Line #12 VideoGame/ShakedownHawaii


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shakedown_hawaii.png]]
2	''Shakedown: Hawaii'', developed by Canadian studio Vblank Entertainment, is the spiritual sequel to ''Videogame/RetroCityRampage''. It was released on May 7th, 2019 for Platform/MicrosoftWindows on Platform/EpicGamesStore, Platform/PlayStation4, Platform/PlayStationVita, Platform/Nintendo3DS and Platform/NintendoSwitch, followed by ports on July 9th, 2020 for the Platform/{{Wii}} and August 2020 for the Platform/WiiU (along with a Windows release via Platform/{{Steam}}). [[https://www.vblank.com/20200626_sh_wii.php And yes, you really are reading these last two consoles and dates correctly.]] The game uses same gameplay and graphic style as its predecessor (though where ''Retro City'' aimed for an 8-bit aesthetic, ''Shakedown'' tries to emulate the games of the 16-bit era), but the story this time leans less towards {{parody}}, and more heavily towards {{satire}}.
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4	Taking place 30 years after ''Retro City Rampage'', it stars an old, overweight (soon to be) CorruptCorporateExecutive in a quest to save his floundering company via crooked business practices aided by his son and his hired gun, in 16-bit graphics and UsefulNotes/{{Synthwave}} soundtrack.
5	----
6	!!This game contains examples of:
7	* AnachronismStew: See Retro Universe below.
8	* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: The game will occasionally switch characters to focus on The CEO's attempt to rebuild his company, his son Scooter's GTA-esque street crime levels and Al, the "consultant" used to settle affairs overseas whose stages are purely combat oriented.
9	* BadassBystander:
10	** Some civilians will retaliate with handguns or baseball bats if you attack them.
11	** Some cashiers will fight you head-on during Shakedowns.
12	* ButtMonkey: "Chad" AKA "MC Balm Drop" is this to highly exaggerated levels. First he was roped into faking gameplay video to promote "Gamer Cola" and then after having a rather stable shift job, got roped into doing crime with Scooter and Al for "publicity". The last you see of him is escaping Hawaii as a wanted criminal.
13	* CapitalismIsBad: The game is not subtle at all about how this is its main message, being about every single dirty, underhanded, and predatory trick modern {{Mega Corp}}s use to skirt around the law and government regulations, making their products worse to cut costs while also inflating prices, creating monopolies, and generally conning and fleecing their customers.
14	* CardboardPrison: Some stores try to drop the person shaking them down into a "Loss Prevention Holding Unit" after they attempt their shakedown. However, they are dreadfully easy to break out of.
15	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: The protagonist soon has to resort to this in order to quickly save his business. [[EvilVersusEvil Not that the opponents and the world at large are any better, though.]]
16	* CosmicDeadline: After being undercut and tricked by the system multiple times as a way to deliver satire on modern capitalism, as the last arc hits, the confrontation with Featherbottom and the Cartel began and resolved very quickly to the way of the ending.
17	* CrapsackWorld: Everything in the world exist only to drain people out of their money with various schemes. For instance, every single food and drink seems to be artificial, laced with preservatives, or filled with cost-cutting measures, common video game consoles are overloaded with advertising, so is the internet, also any tech gadgets not only cost a fortune but are also served as a subscription... and how average people earn money in this world? If they're not into crime, WhiteCollarCrime or not like [[VillainProtagonist your protagonist]], they're into [[SoulSuckingRetailJob lowly retail jobs such as cashiers]]... in which you [[KickTheDog regularly intimidate and kick to submission for the sake of ownership]].
18	* DarkerAndEdgier: The game eschews pop-culture ReferenceOverdosed that adorns ''Retro City Rampage'' in favor of TakeThat toward modern MegaCorp business practices. The colors are more realistically tinted compared to the more colorful ''Retro City Rampage''.
19	* AnEntrepreneurIsYou: The main goal of the game is to TakeOverTheCity by buying up properties all over the island. Several of the businesses require you to perform a Shakedown on the owner in order to make them available for purchase. You can also unlock various multipliers such as false advertisement, credit cards and untested products to increase the values of the businesses. However your character doesn't actually get any spending money until you get the option to set a salary for yourself.
20	* EvilVersusEvil: None of the characters in the game are traditionally sympathetic.
21	* FelonyMisdemeanor: Some of the ways The CEO commits the titular shakedowns include things like beating up the cashier and destroying the merchandise, as well as things like clogging the toilet with paper towels and dancing obnoxiously near customers.
22	* ItWillNeverCatchOn: The CEO [[RunningGag often insists]] that video streaming is just a fad.
23	* KarmaHoudini: The CEO gets away with every dirty business trick in the book, [[spoiler:and he even gets a Humanitarian award by the end of the game!]]
