be-hold/
A true he-ro/

and

On a quest for justice, with noone to trust us!

...Yeah... It's really bad, but enjoyable. But if you can't appreciate rap, don't worry because there are also instrumental tracks as well, at least one of which (like the Rage theme) is taken from Rambo III. Amazingly, the voice acting is good. Of course, when the dialog is taken straight from the movies' one-liners, that isn't exactly a glowing example. In fact, they may even have used Stallone and Crenshaw's lines from the movies (as audio from the movie is in the clips) though I think they used a soundalike. If so, they did a good job. Also, the generic enemy yells are MUCH better than GHOST Squad's, and they actually do sound like they are alarmed. The only gripe I have is the overzealous announcer yelling out everything. Every time you beat a mission, "SUCCESS!" Every time you get hit, "PLAYER ONE DAMAGE!" Thanks, I wasn't aware. Way to keep me up to date on my suckage. I credit this with my exponentially increasing skill. Oh, and it even still mentions who did what even if you're playing by yourself.




Challenge:

Okay, I realize that due to my love of lightgun games, I play a lot and therefore totally rock at it so my assessments of difficulty may be too low. Here, I will say that this game is hard. On my first play, I used 6 credits without even beating the game. However, on a second play, I could beat it with only 3. Another play and it dropped to 2. With a bit of practice, I soon was able to get by without continuing. I think the real challenge is effectively using Rage, which more or less means that the less you know about the routine, the harder it is. It's necessary because some of the mini-missions are friggin' impossible otherwise. The difficulty is a little weird though; the first boss is the hardest in the entire game to master, and the final boss may well be the easiest. What is up with that? However, it's not all easy, certainly not for 1-credit runs since the game seems to have difficulty adjustments since I was losing lives during parts I know I shouldn't have (What!?! I've NEVER failed that mission!) It even makes you lose 2 lives instead of 1 if you're doing very well, which I think is a bit much.



Enjoyment:

Now this is what I'd call a good use of a license. A boundless slaughter for Rambo just begs for a shooter. And man, is it really boundless. There's almost always at least 4 enemies on the screen at once. Plus, for better or worse, it follows the events of 2 of the movies. If you were looking for an original quest, well you're out of luck. But if you enjoyed the films, you'll be pleased to play scenes taken straight out of em'. Hiding in a wall of mud, firing an explosive-tipped arrow (sadly, no VC commander explosion, which I was sorely dissapointed by), or even the climatic game of chicken in R3.

The game has mini-missions like GHOST Squad, which can affect the path you take or something else. However, there's not as many, and certainly there's not as much substance as GHOST Squad. So basically this is a straightforward shooter. The Rage feature is a good idea, although the concept is a little moot. I mean, unlimited ammo, increased damage, and possibly even invulnerability? A bit overkill. Maybe if you could tap into one of those abilities at different costs or something would have made more sense.

And now I'm making a similar point to another review... This game, despite being named Rambo, covers the events of the 2nd and 3rd movies. Why not go ahead and include the 4th? Maybe the game would have been too damn long but more gameplay is always nice. I mean, the 1st one couldn't really be done since Rambo was going up against the police. Not exactly a good premise for a shooting game.



Replay Value:

Success or failure of the mini-missions can result in different paths, but those are few and most stages have only one route. GHOST Squad this ain't.





Rant Session:

Uh, it's Rambo. How you gonna make fun of Rambo? This game is just a straight up faithful redux of the movies, complete with collisions between tanks and helicopters.





Bottom Line:

What it is: An intense but fun shooter. What it isn't: An innovative or revolutionary shooter.

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