Retro City Rampage (Multi-Platform)

If you can say nothing else about Retro City Rampage, you can say this: It has the best chiptune diarrhea sequence ever committed to 8-bits.

Rampage, a doubly parodic fusion of early Nintendo and open-world gaming, is packed with—no, scratch that, almost entirely made of—references both classic and modern. Hence the Dark Knight-inspired “Jester” and “Biffman” characters, a Paperboy-style mission supplied by a Doc Louis (à la Punch-Out) lookalike, scores of cameos from current indie developers such as Phil Fish, and the aforementioned digital bowel trouble that opens up a Saved by the Bell chapter. Plus so many, many more.

There are plenty of gags aimed at open-world grandaddy Grand Theft Auto, too, like an intentionally slow, on-foot car tailing sequence where you need coffee to stay awake. But, despite the obvious satire that comes with combining gaming’s innocent past with its ultra-violent future, Retro City Rampage is actually quite similar to the earlier 2D GTA games.

As “Player” (yes, that’s the character’s name), you can steal cars, murder citizens and police alike with weapons ranging from pistols and shotguns to robotic claws and proton packs, try your hand at challenging score-based “Rampages,” and generally trash the cozy little 8-bit city of Theftropolis in O.G. GTA fashion.

As in any game grounded in an open world, the setting is what really ends up stealing the show. Theftropolis, despite the forced humor of its name, is as engaging a world as any San Andreas or Liberty City (or Hong Kong, for that matter). From manic foot chases down alleys with police to quiet, relatively murder-free drives past punningly named storefronts, the experience of the city as a whole alludes to classic 8-bit gaming and engenders moments of levity without shoving nostalgia and jokes down the player’s (“Player’s”?) throat. Paired with the simple-but-effective combat, it’s more humorous homage than full-on parody.

If only the same could be said for the mission-based content. Retro City Rampage has an all-or-nothing, home run approach to humor. When it works, it really works. To wit, again: chiptune diarrhea. But all too often it seems like where the open-world of Theftropolis captures the subtle feeling of 8-bit gaming indulging in open-world wanderlust, the story and side missions are more about making recognizable characters say dirty things, and shoving in as many See What I Did Theres as possible.