Shakedown Hawaii

 Switch
Shakedown Hawaii Image
Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 11 Critics What's this?

User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 28 Ratings

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  • Summary: Vblank's open world action heads to the tropics, in Shakedown: Hawaii. From the boardroom to the streets, Shakedown parodies big business and the white collar crimes that go alongside. Build your empire, monopolize the markets, and collaterally re-zone the island's destructible sandbox.

Trailer

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Shakedown: Hawaii - Nintendo Switch Trailer

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 11
  3. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. GameSpace
    May 7, 2019
    85
    Shakedown Hawaii one-ups Retro City Rampage in almost every way, and is most certainly a must-play on the Nintendo Switch.
  2. Switch Player
    May 20, 2019
    80
    Shakedown: Hawaii is one-part GTA and one-part capitalism simulator. Yet this combination provides an interesting power trip that also manages to act as a somewhat successful critique of the woes of contemporary business practices.
  3. Gamer.nl
    Jun 20, 2019
    80
    Not every part of Shakedown Hawaii gets the same amount of love, but as satire and classic GTA game, it is very convincing. The extreme high tempo and the big number of jokes make this game great from start to end.
  4. 4Players.de
    May 13, 2019
    77
    Thoroughly entertaining top-down-action reminiscent of the early GTAs. While the economy and industry elements are a welcome addition they stay superficial and could be connected to the core mechanics in a more coherent or more meaningful way.
  5. PLAY! Zine
    Jul 8, 2019
    75
    A worthy successor to the Retro City Rampage, this is a 16-bit pack full of action and explosions that destroy even the fourth wall and jump right into your heart. If you loved GTA and the 16-bit era, you will love this game.
  6. Pure Nintendo
    Jun 17, 2019
    75
    Regardless of how “intense” it is (or isn’t) Shakedown: Hawaii is still a fun, beautiful game, and I enjoyed my overall experience with it.
  7. Nintendo Life
    May 8, 2019
    60
    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.

See all 12 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 11
  3. Negative: 1 out of 11
  1. JCG
    May 10, 2019
    10
    A captivating, smart, and fun game with plenty of hours of entertainment value. Everyone that plays this game will enjoy the many pop cultureA captivating, smart, and fun game with plenty of hours of entertainment value. Everyone that plays this game will enjoy the many pop culture references weaved cleverly in the game. Vblank hit it out of the park with this one! I give this game my highest recommendation. This game won't disappoint you!… Expand
  2. HyperReal
    Sep 21, 2019
    10
    Shakedown Hawaii is a whimsical isomorphic 16-bit GTA style game that doesn't take itself seriously and it is glorious. It seems to me thatShakedown Hawaii is a whimsical isomorphic 16-bit GTA style game that doesn't take itself seriously and it is glorious. It seems to me that most of the people who reviewed this game poorly never manged to play it correctly in the first place. Shakedowns are only a very small part of the game. Play the story missions (they're hilarious), buy realestate, shake the S%!t out of people, be reckless, and destroy like there's no tomorrow. That's how you're supposed to play the game. They've added additional content since I played the game last and it looks great. My only complaint about the game is the brake noise. It's annoying at first but you eventually get used to it. And when you're running from the cops, you won't notice is at all. ;)… Expand
  4. EmuGamer
    May 9, 2019
    10
    The vibrant GTA-style game with some strategy elements. Absolutely love it!
  5. Jhena
    May 19, 2019
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Mir gefiel dieser Teil deutlich besser als der Vorgänger City Rampage. Ist zu lange her um zu sagen woran das liegt. Vielleicht hat das Spiel einfach einen falschen Tag bei mir erwischt. Jedenfalls stimmt hier einfach das Wesentliche. Es macht Spass und gute Laune. In letzter Zeit find ich Gewaltspiele nicht mehr so toll aber dieses Spiel macht das richtig. Es nimmt sich einfach nicht so ernst, dadurch zieht der Zynismus einen auch nicht runter sondern wirkt sogar witzig.

