By Alton Jerome McFarland
Packed with multimedia content depicting everything from music videos
to virtual pimps, ROMP.COM is definitely not your average website.
The tone of the entire ROMP experience is set as soon as the first
page begins to load. Right next to a bikini-clad "Girl of the
Week" are links to the current most popular animated shorts.
With animations sporting titles like "Cooties", "Booty
Call", and "Napster Bad, Money Good", it quickly becomes
obvious that achieving political correctness is not one of ROMP's
priorities.
With areas devoted to games, gab, and girls (pictures of girls, that
is), ROMP offers a variety of entertainment. The centerpiece of the
entire site, though, is its wide selection of FLASH-enabled animations
and videos. These extremely high-quality multimedia offerings provide
hours of potential diversion for the unsuspecting websurfer. In series
format, many of the animations allow a registered ROMP visitor to
follow his or her favorite characters through their latest comical
adventure while also retaining access to previous installments. The
video section, meanwhile, much like the animations, provides a wealth
of content sure to sate even the greediest of visitors.
Free registration, easy navigation, and a lack of advertisements
make surfing ROMP.COM a very relaxing experience. The site's layout
is simple, yet functional, and manages to look stylish without being
crowded with superfluous eye-candy. The only potential drawback (putting
aside, for a moment, possible objections to the content), is the bandwidth
required of the user. The large size of many of the videos and animations
could be daunting to users with low-speed internet access. Even with
the option to watch a "small" or "large" version
of most videos and animations, loading some content can take quite
a while. Even on my T1 connection, the wait for "loading"
was noticeable and ended up being what ultimately forced me from the
site.
ROMP's "in your face" attitude and, often, raunchy style
hit their mark very well. Obviously targeted at young males, the site
provides content that will attract its desired demographic and likely
entice them to come again. Rife with expletives and scantily-dressed
women, ROMP.COM is a comedic reflection of current popular culture.
Brazenly chauvinistic at times, ROMP never shied away from going that
extra offensive mile, and I'm not ashamed to say that I enjoyed every
minute of it.