🧟 Mad Truck Rampage

Drive, bash, upgrade, repeat

Mad Truck Rampage is a side-view driving game about one very determined pickup truck. The road through the desert is full of shuffling cartoon zombies, piles of abandoned cars, stacks of crates and huge sandy ramps, and the only way to the outpost at the far end is straight through all of it. On your first run, the old truck will not get very far: the fuel tank is small, the engine is tired and every zombie you hit slows you down. But every run earns cash, and cash buys upgrades.

That is the loop that makes this kind of game so addictive. Drive as far as you can, spend your money in the garage, and drive again a little further. Bit by bit the rusty pickup turns into a zombie-bashing machine with a spiked plow, a big engine and a nitro boost that sends it flying over whole hordes.

How to play

Hold the right arrow, D or the green ▶ button to drive. The left arrow or A brakes and then reverses. Hills, dips and ramps throw the truck into the air, and while it is airborne, left and right tilt it backwards and forwards. Try to land with both wheels on the ground at the angle of the slope: land on your roof and, if you cannot rock back over, the run is over.

Fuel is the other limit. The gauge in the corner drains while you hold the gas, so a run lasts about twenty seconds of driving to begin with. When the tank is empty the truck coasts to a stop and the run ends, so momentum matters: use downhill slopes to build up speed and keep rolling.

Zombies, cars and crates

The zombies in this game are goofy green cartoon characters in colourful shirts, shuffling along with their arms out. Drive into them and they bounce off the bumper and spin away into the sky. No gore, just a lot of slapstick. Each one you bash pays a little cash, the big ones pay more, but every hit also takes a bite out of your speed, so a big horde can stop a weak truck dead.

Piles of junk cars squash flat under your wheels for ten dollars each, and crates and barrels burst apart as you drive through them. Everything you smash is added to the cash counter at the top of the screen, together with half a dollar for every metre you drive.

The garage

Between runs, the garage has five upgrades, each with five levels. The Engine raises the top speed and the pulling power, which helps on hills and through hordes. The Fuel tank gives you more seconds of gas, which is the simplest way to drive further. The Zombie plow bolts a steel blade (and later spikes) to the front so zombies slow you down far less. Nitro adds a boost tank you fire with Space, the up arrow or the 🔥 button, and it even pushes you along in the air. Tyres give more grip, more control in the air and, from level three, four-wheel drive.

Prices go up with every level, from 120 dollars for the first to 1600 for the last. A good order for beginners is fuel first, then engine, then the plow, but there is no wrong way to spend your cash.

Three stages and the Endless Wasteland

Desert Highway ends at an outpost 1000 metres away. Reach it and you get a big cash bonus and unlock Dusty Canyon, a 1600 metre run through red rock with bigger jumps and more zombies. Finish that to open Ghost Town, 2100 metres under a purple sky with the biggest hordes of all. Beat all three and the Endless Wasteland opens, a road that never ends where the only goal is a new distance record.

Each stage's road is always the same, so you can learn where the big ramps and hordes are and plan your nitro. A white post marks every hundred metres, and the bar at the top of the screen shows how close you are to the outpost.

Tips

Do not hold the gas all the time in the air: it does nothing for your speed there and the left and right keys are needed for tilting. Lean the truck nose-down a little before landing on a downhill slope and nose-up for an uphill one. Save nitro for the start of a big hill or just before a horde, where the extra push stops the truck from getting bogged down. If you get stuck against a pile of cars, back up a little and take a run at it.

Watch the fuel gauge near the end of a run. When it turns red, stop worrying about zombies and aim for distance: every metre is still worth cash, and a long downhill can carry an empty truck surprisingly far before it rolls to a stop.

Controls

On a computer: the right arrow or D is gas, the left arrow or A is brake and reverse (and tilt in the air), Space or the up arrow fires the nitro, R restarts the run and P pauses. On phones and tablets, buttons appear under the game: brake and gas on the left, nitro on the right.

Free to play

Mad Truck Rampage is free in the browser on computers, Chromebooks, tablets and phones, with no download and no account. Your cash, upgrades and best distances are saved only on your own device. Grown-ups can read more on the Parents & Safety page.

More truck games

Like smashing things with big wheels? Try the kids' version, Monster Truck Crush, or the stadium jumps in Monster Truck Freestyle 3D. For a gentler drive there is the off-road mud in Mud Truck 3D, and every truck game is on the Truck Games page.

Frequently asked questions