![]() ![]() Speaking of characters, your main point of contact for the duration of your adventure will be instantly recognisable if you grew up in the eighties. Working through just over 60 story missions and 40 arcade challenges, and taking you across the pixelated city of Theftropolis, the tongue never comes out of this game’s cheek for long references from popular movies and video games littering the dialogue, decor, and characters. Thrust forward into the year 20XX, Player meets an eccentric scientist – and our anti hero is entrusted with the job of gathering the various components needed to repair the time booth. Three years pass, and after an elaborate (and gloriously parodied) bank heist goes wrong, Player escapes via a time travelling phone booth. Set in 1985, you take control of a hero fittingly known as Player following his life soon after he’s hired by the mysterious crime syndicate run by someone called the Jester. Despite its original release on WiiWare in February 2013, and the DX edition on 3DS a year later, Retro City Rampage DX on Nintendo Switch feels not only like a fresh experience, it takes each advantage from previous versions and combines them to deliver the best version of a great game. It started development in 2002, and gained traction in 2011 as the indie darling of gaming conventions – now available in iterations on current gen, mobile, and even Nintendo consoles. And I think it loves me, too.Retro City Rampage DX is the culmination of a 15 year journey for Vblank Entertainment. I still have plenty of side missions and collectables to grab, or I might just run down some pedestrians while riding the train. ![]() While Retro City Rampage DX’s story was somewhat short, its time on my Switch will not be. It’s rife with murder and car stealing, but features very little blood, drugs, or sex it’s surprisingly PG for a game about murdering everyone. ![]() The sped-up “Turbo Mode” unlocked after the credits takes the game to nearly unplayable levels of ridiculousness.Īlso, the game features dozens of retro screen filters and an absolutely wonderful soundtrack. The 3D effect was awful and ‘80s and perfect. When a screen before the final boss told me to put on my 3D glasses, dammit, I red-Sharpied some cellophane and tied a Blu-ray case to my head. Every time I thought “this is ridiculous,” it responded with an “I know, right?” and put a waypoint on Batman’s house or something. While hard to convey here, the entire game is drenched in a level of care hard to find in a big-team game. Being able to drive down the sidewalk for a minute before slipping away to your mission keeps the momentum, while reserving the really big weapons for certain story points and high-level law enforcements keeps them feeling special. Dying takes away every weapon but jumping and punching, so gathering weapons from fallen officers is almost a prerequisite for each mission. Kill enough cops or turn down the right alley of Theftropolis and you’ll find a coin that greatly reduces law enforcement’s interest in you. For me, unbridled destruction is the entire point of the genre but is usually ended all too quickly by a swarm of SWAT team members. Retro City Rampage DX does scratch that sandbox itch I was looking for with one major upgrade: cop-cloaking power-ups. Even the game doesn’t care about its story, made evident by the increasing absurdity of the scenarios. The script teases out a chuckle and a “WTF?” before quickly getting out of the way each and every time. At one point, a Ghostbusters-themed custodial team is frightened of dancers in a rundown club so Player has to “clean up” the club by murdering everyone. Basically, the aptly named “Player” gets sent through time and has to steal parts to build a time machine. Story beats clip by at an extreme pace, making sure you never care about what’s going on. ![]()
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