Rampart - Today's (Classic) Time Waster

If you grew up in my generation, you'll understand when I say that there are some classic games that stay with you through the years. For me, my short list includes M.U.L.E., Out of this World, and Rampart, amongst hundreds of racing and sports games that all seem to blur together.

Short of setting up a MAME environment and dealing with the dicey licensing situation with respect to these classic games, there's really no way to play most of these games. Well, that's not entirely true - my old Commodore 64 is still in working order... but that's not really an option either.

Luckily, one of my classic favorites has been recreated in a Windows-compatible form, and it captures the original game perfectly. Rampart is sort of a turn-based real time strategy game, maybe one of the first RTS games. The game consists of two phases that cycle throughout the game: the building phase and the battle phase.

During the Building phase, you are given differently shaped blocks with which to build walls around your castle. The blocks are shaped like random Tetris blocks. There's no indication of what the next block will look like as you place your current block, and you are very time-limited to build your wall. Any castle that has a fully closed wall around it will be allocated guns, so the more that you can enclose the better.

Once the Battle phase starts, your castles are attacked by boats shooting cannons at you. Your job is to defend your castles by shooting at the boats, and this is where having more guns becomes helpful, since you can only have one cannon ball in the air at any time from any specific gun.

Game play is frantic both during the building and battle phases, and the ability to use a mouse is a welcome change from the atrocious joysticks we used to use "back in the day". If you're looking for a quick 10 minutes of fun, or to lose a couple hours, Rampart is a great way to spend your time.

Note, it's unclear whether this version is officially sponsored or condoned by the copyright holder of the original game. The incredible trueness to the original game makes it seem to be a legitimate version, however I can make no claim of legitimacy for this version. I feel comfortable playing this version as I have my Nintendo cartridge of the original packed away in my basement.

Tags: classic games, ClassicGames, freeware, Rampart, timewasters