Shakedown: Hawaii

A brisk free-roaming action game with a clicker-ish heart.

Despite that, I’m left with a sense of unfulfilled ambition. Shakedown: Hawaii presents itself as a unique real estate-centric twist on open-world action, but it seems satisfied to stick with a cheap rental.

Bite-sized missions and an engaging empire-building layer make Shakedown: Hawaii a great destination – whether you have minutes or hours to spare

It's a small price to pay for low-stakes arcade open world antics. Shakedown: Hawaii might play similarly to Retro City Rampage, but it takes place in a markedly different world. It's more than enough to warrant giving both games a shot, and a worthy successor to a now-seven-year-old game.

Despite some repetitive mission design, Shakedown: Hawaii manages to entertain in much the same way as its predecessor. It swaps out pop culture references for jibes at the modern world, and it's an angle that slots right into the GTA-esque design. The business management aspects are what will keep you hooked, with each day bringing you more and more cash to splash. Its brand of action is simple but satisfying, and there are plenty of ways to enjoy the game if you're after some breezy open world antics -- just don't expect it to blow your socks (and sandals) off.

VBlank Entertainment's second GTA parody isn't the close-to-perfect sequel we expected, but it's still a decent game. Despite all of its numerous shortcomings, there's still some fun to be had when you're not toiling through menus, but it's hard not be disappointed when you consider VBlank's previous work; hopefully, like Retro City Rampage, we'll see a better DX version in the future. As it stands, Shakedown: Hawaii is full of potential, but it's overshadowed by monotony.

If you really like the open-world, GTA-style games and haven't grown tired of really old graphics technology, there is some fun to be had with Shakedown: Hawaii. Otherwise, you might want to look for a more robust game to squeeze some more life out of you Nintendo 3DS.

Shakedown: Hawaii does many things right - its sense of humour, the 16-bit inspired graphics and the appeal of its game world are undeniably part of this group. Then there are other things which the game does not succeed in the same way, such as when it comes to keep up its pace interesting and compelling, mostly due to how repetitive its missions become and to the lack of sense of progression between the objectives. All factors considered, Shakedown: Hawaii is still a fun and enjoyable game, which could have been even better.

Shakedown Hawaii was absolutely worth the long wait it took to get here. From superb score attack challenges, a good story mode and just a bunch of stuff to do and fun to be had, Shakedown Hawaii ended up feeling just a bit better than the original RCR thanks to a bit more focus.

Shakedown: Hawaii delivers a unique brand of humor and some solid arcade action in a world players will love to destroy and then build back up with their own brand plastered right on it.