Rampage is a simple game with a simple concept, which was the norm for arcade games in 1986. Pick a monster, get together with friends or like-minded strangers, and go crazy climbing up buildings and wrecking them until each town and metropolis is transformed into rubble before repeating the process until everyone has lost their lives. It can be repetitive, but the idea of you as a monster wrecking everything in sight was so inherently fun that sequels were made every so often to tap into that primal urge for destruction. Like many retro-inspired games, Terror of Hemasaurus cites Rampage as its source of inspiration but adds a few elements to give itself a distinct identity.

The story starts with a debate on a news program between an environmental scientist who wants people to pay attention to climate change and a businessman with a "profits first and profits only" mindset. As they debate, we see that a polar ice cap is melting in real time, with a large chunk of ice containing the titular thesaurus breaking off and floating away. The chunk lands on an island, where it is thawed out by a cult that wants the creature to destroy cities to make them aware of the threat of global warming. You do that solo or with friends like a giant sloth, a large salamander, and a mechanized version of yourself tagging along for the ride.

The story goes for dark humor, and it works well to convey the idea that almost all humans are misguided, no matter their intentions. It pulls no punches on this front and creates some very effective storytelling, despite the game's prospective audience likely thinking on a similar wavelength. Where the story starts to fall apart is when it takes on tangents that deviate from the main point. From parental groups protesting violence to a beleaguered programmer answering the fickle whims of the businesspeople in charge, the middle section doesn't jive well with the initial message of environmentalism and destruction. There's a good chance that players will skip cut scenes because of it.

As you may have expected, the game wholeheartedly uses the mechanics of Rampage for its core gameplay loop. You can climb up buildings to destroy them from top to bottom. People can be eaten for energy, and while you will get shot up by the army and police from both above and below, the damage is so minimal that it'll only register if you aren't paying attention and constantly feeding. Your overall goal is to destroy any and every building you see. Destroying everything is ideal, but you only need to destroy a certain percentage of the level's total number of buildings before you can move on and repeat the process.

The loop is solid, but it is bolstered by some additions that make the formula feel fresh. Instead of going after single screen blocks, each level has you taking on several blocks at a time before a gate opens up to take you to the next stage. Destroying stuff lets you pull off special moves, like slowing down time if you're the sloth or raining down missiles if you're mecha-hemasaurus. Throwing cars and people may be new if you've only ever played the original arcade game, but they were a feature of later Rampage titles, so it's good to see it present, especially since vehicles can collide into buildings for added destruction. The more interesting change to the core gameplay is the presence of physics. Buildings can collapse straight down if you hit the right spots, but more often than not, you'll get a building to lean toward one side and collapse to create a domino effect; the rubble smashes into another building, which can cause further destruction, depending on how weak that building may already be. It's a neat addition that makes destroying stuff even more enjoyable.

For the most part, the levels focus strictly on you destroying most of the city before you can move on, and while that makes for a fine homage to Rampage, the developer had the foresight to add a few changes to some stages to spice things up. Some levels add a giant metal ball that you need to use to destroy buildings. Other stages task you with tossing humans to nearby helicopter blades. Some levels will go for silly things, like placing trampolines all over the place or asking you to rescue animals instead of crushing them. They're neat diversions that give you a little break before returning to the basics.

The campaign is quite short, lasting between two to three hours unless you're aiming to get Achievements. Beyond this, the game only features one other mode, Endless Destruction. As the name implies, you go around destroying everything in your path until the military is able to take you down. Like many other games featuring a similar mode, the enemies ramp up their difficulty the longer you stay alive, so getting the related Achievements for this mode will take some work. It's still a fun mode, but don't expect to play it too often if you're looking for further purpose to the carnage.

The Rampage formula was always fun with friends, and Terror of Hemasaurus capitalizes on that by letting you play with up to three other friends in both game modes. The co-op play is local only, and this is where other platforms offer an advantage over the Xbox version. On both the PlayStation 4 and Steam, players can engage in Share Play or Remote Play Together, respectively, to emulate the local experience online, and both methods work fairly well. There's no such option for Xbox players, which is a shame if you wanted to play with others but have no one in close proximity.

The overall presentation is quite nice. The pixelated graphics go for more of an upgraded 16-bit look but with everyone looking cartoony and cute instead of semi-realistic. The game handles tons of sprites with no slowdown, and it doesn't take long for the screen to be filled with lots of pixelated blood, smoke, and explosions alongside civilians running around with a bold color scheme. The chiptune music works well in evoking a retro theme and driving beats that encourage you to destroy.

At its core, Terror of Hemasaurus is a fun title. The scattershot nature of the story might not hit the funny bone for some people, and the lack of online play is a shame. The addition of physics to the core gameplay loop along with varied objectives ensures that the game isn't monotonous during its short playtime. If you still have a soft spot for wanton destruction by abnormally large animals, Terror of Hemasaurus is well worth seeking out, especially with friends in tow.

Score: 8.0/10