Just as gamers ready themselves for the next Grand Theft Auto — a series whose violence and visuals have grown more realistic with each version — comes a passion project that heads in the other direction. Think of Retro City Rampage as a sort of de-make of Rockstar’s big-budget crime saga. As “The Player” (itself an allusion to GTA III’s nameless hero), you roam an 8-bit, open-world city full of drivable cars, wandering pedestrians, stores to enter, and jillions of things to do.
Considering the game was almost single-handedly built by one person — indie developer Brian Provinciano — it’s startling how deep its content well goes. Theftropolis City is a bustling burg with streets, parks, beaches, neighborhoods, nicely varied pixel people, and police who’ll chase you relentlessly if they see you jack a vehicle or hurt a bystander. You’ll battle them a lot, especially if you tackle one of the dozens of GTA-style rampage scenarios, all daring you to slaughter innocents using a rocket launcher, shotgun, bionic arm, or other weapon.
The real meat of the game, though, are its 60-odd story missions. Retro’s goofy story pits you against Dr. Von Buttnick and other baddies, but it’s really just an excuse to link together what must be the biggest collection of ’80s/’90s videogame and pop-culture references we’ve ever seen. You’ll fetch items for Doc (a spoof on the Back to the Future character), battle Bionicop (Robocop), barter with Mr. Balding (Saved by the Bell principal Mr. Belding), and even borrow a jetpack from Rocketeer star Billy Campbell himself…and that’s just a fraction of what to expect.
As in the GTA games, fighting police makes your wanted level climb even higher. Eventually, you’ll face tanks and soldiers.Some cameos are more throwaway than others, but Retro’s at its best when it cleverly tweaks the gameplay as part of the parody. One of our favorite missions has you tailing Biffman (i.e., Batman) back to his secret hideout so you can figure out his identity. Along the way you have to stop at coffee shops to get caffeine so you won’t fall asleep, because following cars in open-world games is, as we know, boring. Then, once you get to a Wayne-like manor, you go on a 2D quest to search for the hidden entrance to the Biffhole (Batcave). It’s inspired hilarity all around.
In other missions, the gameplay emulates Smash Bros., Pitfall, old-school 3D racers, 2D platformers…even stealth games. Besides keeping the action fresh, this diversity makes Retro the ultimate love letter to classic gaming, without introducing too much confusion. Failing a mission a few times brings up a hint screen with helpful advice (a feature that wasn’t in PS3/PC versions of the game), and mid-mission checkpoints prove useful in some tougher scenarios.
This Paperboy parody has you flinging adult mags into mailboxes.Some of the more GTA-like elements of the game, on the other hand, don’t work as well. Driving is often annoyingly herky-jerky — many cars accelerate too fast while braking on a dime — and neither the in-game coin-ops nor the gambling are particularly fun. While it’s neat that you can modify your character via tattoos, haircuts, and plastic surgery, the effect of these changes is lessened by the dinkiness of your character onscreen.
More generally, we found Retro an entertaining game but not an addictive one we wanted to replay. As weird or perverse as it may sound, we suspect some of that has to do with the game’s 8-bit art style: a big part of GTA’s guilty-pleasure crime spree is that you’re doing illegal, outlandish things (and getting away with it) in a world that otherwise feels real. Abusing bystanders, for instance, is part of the draw — that’s why there are rampage missions — but running over innocents here just feels like crunching pixels. The city, too, is pleasing to look at, but we never felt like just driving around and exploring it — something we love doing in GTA games.
As a gleeful tribute to gaming and pop-culture past, though, Retro City Rampage is definitely recommended. It may not rival the series it most closely follows, but it still offers a unique and gorgeously presented experience.
Some scenarios (like this boss battle) put you in confined spaces.PUBLISHER: D3Publisher • DEVELOPER: Vblank Entertainment • ESRB: Teen • MULTIPLAYER: None • ACHIEVEMENTS: Take some work • COST: 800 Microsoft Points ($10) • RELEASE DATE: January 2, 2013
+ GTA in 8-bit = incredibly unique and ambitious.
+ Inspired parody in spots; cars have radio stations with hours of chiptune music.
– Some GTA elements are problematic; irritating driving; not as absorbing as we’d hoped.
? What buried secrets don’t we know about yet?
