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The\u00a0Rampage\u00a0<\/em>games were never\u00a0great<\/em>, per se, but they were\u00a0<\/em>fun. A giant monster destroying a city? That\u2019s ripe for video games. Strangely, the franchise was mostly left for dead and, even more strangely, no one ever really saw fit to copy it.\u00a0Terror of Hemasaurus<\/em>\u00a0is very much intended to look and play like\u00a0a better version of\u00a0Rampage<\/em>, which it surely excels at. But surprisingly, it\u2019s the game\u2019s penchant for satire and blistering humor that helps cement it as more than just a better\u00a0Rampage<\/em>. It doesn\u2019t last long and I wish the endless mode had more to it, but destroying cities as monsters has never been better.<\/p>\n

Terror of Hemasaurus\u00a0<\/em>begins with zero subtlety. The dastardly Richie Hoarderson is having a debate with a climate scientist warning him of the dangers of climate change. Hoarderson assures him and all those watching that climate change has no bearing on the lives of the people at home. It\u2019s not like it\u2019s a giant monster hellbent on destroying us all. In the background, a large piece of ice clearly imprisoning the titular massive lizard breaks loose and begins to drift. When Hemasaurus gains consciousness, it\u2019s greeted by the head of a cult that worships it. The cult\u2019s goal \u2013 to spread destruction to make people start caring about the environment.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t a particularly large leap to assume that the game is going to preach the virtues of going green while shaming our habits. More than one person on the game\u2019s Steam discussion thread went through the opening in the demo and was so incensed that \u201cpolitics\u201d were infecting the game and they most certainly wouldn\u2019t be purchasing it. The game\u2019s developer responded by suggesting that the user play Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo\u00a0<\/em>instead, as that game would be far less \u201cpolitical.\u201d It was very funny<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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Rawr<\/h2>\n

But Terror of Hemasaurus\u00a0<\/em>isn\u2019t that sort of game anyway. Instead, it\u2019s a comedy with a very specific message \u2013 humanity itself is just terrible and the things that befall us often don\u2019t stop simply because we don\u2019t really want to stop them.\u00a0 There are a fair amount of little cutscenes that lampoon gaming and society. The dev briefly puts himself in the game, but not in an overly indulgent way. This is easily one of the funniest games I\u2019ve played in recent memory and it\u2019s kind of worth playing for the story bits alone. There are also aliens commenting wryly on everything they see. When you get a game over, they criticize the dev for making a pointless video game instead of trying to do something productive.<\/p>\n

The game is broken into three chapters with a combination of levels and bonus levels. Most levels follow the classic\u00a0Rampage\u00a0<\/em>template. You\u2019re meant to walk from left to right, destroying the city while keeping your monster alive along the way. There are four playable characters and the game has four-player local co-op. The characters are Hemasaurus, a mecha version of Hemasaurus, a giant sloth, and a giant Salamander. They all mostly play identically, save for their ultimate attack. The mecha has my favorite one, which just fires off a rocket that produces a huge explosion.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a choice between the story mode and an endless mode. The story mode will probably take around two-to-three hours. Each level has different objectives. The usual one is to destroy at least 75% of the buildings, but there are levels where you need to kill a certain number of people or destroy vehicles. At the end of each level, you\u2019ll have done tens of millions of dollars in property damage and killed hundreds of people. The spritework might be cutesy, but the streets will be paved in gore by the time you\u2019re done. The bonus levels are very brief and usually have you destroy a certain number of things as quickly as you can.<\/p>\n

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Do the butt stomp<\/h2>\n

When Terror of Hemasaurus<\/em> first started, I was briefly disappointed by how similar it seemed to\u00a0Rampage<\/em>. Yes, you can climb up buildings and slowly punch them to pieces to knock them down. But that\u2019s actually kind of pointless. This game has physics and mechanics you can utilize to demolish buildings much faster. You can climb a building and then press up at the top, which will give you some air above it. Then you just press a button to slam the ground and damage the foundation. Damaging the center will result in a controlled demolition that sees the building sink.<\/p>\n

But doing enough damage to the sides of a building will cause it to topple in that direction. A toppling building will then damage any buildings or people in the way. You can also kick cars and tanks into buildings, which will often demolish them instantaneously. You\u2019ll also see helicopters and blimps. You can jump on these and punch them until they go down, which will result in an explosion that will\u00a0also<\/em> demolish buildings. Terror of Hemasaurus\u00a0<\/em>has the tendency to devolve into pure chaos the likes of which I\u2019ve rarely seen in games, save for\u00a0Earth Defense Force<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Your kicks naturally work on people too. Kicked people will kill other people as they smack into each other. You can also pick them up and throw them in any direction. This is great for taking down helicopters, which you can do by throwing people into the rotors. No, Terror of Hemasaurus\u00a0<\/em>doesn\u2019t fuck around, thanks for asking. You can even pick a person up, throw them straight upward, and then pick up another person and throw them into the one you just threw. SPLAT.<\/p>\n

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Give me the saucer NOW<\/h2>\n

There are other silly additions too, such as giant metal balls you can kick to wreck buildings. There are also giant trampolines sometimes because why the hell not?\u00a0 As for the endless destruction mode, it\u2019s just like the\u00a0Rampage\u00a0<\/em>arcade game in structure, only it really is endless. The threat level goes up to 10, so you\u2019ll contend with greater threats as you go in. I will say, characters in this game can get melted very quickly despite being giant monsters. An enemy with an assault rifle can take away half your health in a second if you\u2019re not careful. Granted, you heal by eating people but that\u2019s slow going. Still, as long as you\u2019re careful, the game is pretty easy.<\/p>\n

The only additional thing I wish Terror of Hemasaurus <\/em>had was some modifiers for the endless mode. Things like extra tanks or setting what exactly you want to appear in the levels would be fun. There are levels in the story mode that let you drive a tank and an alien aircraft and I\u2019d love to take those into the endless mode too. I\u2019m hoping the dev will add some of these, as that would give people more of a reason to come back. As much as I like the game, the endless mode can only stay interesting for so long.<\/p>\n

If you like mean-spirited, brutally honest satire and are itching for a better version of\u00a0Rampage<\/em>, Terror of Hemasaurus\u00a0<\/em>is pretty much a must-play. It\u2019s short and it could do with some more longevity in its endless mode, but the satisfying destruction physics and ridiculous chaos make for a fun time if you\u2019re into Kaijus destroying things. And if you\u2019re a misanthrope you\u2019ll finally have a game that encapsulates your philosophy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The\u00a0Rampage\u00a0games were never\u00a0great, per se, but they were\u00a0fun. A giant monster destroying a city? That\u2019s ripe for video games. Strangely, the franchise was mostly left for dead and, even more strangely, no one ever really saw fit to copy it.\u00a0Terror of Hemasaurus\u00a0is very much intended to look and play like\u00a0a better version of\u00a0Rampage, which it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":35896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.pcinvasion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Terror-of-Hemasaurus-review-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-news"],"yoast_head":"\n