Retro City Rampage has been in
development for a nearly a decade, but now it is finally here! Back in 2002, Brian Provinciano originally set
out to produce a Nintendo Entertainment System homebrew game,
a remake of the original Grand Theft Auto. It was originally entitled
Grand Theftendo, but once he had developed software to get
around the limitations of the NES he moved the game to PC. At some
stage during development the game morphed into its own title, rather
than a remake, and the idea to fill it with references to many of the
games and movies that Provinciano had grown up was born.
It would be an understatement to say
that this game has been eagerly awaited. Once screenshots and video
clips of the game started surfacing online, the retro community went
ballistic, and the barrage of 'when is this coming out?' messages
on forums started.
Well it is finally here, on PSN
and PC, with XBLA and wiiware versions to follow shortly. I have been
very excited about the release game since I heard of it a couple of
years ago and, while I was wanting the XBLA version, I wanted to get
my hands on the game straight away, so bought the PC version.
After booting up the game
I was initially very impressed with the NES look of the game. Even
more so when I went to the settings and found the many different
display options available. You can make the game look like any retro console or computer you can think of, from the ZX Spectrum and
Commodore 64, to the Gameboy or even PC CGA display. Unfortunately
my enthusiasm was dampened somewhat once the game actually started.
After the initial nostalgic joy of seeing a new game that harks back
to the 8-bit visual style, you suddenly realise everything is
absolutely tiny. The sprites are minuscule, smaller than Lemmings or the Cannon Fodder soldiers. We are talking magnifying
glasses territory here. This seems a strange choice as the NES, C64,
Atari and other consoles of this era had big chunky graphics. When
entering buildings things become worse still, with the game display
the size of a postage stamp it is hard to see what's what. Sometimes
I had to focus for a second or two just to find where my character
was among the tiny box and furniture sprites.
For
the sound track Pavinciano brought in 3 renowned Chiptune
composers; Leonard "FreakyDNA" Paul, Jake "Vert"
Kaufman and Matt "Norrin Radd" Creamer. They have done a
bang up job too, with catchy ditties playing throughout your
adventures. The track clearly inspired by the music to Paperboy
was an early highlight.
Parody Fatigue. Not something
you may be familiar with now, but after spending an hour rushing
around the streets of Theftopolis, you will start to feel the
effects. Retro City Rampage simply bombards you with
references to other materials, movies, games, people, places. So much
so, you feel like you are watching 5 or 6 TV channels at the same
time.
I found the constant stop-start
gameplay style quite off-putting. Stages seem to be split into small
sections, with constant cut scenes and yet more references. The
problem is the references aren't funny. One bad guy, clearly copied
from Sonic the Hedgehog's long-standing nemesis is called
Doctor Von Buttnik. This is the kind of unfunny humour that prevails
throughout the game, and it becomes tiresome fast. In fact almost
every single building, object, character or stage has a reference,
sometimes more than one, to another game or a movie.
It becomes too much after a while.
There are no fresh ideas on display here anywhere, and while there
are moments of creativity in the way you tackle a level, everything
here feels like a poor man's version of the material that inspired
it. The whole game looks, sounds, and plays like a slightly more
polished free browser game. Not unlike one of those awful Scary
Movie parody flicks the whole thing is a collection of small
skits thrown together to make a whole. Unfortunately it just gets
boring quite quickly, and when the gags aren't even funny, it becomes
tedious to sit through.
I was really looking forward to Retro
City Rampage, it was genuinely one of the top 3 games of 2012 that I
was looking forward to. Unfortunately it has been a massive
disappointment. I figured I was the target audience for this game,
after all I love 8-bit gaming, collect and play NES games, enjoy
humour in games, and I get every reference in the game due to being
an 80's kid. Yet the whole package left me deeply unsatisfied. The
game tries too hard to cram as many jokes in as short a time as
possible, but it backfires and shows the game up for what it
essentially is, a mildly amusing browser game to spend 20 minutes on before moving on to something deeper, and better..
There are some fantastic mini games featuring Super Meat Boy and Commander Video (from Bit.Trip Runner) that are actually more fun to play than the core game itself. The Bit.Trip Runner game in particular being excellent and is almost worth the price of admission alone.
However the top down GTA style gameplay gets very dull, very quickly, and not even the odd 2D platforming or twin stick shooter section can save it.
It has pained me to write such a scathing review of a game I awaited with such eagerness. I just found Retro City Rampage to be too in-your-face to spend
any more time with than necessary. There are moments of joy to be had
of course. Running pedestrians over is great fun, some of the
missions are enjoyable, and many of the references will bring a smile
to your face (Metal Gear Solid's Snake spoof saying “Sorry, I Feel
Asleep” made me chuckle), but overall it's all so throwaway, you
never feel any attachment, or commitment to playing it for very long.
You are much better off getting your
NES fix from the excellent, and free, PC game Abobo's Big Adventure, which is far more humorous and true to its reference
material than Retro City Rampage, and is over in 40 minutes or
so, so doesn't outstay it's welcome.
I will still be checking out the XBLA
title upon its release to bring you a review of that. Who knows,
maybe playing it on a bigger screen will enable me to
actually see what the hell is going on.
If this game brings more fans to the
retro and indie gaming community then that's great. I am sure people
will shout this game's praises until their throats are hoarse. I'm
sad to say I won't be joining them. Sure, this is throwaway fun with
some mild chuckles and nostalgia thrown in, but it's a fairly
charmless and shallow experience that offers no original ideas, won't hold
your attention for very long, and tries far too hard to be hip and
cool with its onslaught of references.
The Good:
- Great 8-bit visual style with many customisable settings
- Rocking chiptune sound track
- Great fun in short bursts
- Some great nostalgic references to 80's games and movies
- Some great mini-games
The Bad:
- References... So.. Many.. References
- Often not very funny
- Sprites far too small
- Becomes Repetitive very quickly
