Shakedown: Hawaii

I don't regret the three bucks I spent on sale. Finished it in about 12 hours, no replay value, but it was fun while it lasted.
Solid GTA 2 style gameplay. If you liked that, you'll like this, not much more to add there.
The humor isn't going to hit for some people but 'out-of-touch-boomer deals with modern world' works for me. The arc with the wanna-be-rapper/failson has been done better elsewhere, but it was minor enough it didn't break anything.
The property buying mechanics are mostly a progress bar. You need to engage enough to buy the plot relevant properties, but it doesn't really do anything beyond that. I never needed to visit a gun store with the ambient pickups available and I think that's the only business that does something. I'm not mad about it, it was fun to watch the map turn bought, and I did 100% the property buying, but I felt disappointed there was no in-game acknowledgement beyond the achievement popping. But that was really my only disappointment with it, other than that it landed pretty much exactly on expectations as advertised.

I recommend this game with one BIG and PULSING "IF".
You will probably enjoy it IF you played Retro City Rampage and liked it.

When compared to RCR, this game is rather boring.
Gone are the references to other games and their mechanics, and in place we have... late stage capitalism.
Instead of the player using Sonic shoes to press a trafic light button, we have a guy going to the store and learning about shrinkflation and targeted ads.

The story is about a guy stuck in the 80s, who discovers that all his business are losing revenue to other businesses, so he has to rebuild his empire by learning about capitalism strategies like MLMs, targeted ads, sponsored content, store credit cards, accumulating points that expire too quickily, ingredient replacements and pro-enviromental choices that so happen to reduce his costs.
The story is supposed to be comical, but its all stuff that actually happens today, right now.
There are two other characters that you control, but it feels they are there just to parody GTA 5.
The ending is kinda meh, as you "defeat" other main villains over the game, and the final boss if a guy that shows up from nowhere. Then you get a prize and the game ends.

The gameplay is mostly the same as RCR, but missing a few features like powerups. For some reason, stomping and the spread shot from Contra are still there.
There are several weapons, but most of the time you will only use two or three of them, because they are either too weak or too dangerous to use due self-damage.
Either way, eventually enemies start to get bulletproof and you have to melee them or use explosive weapons.

You can say the "main" gameplay is the business management, but there isn't much to it. You get money daily, then you use that money to buy more businesses or to add multipliers to existing ones like MLM, credit cards, gift cards, stealth ads and more, so you get more money to buy more businesses.
As long you buy stuff everytime you get paid, you will finish the game with all businesses.
And no idea how "daily" works in this game. Sometimes it only paid after missions, sometimes it didn't, sometimes it paid after a few minutes of running around, sometimes it didn't pay after several minutes of standing still.

All minigames from RCR are gone. The only thing left is glutes workout session, where you press a button at the right time and don't get anything if you pass.

Graphicaly, the game looks very nice. There isn't much to add to it.

To sum it up, the game is good, but rather boring when compared to RCR. By removing the gaming parody, it becomes a basic GTA demake.
Looks good, plays ok, still prefer RCR. Buy RCR.

Excellent game for short or longer sessions if you so like. Advances quite a lot the mechanics and game play compared to Retro City Rampage. After 7 hours it's been a blast all around. Plenty of stuff done and so much to do. Note here this game is what could be described as a 'chore' game so if you are hyper allergic to having a huge list of stuff constantly on your ToDo lists then reconsider. People who played original GTA1 and 2 games feel right at home here as difficulty is not even close to how these old classics played.
Some negatives lift up the characters and lacking in story department compared to Retro City Rampage. I don't agree at all and wonder just how rosy glasses they must have had when playing RCR. I recently completed RCR and even though i must admit it's linear story and simplified world had it's funny moments this one blows it out of the water. Constant funny 'forced' humor is the name of the game here. This also being a negative to some, to me it is genuinely funny once you get even a bit into the endless torrent of new weird situations and characters. It sticks as it is systematic. Weird at first perhaps, cheap even but the flow it is consistent. I am laughing here for real to these weird mission cut-scenes with the protagonist wearing pink and doing yoga mini games or cursing at ads on websites or Adobe style forced subscriptions. At this stage it seems like an endless barrage of new stuff coming at you. Just 'who designs mad stuff like this?' is a question that comes to mind. Someone sure has a really weird sense of humor out there.
Got this for a very deep discount. Any price basically is worth it but pick your price point and dive in if you can stomach this kind of chaotic game play. And dont forget the original Retro City. It is still a good game and even was recently updated.

Fun game, lots of things to do, good music, funny dialogue, it's in ways like Retro Rampage but a bit different as here you work your way to be the best in town, business wise.

A great parody.
Lots of stuff to do, lots of fun to have.

Fun and addictive gameplay, nice retro soundtrack as you build your empire. could not stop myself playing all day.

For me, having just 100% Retro City Rampage I was immediately impressed by all the quality of life changes they made to their second game. You feel the weight of all the vehicles while turning or avoiding collisions. Environments inside and out are also quite destructive, something the first game lacked. And while I could list particular pros and cons what I will say instead is this. Whatever critiques I had for Retro City Rampage were resolved and fine tuned in their second game. It is satisfying to see how much they've improved and how certain I am that any critiques will be acknowledged prior to whatever they decide their third release will be. I can't recommend this game enough when it goes on sale. Apparently it was also the last game released on Wii.