For me, Rampart isn't that much fun as a one player game -- it's when you start blasting the crap out of a FRIEND'S castle that the fun really begins!

In Rampart, players start out with a castle surrounded by walls. Gameplay is divided up into two parts: building (or REbuilding), and combat. In one player mode, you will be trying to shoot ships on the ocean which are firing at your castle walls. In two player mode, you'll be firing at your pal's castle walls while he's firing at yours.

After combat ends, rebuilding begins. You have a limited amount of time to rebuild your castle. You are presented with random wall shapes (not unlike Tetris pieces). Each piece can be rotated. Depending on how good of a shot your enemy is, rebuilding can be particularly maddening. For example, if a castle wall is right up against the edge of a screen and they only shoot out a 1x1 section of wall, you'll have to wait for a 1x1 block to fill that hole.

If you've got enough time left after your done with repairs you can extend your castle's walls to encompass other castles. Capture another castle and you'll receive more cannons. More cannons mean more shots during combat, but it also means you'll have more walls to repair after the dust settles. If your castle doesn't have a complete wall around it when the rebuilding round is over, you lose those cannons. If none of your castles have complete walls around them, your game is over.

I personally think Rampart is much easier to play with a trackball. Aiming your cannons is much easier, as you can guide the trackball much quicker and more accurately along your enemy's castle walls. It's okay with a joystick, but not quite the same.

If you want to try Rampart out on different systems, it's also available for the C64, the Gameboy, Gameboy Color, Genesis, Lynx, SMS, NES, and SNES.