E3 2017 – Hands on with Shakedown: Hawaii

E3 is a great event, there are so many games there that going hands on, or even seeing the entire show floor is impossible, which is why an event like MIX LA is perfect, it is a space for indie developers to show off their games in a much more relaxed space, with way less crowds and the occasional free drink, this year, the first game I had to play there was Shakedown Hawaii.

I admit it, I never played the other game from developer Vblank Entertainment, Retro City Rampage, I just never got around to it, but with nothing but praise for the game, I knew I had to check out the sequel/successor and the good news, it was playable on the Switch.

The game plays much like the old school GTA games from the PlayStation one days, with the familiar tank controls included, but if you want a more modern driving style, you can change them around. The game starts out with you, the big boss of a global company learning via a news report that his business is almost completely broke, it seems his desire to stick with video rentals and other dead business models have impacted the company, but no more than spending large amounts of cash on things he did not need, so after finding out how bad it is, he once again decides to head out into the cut throat world of business.

The game has multiple missions that you can do, so thankfully you do get to choose your direction and while there is a lot to be said about the graphics, they are very appealing after all, it’s the gameplay that I liked. The simple nature of the game, not that it is bland or anything like that, but it does not try to overexplain everything, nor does it throw you right in the deep end, helps keep the pacing up and the game moving along, my time playing it was short, but it was fun. Of course, if you wanted to do something a little different, you can play the challenge mode, where you are given a series of scores or targets to beat and the one I played had me attempting to defeat as many people as possible, in order to collect their money and then reach the target amount was fun, it was as the name suggests a challenge. Multiple attempts saw me fail at this, so when the game comes out, you can be sure I am going to do more of these and pass.

While still aways off, the game did play very well, there was no stutters to be found nor any game crashing bugs and when asked the developer mentioned that the game is mostly complete, they just wanted to make sure it was a polished and as complete as they can make it before they release it.

The game does not have a release date yet, but it is on track for a 2017 release, at this stage, but until it is released, you can always enjoy their past game, which is something I will need to do.