Redneck Rampage looks smarter but feels as dumb as ever with this modern port
Plus William Shatner's Tekwar and more
If Blood was Duke Nukem 3D's cool goth brother, then Redneck Rampage was always the weird cousin that turns up drunk to family gatherings - rude, crude and dumb as a sack of hammers. While it has been available for some time on Steam and GOG, 1997's Redneck Rampage always felt a little stiff and awkward when emulated through DOSBox, until today.
Thanks to Alexander "M210" Makarov's RedneckGDX, you can now enjoy Redneck Rampage and its sequel (soon) at any resolution, widescreen and more responsive than ever. I wouldn't say it makes the game especially good, but it's more playable. Plus, it's always nice to see older games maintained like this.
Redneck Rampage is an odd game. Released after Quake, it compensated for its older engine and lack of true 3D environments with big, high-resolution sprites and a whole lot of foul language. So much so of the latter that the game comes with an optional Cuss Pack, if you need even stronger language for the full redneck experience. It's puerile and stupid, but I admire the creativity in the statement "I'm so hungry I could eat the ass-end of a menstrual skunk." Also, ew. As a shooter, it doesn't quite live up to Duke 3D or Blood, but its big open maps do look nicer at high resolutions.
Makarov has produced a some other Build engine ports. BloodGDX being the most notable, but some more obscure games as well. If you've ever wanted to experience an HD remastering of William Shatner's Tekwar, then you're in luck, as TekwarGDX exists. You're also a very strange creature. Even more obscure is the GDX port of Witchaven, Capstone's fantasy-themed FPS/RPG. It's a bit like Hexen, although far jankier and vastly less forgiving. WitchavenGDX isn't complete yet, but you can find it and all the other GDX ports over on Makarov's page here.
To use RedneckGDX, you'll need Java installed, plus the original Redneck Rampage game, optionally with its expansion, Route 66. While it's on Steam for £7/€10/$10, the Redneck Rampage Collection is currently 66% off on GOG, making it £2.69 for the game, expansion and sequel (soon to be supported by RedneckGDX) all together.
Update: GOG's sale has ended, pushing the Redneck Rampage Collection back up to £7.79.