Duke Dynasty

The end of April 1997 would see the FPS mechanics of video games fully realized into a broad and varied genre. Xatrix Entertainment's Redneck Rampage couldn't have existed before this moment and though it's no where near among the best shooters on this list Redneck Rampage shows a comical and creatively free side of the genre only timidly explored up to this point. Growing up in WNC it hits a personal comedic note with me. It's the first game since Duke Nukem 3D that I would laugh out loud at the comedy in a game. Build Engine is another thing Redneck Rampage has in common with Duke 3D, proving that while proper 3D had the video game industry on fire from PC to console, Build Engine was no slouch in the experiences it could create.
 Redneck Rampage takes a lot from one of my favorite games on this list Duke Nukem 3D. The player character is very much his own character. You play as Leonard chasing his lost simple friend Bubba around and later fighting off aliens. Its very much a Mice and Men style relationship but with much more probable inbreeding. Leonard has plenty of one liners after taking damage, finding secrets, unlocking doors or his favorite thing shooting up other rednecks. The enemies aren't short on banter and I particularly love the skinny grunt characters voice and lines. It reminds me of a personal friend's bit that often mocks the daily redneck tendencies we have to endure. The game starts you off in some hazy southern fields that look pretty dated by the standards of more recent games on this list. Finding barns and wandering in and out of multistory houses however reminds me of Build Engine's better qualities. Its not something I even saw in Turok and honestly even Quake is still behind in this regard. I had a dog chasing me had him follow me in a room then close the doors on him and it worked! All while Leonard is going around saying he's "on you like stink on shit" or hollering every time I open the menu to save the game. Your fighting giant overhaul fat rednecks, skinny creepy ones saying "Im gunna git ya" , throwing dynamite to blow them into chunks, the large shotgun wielding redneck sometimes reduced to two turkey legs standing on their own. All this while pigs are screaming and chickens running around...all can blow up and the pigs particularly get hostile. Redneck Rampage has characters and character as a whole in its presentation. It would fit right along side some mid 90's MTV bit. This is a game that couldn't have existed before and certainly not now a real 1997 time piece.

The game mechanics itself are pretty poor and in the health system's case quickly make the game a slog to play through. As many laughs as I've had with the game this is one of my least played games on the blog list. While I often try to get at lest 2/3rd the way through and often finish these games after a couple hours I was burnt out here. Leonard drinks beer and whiskey for his health a pretty funny way of doing health packs and health pick ups are found with pork rinds...its pretty funny for me. Problem is he gets drunk quickly using health packs and soon enough you literally can't walk in a straight line.  Its funny until you need to actually play the game and the effect can last minutes or longer. The game's enemies are basic affair for the genre at this time not breaking from the id influence all too much but stripped down even more. The shotgun is straight from DOOM II but somehow a little worse. The pistol is a lot of fun, throwing dynamite sticks is straight from Duke 3D but the way the fuse is lit and the time to throw makes it worse than the pipe bombs and I could only use them in larger spaces no the corner hallways I'd gotten used too.  Finding keys through the level is actually pretty fun being straight out of Duke's playbook. Build Engine's ability to allow horizontal and vertical 3D areas of play is fantastic to see even if they are always lacking in terms of actual design quality.  These flaws actually make the game pretty challenging and I played it less than the "hurt me plenty" I typically keep for these games.  It's not what I would call a bad game and especially given the context of the time it was released and the other games I've played on this blog. I feel like I would have probably found it rather average but the comedic effect and setting of the game would have made it special enough to really enjoy for some time. One of the strengths of doing this blog is it allows me understand why people remember these games fondly even if they are not the most well designed or playing games of the time.

  Redneck Rampage embodies the width of the FPS genre in 1997. Quake gave us crazy fast, very much id styled adrenaline, Turok let us explore with first person 3D platforming and dinosaurs with lasers, Duke saved the ladies with destructible environments and tons of simulation. Redneck Rampage allows this southern parody to be a fully realized game. It hearkens back to an emerging industry where being different and adventurous where encouraged often sucessful. I'd say it works. This game is remembered for the experience it brought not the perfected gameplay mechanics. It's just fun sometimes and often times not so much however I had plenty of laughs along the way. At this point in the blog its also worth noting Redneck Rampage along with the last several games from Duke on have really driven home just how much of an explosion FPS games had from spring 1996-1997. All kinds of differing design approaches, characters, settings are a far cry from the "DOOM Clones" that populated the earlier parts of this list. Not to diminish the influence of id. It's remarkable this blog started in 1994 and in every game id's inspiration is felt still in every title to varying and different degrees. I commend Xatrix Entertainment having the humor focused ambition they created Redneck Rampage with.