Turret Rampage is bordering on being a micro arcade game where you control a turret moving between 6 corridors shooting everything that comes your way. As the enemies come in larger hordes, you’ll need speed and precision to survive as long as possible. There are no upgrades or gimmes – only skill and practice to work your way up the online leaderboard. Its a concise challenge that doesn’t outstay its welcome.
There are 8 levels in Turret Rampage but the first 7 are really building you up to the final endless leaderboard level. You start with a single corridor and weapon shot and over the course of those levels more corridors unlock. It teaches you to move and flip the stance of your turret and to use three different weapons as enemies need a mix and match of certain hits to kill them. Whilst two are shots are fire immediately, some enemies burrow underground to avoid your fire. A charge attack flushes them out but there is a noticeable delay in its explosion, leaving you vulnerable. Prioritising setting the charge off is key to survival. You have a three hits and its game over limit and each hit sends a death wave on the side you were hit. Sometimes that can be very helpful but a game only lasts a few minutes usually before its game over anyway, so you don’t have time for tactical hits.
Whilst the levels are not identical every time, the general volume increase of enemies is consistent and I found myself running out of talent around the same point each time. Whilst the controls are precise and hit detection is good too, I wasn’t finding obvious ways to be better. Others were doing better on the leaderboards so clearly its a talent problem on my side and despite not troubling the higher end of the scores, I still enjoyed the challenge and the quickfire nature of the game.
Turret Rampage comes with a few colour palettes to switch out and limited sound but they do the job in a fugly retro charming way. The gameplay is fast and simple to understand but you’ll end up firing the wrong thing often under pressure and that is where the addiction comes in. Perfect for a quick 10 minutes as a palette cleanser, you won’t spend hours at once with this. I know I’ll be checking back periodically to try a leaderboard climb repeatedly for a slice of pure and simple arcade fun.
Review copy provided by developer. Out on Steam 18th Oct 2023.
Higher Plain Games is part of the Higher Plain Network. If you like what I do, please consider supporting me via Patreon for as little as $1/£1 a month. There are additional perks for supporting me, such as behind-the-scenes content and downloads. You can also share the website or use the affiliate buy now links on reviews. Buying credit from CD Keys using my affiliate link means I get a couple of pence per sale. All your support will enable me to produce better content, more often. Thank you.
