Rambo The Video Game – Review
Rambo, a character known by every action fanatic. The name is even used to represent a kind of play style in games where one would kick the door in, guns blazing and killing everyone in their path. An iconic personage, that’s for sure but can Rambo The Video Game give this war genius the game he truly deserves? Well… no, not really. In fact, far from it.
Story
The game starts off at Rambo’s funeral. A military man is holding a speech, saying what a killer machine Rambo was and how the world is better off without him. He tells about the time when Rambo and his team were held captured and tortured by the North Vietnamese. Rambo manages to escape but doesn’t find a “welcome home” when he returns to Washington, instead the local police arrests him and this causes the war veteran to snap. After going on a killing spree, Rambo gets the opportunity to clear his name by fulfilling another mission. You will see his continuous struggling with accepting who he is, a killing machine.
Story wise, Rambo The Video Game does its job by explaining the player what’s going on but misses depth and feels very rushed (with the game being about 3 hours long, that’s not really a surprise). Its main purpose seems to be chaining one action event to another but although this gives the game an incredible pace, it doesn’t do much good on the actual narrative part.
Graphics
For today’s standard, Rambo’s graphics are just laughable. Rambo himself seems to be a fond visitor at his local surgeon for getting Botox shots and facelifts as he doesn’t seem to possess the ability to make any expressions with his face. The environments are forgettable and even the explosion effects are nothing to be proud of.
A lot of people say: graphics alone don’t make a game good or bad and mostly I’d agree with that but if a game is graphically so outdated, it just isn’t enjoyable to look at.
Sound
The voice acting in Rambo doesn’t quite convince, especially considering that it consists of a mix of voices coming from the movies and some new voiceovers. They don’t really fit together and this causes the whole thing to feel quite inconsistent and unbelievable.
Gunfire also could have been done a lot better. For a game that’s mainly focused on these kinds of things, it should be self-evident that guns sound legit. I’m not an expert regarding firearms but this just didn’t sound as it is supposed to be.
As for the background music when actually playing, it’s a repeat of a few songs over and over again and naturally it doens’t take a long time for them to become quite dull and boring even though the music tries desperately to enhance the action sequences. In the cutscenes however (particulary at the graveyard) the slower dramatic music adds greatly to the atmosphere and it makes you a bit sad thinking about Rambo while seeing his grave right in front of you.
Gameplay
If you were under the impression that Rambo The Video Game would be a general action adventure (with the emphasis on the action part) game where you’d move around and shoot folks, guess again. This game is nothing more or less than a light gun show. Movement is strictly on rails, meaning the player doesn’t have any say in where the protagonist should go. The mouse will be your main weapon against opponents combined with cover mechanics by pressing the right key on the keyboard. That’s about it for the “action” part.
Let me say, light gun games without an actual light gun; it just isn’t the right match. Jumping in and out of cover while trying to aim your mouse at people who really like to act as cannon fodder isn’t really what I’d say a exciting business. The healing system is also quite extraordinaire as you’ll have to switch on “Wrath Mode” which will bring some health back when killing folks during this mode. It’s just very unrealistic and yes, I’m aware that Rambo himself is capable of quite unrealistic behavior but shooting enemies to shreds to gain health is just weird.
As gun play becomes a bore quite soon, there’s still another part of gameplay to discuss, the beloved Quick Time Events! How everyone loves those, no? But have no fear, if you don’t like doing QTE’s, there’s a perk to be unlocked that’ll keep you from failing them, in any possible way. For all the game cares, you can be off dancing in the yard while eating popsicles and ice cream and still get a successful QTE. This may be the best implementation yet as it keeps you from playing this excuse for a video game.
The only segments that were acceptable to play compared to the rest of the game were the sneaky bow and arrow parts. Although there was zero tension while sneaking up on enemies, it felt quite good to hunt them down one by one by planting a well aimed arrow in their heads.
Conclusion
My advice for all serious gamers: please, spare yourself some frustration and keep away from this. Even the biggest fans of the character Rambo will find little to no enjoyment here and above all, the price they ask for Rambo is just not correct for a short 3 hour run. If you truly are a fan of Rambo, I’d suggest you to invite some buddies over at your house, buy all kinds of snacks and sweets and have a movie marathon. Playing this won’t give the biggest Rambo adorer in the whole world the satisfaction he or she seeks.
Rambo The Video Game - Review,
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