    Was mir nicht so gut gefällt ist, dass man das Geld, das man von der Firma in die eigenen Taschen abzweigt, zu langsam erhöht werden kann. Und scheinbar kann man das nur für den Ceo machen. Alle Upgrades für jeden Charakter zu kaufen ist für mich so zu grindig. Die Karte hat so gut wie keine Symbole und somit ist es sehr umständlich etwas zu finden, wie zum Beispiel den Tierarzt. Etwas schade ist, dass man zu schnell zu viel Geld hat um alle Gebäude mit allen Upgrades zu kaufen. Und die Upgrades für die über 400 Gebäude zu kaufen dauert viiiel zu lange. Das letzte Gebäude zu kaufen war irgendwie leicht erniedrigend. Jedes Gebäude zu kaufen sollte ein Hurra auslösen und nicht so eine Szene vor dem Kauf.

    Trotzdem macht es einfach richtig Laune die ganze Insel zu kaufen. Durch die gute Musik wird die Atmosphäre noch besser. Den Graphikstil find ich spitze und sehr charmant. Vieles lässt sich zerstören. Der Schwiefigkeitsgrad ist sehr angenehm nur ein paar Ladekabel waren etwas schwer zu finden. Eines ist IN einer Yacht drinne. Die ganz links unten. Hab das Spiel jetzt zu 100 prozent durch. Habe dafür fast 30 Stunden gebraucht. Geht aber natürlich deutlich schneller, gerade wenn man nur die Story durchspielen will. Ich finde das Spiel hat genau die richtige Länge. Die Dialoge und die Story an sich fand ich ganz witzig. Hab oft geschmunzelt.    … Expand
  6. Rpg89
    Jun 26, 2019
    9
    Fun game to play with campaign and mini quest to complete. Jump and bump on their heads the mario way
  7. Cranky_messiah
    May 21, 2019
    9
    This game is an absolute blast. Pure, unadulterated fun.
    Imagine a much more bright and vibrant 2D GTA, add in some business/property    This game is an absolute blast. Pure, unadulterated fun.
    Imagine a much more bright and vibrant 2D GTA, add in some business/property management features, and top it off with a great sense of humor, and this is what you get. Reviewers are really selling it short.
    Huge amount of content, endless things to do, and even just messing around with no real goal is a blast. Campaign and sandbox mode. Good writing and music, vibrant and colorful graphics. Just a joy to play.
    To be honest... i have much more fun playing this than i do playing GTA.    … Expand
  8. Hackeynut
    Jun 27, 2019
    4
    Honestly, this one is a bit of a dud for me and I'm surprised. It seems like a pretty big game, but it all feels shallow to an extremeHonestly, this one is a bit of a dud for me and I'm surprised. It seems like a pretty big game, but it all feels shallow to an extreme extent. Essentially you have a mediocre twin stick shooter piled onto a GTA clone. There are lots of new features from RCR, such as the entire economic side. Sadly, a few hours in, you'll have literal hundreds of millions of dollars and money won't matter anymore, yet your billionaire will continue to murder hapless rubes to get another 150 dollars out of a convenience store.

    Where the game is really let down is in the writing, which is extremely hack. The main character is the out of touch old guy who kills people. His playable son is the poser teenager who acts like a jerk at all times. Neither is interesting. Nor are the low hanging fruit jokes about video rentals, streaming, food labels or any other joke that has been done by a standup in the last 20 years with more success.

    For a game with so many cut scenes, you would think they'd be worth while, but they are not.

    This isn't to say there isn't fun to be had. Its still a GTA clone and that is amusing. But I expected a lot more. And I got a lot more, its just that the more isn't terribly good.    … Expand

See all 11 User Reviews

Trailers

Awards & Rankings

55
#55 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2019
68
#68 Most Shared Switch Game of 2019

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