Railroad Rampage (4.2Mb)
Railroad Rampage is in essence a tower defense game, but in an unusual setting; on the roofs of railway carriages, and with arcade and strategy gameplay. It’s a different game to the online browser game of the same name (which is a not at all bad fighter duelling game!). It's available for Windows, Linux and GP2X Wiz.
“Railroad Rampage is a cross between an arcade game and a strategy game. It is similar in construction to many "Tower Defense" games, but it has a twist: here, you are part of the action and can affect the game in many more different ways than by just building structures. Bandits are trying to rob your train and steal all your precious cargo! Thankfully, you are a skilled engineer who can construct many different kinds of turrets and use them to defend your train. You have to make it through 25 waves of relentless enemy assault before you reach your destination, so plan ahead and devise a smart strategy and you may survive!”
Enemies will appear from the left and will try to cross the screen. If an enemy reaches the right side of the screen, you lose a life. If all lives are lost, it's game over. Your train holds 8 cars. Each of these can hold two turrets. By clicking on the right side of the screen or on the small knob on the right side you can display the turret menu. Each turret has it's advantages and disadvantages. To build one, you first need to have enough gold. When you have, simply click on the turret and place it on any empty position above the train. You can also sell any constructed turrets by using the $-icon. This will return half the money you paid for it.
Cars can be constructed in the same way, on the menu to the right side of the screen. These replace the normal "empty" cars and can also be sold. Finally, there is an upgrade menu at the top of the screen. Upgrades can only be bought once and stay in effect for as long as the game goes on.
Once a turret has been placed, it can be activated by pressing it with the mouse/stylus. Some turrets can change direction and some are activated in this way. Most will load up and fire automatically but some require manual activation. Turrets can also be damaged by enemy fire. If that happens, the only thing that can repair them is a Repair Car. If they take too much damage they are destroyed and the space they occupied is again free to use. Cars have different effects as well, but all except the Fireworks Car are automatic. Cars themselves cannot be damaged.
Once every fifth round a boss enemy will appear, who is much stronger than normal enemies and takes away 5 lives if it reaches the right side of the screen.
If you manage to survive all 25 waves and the final boss, your total score will be counted and saved. Remaining lives and gold at the end will give extra score. There are three difficulty levels and the game keeps separate scores for each of them.
Everything can be controlled using the mouse. Clicking on things will select or activate them. To deselect, use right click. ESC will return to the main menu. P will pause the game.
There are various turrets, cars and upgrades that can be bought. There are several unusual weapons like the chili canon, the cactus and sheriff stars. You will need to direct some turrets, and you can click on chilies and stars fired to activate them in different ways. Casino cars will get you more gold!
It’s a fairly lightweight game, in that you can eventually devise a strategy to beat most of what the game throws at you, but it can give you a lot of fun while you try to do so! It can be good for a many a try, attempting to survive all of the game’s levels. It has been tweaked too, to give a more finely balanced outcome. There are thunderstorms on some levels, and your gun turrets can be struck by lightning and destroyed, though you can partly protect them with a sombrero! There are air attacks from bandits’ barrage balloons, hot air balloons and airplanes, all of which you can attack with guns, etc., but also with extendible cacti!
The three difficulty levels change the amount of health and gold you start with.
The game comes with a manual and detailed readme file and there’s an ingame tutorial to get you started. It has very nice retro graphics and appropriate sound/music!
As a mix of tower defense mechanics with arcade gameplay elements, this is definitely very much a ‘must-have’ for your free games collection!
Download HERE note: use mirror 1 not mirror 2.
