Retro City Rampage

Beyond the addictive action, where RCR really shines is with its irreverent comedy and fan-service references. Expect to snort milk out of your nose when The Player randomly codecs a Solid Snake wannabe who responds in broken English. Even if you weren't gaming back then you'll get a grin when you're given a DeLorean and asked to run over 88 people to fill your Flax Combobulator. [December 2012, p75]

If you grew up in the '90s, you'll easily get $15 out of it just for the trip down memory lane. Younger players who like open-world games and have an appreciation for that time, even if it's just for ironic purpose, will like it as well.

It's an adventure built of other adventures, then, and its originality comes from the manner in which everything comes together. If you love old games - and old movies and all that other old jazz - there's a good chance you're going to love this, too. It has an ancient heart, shot full of bullets and criss-crossed with tyre treads.

The passion is clear, the charm magnetic and the gameplay enjoyable, but Retro City Rampage does fall back on weak gags a little too often to achieve greatness. [Issue#228, p.80]

Joking about how players have to ride from point A to B all time, is not funny, it is bad game design. You can argue for ages about the quality of the jokes and gags, but lets not forget that this high-speed roller-coaster of parodies has some unique and interesting gameplay mechanics to offer. [February 2013, p.94]

For all its snark and irreverence, Retro City Rampage is pretty earnest in terms of what it's all about: take a gander at all the rampage events and the dizzying array of display modes available, and it all becomes clear. If you have a soft spot in your heart for classic games and an appetite for open-world destruction, you'll be able to overlook the knee-slappers and mechanical mishaps that occasionally mar this expansive pastiche.

A walk, drive, and jump down a whole city of memory lanes, but don't expect any of them to take you anywhere new. [Dec 2012]

The ride's a little rough at times, but Retro City Rampage's blend of open-world action and 8-bit style is goofy, novel fun.

The rampant nostalgia is incredibly endearing, and it'll be very appreciated by lovers of that period in American pop culture. But games like Bit.Trip and Meat Boy are better than Retro City Rampage, and it's because they don't just emulate classic games, they move past them. RCR instead submerges itself in an ocean of retro references, but forgets to come up for air often enough to make the game all that fun to play.

This is the weird thing about Retro City Rampage. The game is gorgeous with its bright 8-bit visuals and fun to play when you're just roaming the streets and blasting baddies. It's that core that won so many IGN editors over at PAX and other trade shows -- that core of wandering the NES scene playing GTA. But when it's applied to a full-on game, the gameplay wears thin.

A "collection of memories" that never truly shines.