Speaking of blowing stuff up, combat is arcadey and functional, albeit with a few annoyances. Plus, my immediate thought after scaling up my business was “man now I can pay myself a bigger salary!” So I’d say they nailed it. This is probably the only game where you can hijack cars on the search for the next big superfood to market to hapless consumers through sponsored advertising. But with Shakedown you just casually select it from a menu and start raking in cash, then resume your regularly scheduled activities like using a machinegun during a speedboat chase. Other Crazy Taxi-style minigames pop up, like “destroy the delivery truck” or “repossess cars whose owners are overdue on their payments.”Ī typical AAA studio move would be to force all of these things to move at a snail’s pace requiring players to manually go to the building to purchase it amid lengthy load times. At that point you can keep blowing stuff up, go tackle a story mission, or buy another property in a few seconds by bringing up the world map and selecting it. Based on how many business you shake down (or retail/investment properties you acquire) you’ll net an income, which kind of just pops up periodically on-screen as a bonus. I think what I dig most about Shakedown is the relaxed emphasis on doing whatever you want. Not every bit of the map is utilized to its fullest, but it does have less of a sense of déjà vu than Retro City due to the aforementioned aesthetic makeover.
This is the kind of free-spirited experience where you can roam around randomly and do whatever you want (and you can, as “free roam mode” returns!) and not get bored during short sessions, or opt for more lengthy goal-oriented playthroughs as you work through the campaign and side missions. Shakedown‘s overworld is approximately three times bigger than Retro City and it shows. Brian didn’t do everything alone: amid the great work by many other designers, the soundtrack slaps. Matt “Norrin Radd” Creamer’s soundtrack is restrained yet delightful, with a synthwave focus that isn’t cloying or, again, too referential. Brian makes this world feel alive despite the old-school feel, with swaying trees and vibrant visuals, and it all looks fantastic on Vita (hell yes, one of the last Vita games). Hawaii makes for one killer location, with plenty of water motifs to take advantage of on top of the lush, beautiful vegetation.
SHAKEDOWN HAWAII XBOX ONE TV
It’s more social commentary (“I’ll get you a spit bucket” for when you toss back a gamer energy drink for a TV commercial), and fewer memes (if that bothered you in the first place I thought it actually fit). Watching the oafish lead get thwarted constantly is another treat. In fact, there aren’t a lot of direct references at all, as the creator wanted to have Shakedown stand on its own more than its predecessor. There aren’t entire missions dedicated to Batman villain Joker or myriad pop culture references thrown in your face. Thematically it’s a bit different compared to Retro City Rampage. As always in the video game world, crime pays.
As the CEO of an old media-oriented business declares “streaming a fad,” his video rental stores and other over-the-top Blockbuster-esque models are no longer cutting it. Shakedown opens with a different kind of “hero”: an aging, balding, out-of-touch man having a breakdown. Shakedown: Hawaii (3DS, PC, PS4, Switch, Vita ) You can add Provinciano’s follow-up, Shakedown: Hawaii, to that lengthy list of successes above. There’s Eric Barone of Stardew Valley fame, Celeste‘s Matt Thorson, Bertil Hörberg, and of course, Brian Provinciano, who gave us the GTA-inspired (the original GTA) Retro City Rampage, among many others. We’re in a resplendent era of one-person studios and I couldn’t be happier that those kinds of games are getting attention.
0 kommentar(er)
