Retro City Rampage

 PC
Metascore
71

Mixed or average reviews - based on 25 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 25
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 25
  3. Negative: 1 out of 25
  1. Multiplayer.it
    Oct 18, 2012
    73
    An 8 bit version of Grand Theft Auto packed with hilarious situations and tons of references from the golden age of videogames that soon has to deal with its own limits.
  2. GameStar
    Dec 14, 2012
    70
    I definitely had fun with Retro City Rampage, that much is clear.
  3. CD-Action
    Nov 29, 2012
    70
    In terms of gameplay RCR is rather simple, but it's a wonderful voyage to the land of classic games – all main missions are inspired by at least one oldie and there are plenty of references to both retro gaming and popular culture of the 1980s. [CD-Action 13/2012, p.72]
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  5. VideoGamer
    Oct 17, 2012
    70
    Here's a game that raises a glass to the past, and while Retro City Rampage is never as good as the strength of its references there's still plenty here for lovers of nostalgia to get involved in.
  6. Machinima
    Oct 16, 2012
    70
    Though the variety of gameplay gives Retro City Rampage a broad scope, the redundancy of driving back and forth quickly becomes stale.
  7. GameSpot
    Oct 13, 2012
    70
    Like the cold response Marty McFly got from his failed attempt to introduce 80s-style guitar licks to the people of the 1950s, a game like Retro City Rampage might have been too much for players of the 1980s to handle. But now, its time has come, and it's well worth experiencing, warts and all.
  8. Metro GameCentral
    Oct 15, 2012
    60
    Not an especially good game but as an interactive compendium of pop culture references it's impossible not to be impressed.
  9. Polygon
    Oct 11, 2012
    60
    Retro City Rampage is like a trifle, one sugary layer upon layer upon layer. It's incredibly sweet and delicious, but the longer time you spend with the thing, the more the sugary goodness mashes into one consistent and familiar flavor -- not as great as any one of its individual parts.
  10. IGN
    Oct 15, 2012
    53
    There's plenty to like about Retro City Rampage from its nods to our childhoods to its easy to get behind gameplay to its arcade mini-games, but the story -- the main hook of the title -- just doesn't stand up.
  11. GameSpy
    Oct 19, 2012
    50
    At first, it's all very charming, but with the frustrations that come with difficulty spikes and often clunky controls, it gets old very quick. We don't play games for the same reason we go to museums, and RCR makes that frustratingly clear.

Awards & Rankings

70
#70 Most Shared PC Game of 2012

User Reviews

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User Score
7.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 97 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 59 out of 97
  2. Mixed: 29 out of 97
  3. Negative: 9 out of 97
  1. ActRaiser
    Oct 15, 2012
    4
    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 theAfter 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 old 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 damped 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 et al all had big chunky graphics. When entering buildings things become worse still, with the game display the size of an actual Gameboy screen it is hard to see what is what. Sometimes I had to focus for a second or two just to find where my character was amongst the tiny box and furniture sprites.

    The music score is cool though. 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 or so 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, that 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 polished free browser game. Like one of those awful Epic / Scary movie parody flicks the whole thing is a collection of skits thrown together to make a whole. Unfortunately it just gets boring quite quickly, and when the gags aren't even funny, it becomes tiresome to play.

    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 in a 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, then find something deeper, and better to play.

    You are much better off getting your NES fix from the excellent, and free, PC game Abobo's Big Adventure, which will give you an hours worth of fun, and is far more humorous, and true to it's reference material than RCR.    … Full Review »
  2. AgZarp
    Oct 10, 2012
    10
    This game is everything you've ever played. Every game you've ever loved. And more. At first I was slightly apprehensive about spendingThis game is everything you've ever played. Every game you've ever loved. And more. At first I was slightly apprehensive about spending £10 on a game that, on the surface, may seem like something you'd find on a flash games website. But then I started playing. I'm not going into detail for fear of giving anything away, but if you love retro/arcade games and you're sitting around wondering if it's worth it: It is.… Full Review »
  3. Noldster
    Oct 9, 2012
    9
    If you grew up loving games like River City Ransom, Metal Gear, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the NES than you owe it to yourself to buyIf you grew up loving games like River City Ransom, Metal Gear, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the NES than you owe it to yourself to buy this game. The 80's video game and pop culture references are everywhere. I play a lot of classic console games but many times the gameplay does not live up to the nostalgia. Retro City Rampage brings back all of the wonderful feelings of gaming in the 80's but with enough modern gameplay enhancements to keep players feeling engaged. There's even a simple cover system. This works great on PC with an XBOX controller (buttons are auto-mapped and displayed on screen). This is a great gaming experience that pays homage to the best games of my generation.… Full Review »
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