24	** In terms of the three major rivals, [[spoiler:Tad escapes in a car and flees Hawaii before Al can kill him. In contrast, Featherbottom is hospitalized following a plot by The CEO to ensure he cannot buy out his company and the Cartel Leader is killed when Al storms his base.]]
25	* KnightOfCerebus: The Cartel. They're less humorous and more dangerous than [[SitcomArchnemesis Featherbottom]] or [[BigBadWannabe Tad]]; their Missions have the highest stakes; and [[spoiler:their Leader is the FinalBoss, and ruthless enough to warrant being KilledOffForReal (while Featherbottom and Tad are ruined and humiliated but still alive)]].
26	* {{Lootboxes}}: Satirized. They are transparently very useless.
27	* MajorityShareDictator: The CEO's rival, Featherbottom, obtains a 51% share in the company due to a buyout clause, and intends to oust him as soon as the next board meeting comes along.
28	* MegaCorp: Your goal, along with TakeOverTheCity.
29	* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: As the cover art helpfully shows us, our ageing CEO is quite fond of doing this to his competitors. With a rocket launcher.
30	-->'''The CEO:''' I'd like to make you an offer, to acquire this fine establishment...\
31	'''Rival CEO:''' ''(without looking up from his papers)'' Get out of my office, you clodhopping peasant. And tell the concierge that let you in that they are fired.\
32	'''The CEO:''' WOAH, WOAH! You haven't even heard my offer... ''(produces rocket launcher from {{Hammerspace}})'' THIS, is my offer!\
33	'''Rival CEO:''' ''(yelps in horror)''\
34	'''The CEO:''' That's right... Sign it! Right there!
35	* OnlySaneMan: Ron, The [=CEO=]'s aide, who constantly tells The CEO the scams he tries to pull are illegal. [[DownplayedTrope Mind you, he never once tries to actually stop him.]] Considering what would happen if he did, Ron probably wouldn't have a choice.
36	* PredatoryBusiness: But of course. Missions are basically all about having the protagonist use every dirty trick in the book to undermine and buy out his competitors, all the way up to outright extortion and AnOfferYouCantRefuse.
37	* {{Retraux}}: Now based on a 16-bit game.
38	* RetroUniverse: While tablets, streaming, Virtual Reality, and Augmented Reality exist in the game, diskettes, CRT television, and boxy cellphones are still commonplace.
39	* TheRival: Friggin' Featherbottom!
40	* ShoutOut:
41	** After you beat the final boss, you get text reading [[VideoGame/{{Broforce}} "Area Liberated!"]] There’s even an explosion in the next cutscene.
42	** The side-quest where Al is looting diamonds is called [[WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}} "In the Rough"]].
43	** The Spread Gun is a clear homage to the Spread Gun from the ''VideoGame/{{Contra}}'' series.
44	* ShownTheirWork: Much of the satire against shady business practices are spot-on, from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHX6tHdQGiQ printer companies over pricing and giving false low-ink alerts]], cartels controlling the [[https://www.economist.com/special-report/2004/07/15/the-cartel-isnt-for-ever diamond trade]], as well as [[https://www.businessinsider.com/us-avocado-consumption-helping-mexican-drug-cartels-border-guns-2020-2?r=US&IR=T many farms]] in South America.
45	* SystematicVillainTakedown: The final few missions center around removing the various rivals to Feeble Inc. [[spoiler:First, The CEO and his cohorts conspire to end Featherbottom's attempts to buy out Feeble Inc, then when Tad kidnaps Scooter a second time, The CEO sends Al to eliminate his gang to ensure they’re no longer a problem, and finally when the Cartel invades Hawaii to get back at The CEO for destroying their hideouts, Al is sent out to defeat their leader and force them to disband.]]
46	* TakeThat: Toward modern MegaCorp business practices.
47	* TaughtByExperience: Throughout the game, The [=CEO=] constantly gets scammed from everything, from food packaging to ads on his tablet. He then uses said scams to keep his business running. Smaller food packaging? Uses that on his bottle of terrible diet soda to increase revenue. Annoying Ads that causes him to think fiber sandals are what everyone wants? Finds out about Advertisement ID and uses it to sell his VHS.
48	* TookALevelInBadass:
49	** The CEO will go from a oafish old man to a brilliant and menacing CorruptCorporateExecutive through the course of the game.
50	** The three characters can upgrade themselves through surgery to run faster, jump long and take more damage. They're fairly expensive, but are easy to do on the CEO, as he can get a cut of his company. Scooter and Al will have to resort to robbing houses and stealing cars to get their money.
51	* VillainProtagonist: The main character is a ruthless [=CEO=] who isn't above fraud, extortion and murder if it turns a profit, but then again, so does [[EvilVsEvil everyone]] [[CrapsackWorld else]].

Context VideoGame / ShakedownHawaii