Described as a “top-to-bottom remaster of the original game,” Retro City Rampage: DX was announced today for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Vita. Releasing on November 11 in North America and November 12 in Europe, it will include cross-buy and cross-save across all three systems, with PlayStation Plus members getting it for $7.99/€7.99 during launch week ($9.99 for everyone else).
Here’s what you can expect from this new DX version of Retro City Rampage, which also includes the original RCR “for the purists:”
Missions
- Every single mission has been touched up, offering a better experience overall. Certain missions have been edited to improve pacing. In Death Cam VHS, for example, you won’t need to clear so many enemies during the melee section. During the car dodge tutorial, you won’t need to jump so much. It’s little changes like this which just make for a smoother ride. They’ve also been hand tuned to work with the new 3X zoom mode, making the new PS Vita experience the best it can be.
Controls and Weapons
- Controls have been tweaked. You can now jump immediately after firing weapons, making dodging enemies even easier. Weapons have been rebalanced, some boasting more damage, many with more satisfying effects. The cars and explosions blast more effects too – but purists can still stick to the classic “8-BIT” for more authentic ’80s experience.
- A new weapon select screen can be toggled, pausing the game mid-action and enabling you to more easily switch weapons when your inventory’s full. It also supports touch on the PS Vita.
- The PS4 version also has optional vibration support in case you want to feel the pixels thud under your pixel tires.
Arcade Challenges and Trophies
- The weapon updates noticeably improve the Arcade Challenges, but many challenges have been reworked themselves as well. Second-Rate Sprees, for example, now run 30 seconds instead of 60, tightening rounds up to dethrone your friends from the leaderboards.
- Two completely separate sets of leaderboards are now included, so ‘RCR:DX’ players won’t be facing off directly against players of the original ‘RCR’ mode.
- With the freedom to rework things from top to bottom, ‘DX’ was able to boast a brand new trophy set too, which is now easier to 100%.
Hijacking Weapons
- The city now has more to do, populated with weapon trucks. Getting the right tool for the job is now a lot more convenient. You can purchase your weapons or try your luck and attempt to hijack them. Spelunky shop keeper style, so to speak.
Losing the Cops
- The wanted level system and police AI have been deepened to create more of a cat and mouse metagame. Instead of running, if you stop to fight, clearing the screen of cops will help get them off your tail. Defeating three or more cops will spawn a Cop Coin which lowers your wanted level. You can still also spray your vehicle, find coins, or change your look with a new haircut, but this makes it much more fun and convenient. It’s balanced out with slightly more challenging police. If want to make things even more challenging, you can disable the coin drops from the pause menu.
Minimap, Touch and UI
- The new HUD brings a larger minimap with it, which now displays more than just missions and challenges, also weapon, spray and power-up shops, as well as enemies. You can also set it to display other locations, such as specific shops. The larger minimap makes navigating the city much easier as you’re able to see all of the roads and alleys ahead, choosing the optimal route to a destination.
- You can zoom into the minimap with a single button press now, as well as set waypoints. The entire front end and UI have been redone for the PS Vita, including touch support.
Parking Garages
- ‘DX’ brings massive parking garages to Theftropolis. You can park one of every vehicle equipped however you like (that’s 54 parking spots!), and access them from any other garage around the city like a vehicle teleporter!
Jukebox
- For chiptune fanatics, ‘DX’ now includes a 147 track music jukebox, enabling you to queue up hours of the incredible music composed by Jake ‘virt’ Kaufman, Freaky DNA and Norrin Radd.
The PlayStation Scoop!
- Owners of the original Retro City Rampage for PS3 and PS Vita can transfer their save games to the new DX version via Cross-Save. The new DX version is a separate purchase, but keep in mind that with DX, you’re getting the PS4 version, a brand new Trophy set and new leaderboards. Owners of the original RCR who transfer their save game to DX will also earn a shiny elite star next to their score on the leaderboards.
To avoid confusion, the original Retro City Rampage will be de-listed from the PlayStation Store and replaced with the DX version. If you bought the original RCR, you won’t be affected by this and can re-download it at any time.
If all this wasn’t enough, “More Retro City Rampage surprises are still to be announced in the coming month. A pretty big one, in fact!”
[Source: US PS Blog, EU PS Blog]
