Shakedown Hawaii takes Retro City Rampage into the 16-bit era
Sequel shakes up the setting and graphics, but keeps the open-world mayhem
First released in 2012, Retro City Rampage delivered a tongue-in-cheek, NES-era tribute to Grand Theft Auto, and it’s spent the last couple years since being ported to all manner of platforms. But now it’s time for something new.
And that something is Shakedown Hawaii, a proper sequel that moves the action from an urban city to a sunny new locale – much like Vice City after Grand Theft Auto III. And not only has the terrain changed, but also the graphical style, trading the chunky 8-bit style of Retro City Rampage for a much more vibrant, 16-bit-like aesthetic.
Otherwise, Shakedown Hawaii looks like it’ll build upon the foundation of the last game, with top-down, open-world action and plenty of mayhem. According to the PlayStation.Blog, the game takes place 30 years after Retro City Rampage, with The Player coming “out of early retirement to rebuild his neglected corporate empire.”
Given the location of the announcement, it’s no surprise that Shakedown Hawaii is coming to PlayStation 4 and Vita, and the game will be playable next week at the second annual PlayStation Experience. We ought to hear more details then.
But it’s also coming to PC via Steam, as well as at least one Nintendo platform. As for Xbox, Vblank Entertainment says on Facebook that they’re not ready to confirm further platforms just yet, as they say overcommitting to platforms on the last game took away from final release polish. But given how many platforms Retro City Rampage eventually wound up on (including MS-DOS), we won’t be surprised if Shakedown Hawaii is eventually available everywhere.
[Sources: PlayStation.Blog, Facebook]
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Andrew Hayward
Freelance Writer 
