Full Mojo Rampage Review (PC)

Rogue-like games have become more and more common nowadays as a lot of independent developers want to recreate the challenging experiences they grew up with back in the 1980s and 90s, while giving them some fresh mechanics and hopefully novel twists in order to stand out from the rest of the titles flooding the market on PC.

Full Mojo Rampage from developer Over the Top Games is no different, bringing a rogue-like experience in which death is constant, as are line of sight and procedurally generated levels. However, it adds a lot more personality and unique elements, as you play as a Voodoo soul who needs to complete tasks for various Loa (aka gods), like Baron Samedi.

Throw in some twin-stick shooter action and a huge amount of different voodoo dolls, mojos, pins, and items, and Full Mojo Rampage definitely looks like a fun experience that brings fresh things to the old genre.

Does its voodoo magic work as intended or should we stop the rampage? Let's find out.

While rogue-like games have gotten more and more numerous nowadays, few try to venture away from the puzzle platformer genre. As such, I was thrilled to see that Full Mojo Rampage delivers a twin-stick shooter experience, as you can move your character with one stick of the controller (or the WASD keys on a keyboard) and shoot his standard projectiles with the other (or the mouse).

First, however, you must go through the pretty complex creation screen, in which you customize the mask worn by your tiny voodoo soul and then equip different items, like pins, which are unlocked as you play through the game, as well as pledge your allegiance to one of the different Loa, aka Voodoo gods. These gods offer different bonus abilities besides your standard attack. Baron Samedi, for example, grants you a tactical roll to escape foes and a powerful fireball attack.

Customize your voodoo ...

... and interact with the gods

Each Loa has a different quest line associated with it and these adventures all procedurally generated in terms of actual content. This is where the joy of Full Mojo Rampage shows, as you can go through all sorts of crazy adventures serving the wacky gods. In one mission you can be tasked with closing portals, while in another you need to escape a dungeon filled with all kinds of dangers.

Besides the main path in each quest line, different side locations open up that can contain vendors or shrines, but also extra stages that transform the whole experience into a pixelated adventure or just offer great new items. Vendors include traditional craftsmen that sell new mojos and items for gold, but also shrines that see a Loa bless or curse you, depending on your luck.

Bear in mind that, like in any rogue-like, your inventory is limited and you can only equip a few items. You can have three standard consumables, like health potions or one-time-use abilities, and two mojos that provide benefits, from better damage to more health or better gold find rate.

Actual gameplay feels great, but expect a pretty challenging experience throughout the different quests, especially when it comes to the boss fights that are grueling, to say the least. Death means, like in other games, a complete restart of the whole adventure but your experience and gold carry over, meaning you can improve your stats and boost the bonuses offered by the pins.

Full Mojo Rampage is certainly a game where you just try to do a little bit better every time. You can sometimes get lucky and score bonus inventory slots and powerful mojos right from the first stage, but you can also not find anything of use and fight bosses without any health potions.

Play Video

Level design is quite good, offering lots of different environments in which you can up against crazy monsters. Some of the dungeons are a bit hard to figure out and it's a shame that you can't pan the camera around the map to at least check out the areas you've already completed. You do have a mini-map in the top corner and it displays entrances to shops, as well as enemies, chests, and more.

Enemies are quite varied, although some are more interesting than others. These include skeletons, zombies, shamans, but also chickens that lob their eggs at you and a suite of ghosts. Most, however, have one of two behaviors, as they either shoot from a distance or try to chase and melee you.

For those who like to play with others, Full Mojo Rampage has a suite of co-op and competitive features. First up, you can play with a buddy locally or with up to three friends online. Fighting over kills and blaming each other for some deaths will certainly happen, so be prepared to upset some people. Even so, it's totally worth it, as the experience is quite fun and it's a bit easier when dealing with the tricky boss fights.

There's also a suite of competitive modes with support for up to eight players. There are standard game types like deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag, or king of mojo, and they're all quite hectic, provided you find enough people to play with. This is a problematic aspect for the game, as it's still in the early stages of getting loyal players, so you might not always end up with others to go up against.

In terms of visuals, Full Mojo Rampage has a great and colorful style, with all the monsters looking adequately creepy but also quite funny at the same time. The game also runs pretty well on PC, although there aren't that many actual video settings that you can tinker.

In terms of sound, the title has a delightful theme but, after a while, it does become a bit repetitive, as do the taunts and sounds emitted by enemies when they spawn or attack.

Battle against enemies ...

... and take down big bosses

The Good

The Bad

Conclusion