Your progress will be measured by completing open-world missions, acquiring property, shaking down other businesses, and collateral "re-zoning". Shakedown: Hawaii is set 30 years after the events of Retro City Rampage, when the Player comes out of retirement to build a profitable corporate empire. Thankfully, Vblank Entertainment has unveiled the game's Steam page, and it includes a 2018 release date. Its sequel, Shakedown: Hawaii, appears to be more of the same - but we didn't have a release date. Retro City Rampage was a cathartically fun action game that parodied old-school Grand Theft Auto, along with all kinds of pop culture staples. This balance is what helps to give Shakedown: Hawaii its identity and makes it stand on its own merits.Shakedown: Hawaii doesn't have an official release date, but a new Steam page suggests it will launch in 2018.
The soundtrack also manages to avoid rigidly sticking to the past, by instead providing a sound representative of the aesthetic the game is going for rather than imitating 16-bit era chiptune. It doesn’t come off as simply a nostalgic throwback, instead, it demonstrates how effective this art style can be when paired with the right gameplay and overarching narrative. The 16-bit graphics are a real treat for the eyes, as are the wonderfully drawn cut-scenes. The inclusion of destructible scenery is a noticeable difference, as is the meaningful inclusion of a flamethrower which can cause devastation in the right place. There is quite a lot to do in Shakedown: Hawaii and the game tries to make the missions as varied as it can, despite still fundamentally conforming to the sequence of drive to X, shoot some people, collect/destroy Y. Although quite a few of the missions take this approach, accompanied by flipping between cut-scene, zooming to a different part of the map, then back to a cut-scene, then more map it’s enough to give you whiplash.īuy up the neighbourhood to cement your control over the city. This can seem a little overwhelming, but the game makes it pretty much mandatory which main properties you need to purchase and upgrade, with some missions focusing solely on this. As you progress through the story missions more and more of the different properties on the Hawaiian island become available for you to purchase others though still require a little extra persuasion. The other main way of securing Feeble’s position is to buy up everything. Therefore, the main story missions see the characters (who you swap between certain missions) go out and consolidate the position of Feeble International via any questionable means possible, be it compromising the competition or levelling the playing field to your advantage. Unlike GTA games that are often tales of rags to riches, Shakedown: Hawaii starts off with a character who is already incredibly well off, though that fortune is at risk when the conglomerate has finally been exposed to the modern trends of the market. It’s a vicious cycle, but it’s one that benefits you the player, or rather the CEO of Feeble International and to a lesser extent his deadbeat son Scooter (aka DJ Jockitch). More money means more power, which brings with it even more money.
The video game examples are mostly played for laughs, but the damaging effects of capitalism are baked into the core of Shakedown: Hawaii.Īs long as the Switch dashboard doesn’t become like this, we’re fine.Īlmost everything in Shakedown: Hawaii revolves around money and getting more of it. The result is a cynical portrayal of contemporary video games and more broadly the exploitation that comes from hyper-capitalism. Developer Brian Provinciano has taken this on board, with Shakedown: Hawaii using the aesthetics of the past to critique the present. Many reviewers found the sheer number of references to the past in Retro City Rampage a little bit too much, even though it was genuinely sincere. Whilst that is what makes Shakedown: Hawaii different from its spiritual predecessor Retro City Rampage, it is surprisingly different in its delivery and takes a very different approach to how it relates to the past.Ĭops aren’t very effective, but at least they attempt to stop you when you break the law.
Shakedown hawaii switch upgrade#
How do you follow up a game which began life as a Grand Theft Auto “demake” that became a love letter to 80s video games and pop culture? You upgrade to the next generation of high-tech pixel graphics and make everything bigger and better!
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