This Memorial Day weekend I will be headed out to the Shriners Auditorium in Wilmington MA as part of the press covering Gary Sohmers Pop Culture Expo for the IssuesProgram.com. I can only imagine that the sites sounds and aromas will flood memories into my conscious like the canals that flood Bravos. It will bring me straight back to my childhood. Just thinking about going already has started to trigger those feelings.

I can remember the Delicious Smell of hot dogs and popcorn wafting through the whole auditorium throughout the entire day. Even after scarfing down enough of the food from the concession stand to put down the largest of men on thanksgiving, this slightly large 10 year old little boy still had enough energy to walk the isles and stands for hours on end, browsing the endless booths of antique toys, Countless boxes comic books, tables fully laden with cases of baseball and football hero’s.

I remember this was where I saw my first Fangoria Magazine an issue with The Creature from the Black Lagoon on the cover seemingly staring back at me with his black eyes. My Dad and brothers scattered through the building no doubt just as lost in the awe of their own childhood memories or future fantasies. I remember my dad with his set of cards “Cars from the Future” that he had kept since he was a kid and how he was promised flying cars by the year 2000. One brother thumbing through his full set of Star Trek cards packed nicely in his 3*9 binder and the other reading his new Boris the bear comic while sitting in the bleachers completely shutting out the buzz of all the fans dancing around the tables of celebrity and sport icons from throughout the past few decades.

This year Gary Sohmers has Brought with him to the Shriners Auditorium in Wilmington MA the Pop Culture Expo an All Star line up of celebrities for pictures and autographs and events that are too numerous to list here but of course you should check out the full line up for yourself. You are almost guaranteed to find a person or two you are a super fan of and one or two didn’t even know you were a fan of. To me there is no better way to spend a weekend than to go out and meet some of the people that have entertained me for so many years. In attendance will range from Pete Best (the Beatles) to Kristian Nairn and Esme Bianco (Hodor and Roz on Game of Thrones) to Ernie Hudson and Ecto1 (Ghost Busters). If Movies Music and HBO not your thing come to check out voice actors Billy West (Futurama, Ren and Stimpy), Rachel Robison (Final Fantasy) and Tom Wayland (Pokemon, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). Still not fully sold on coming to the event yet? I know my dad wasn’t but once I mentioned to him that Mark Goodard (Lost In Space) and John Provost (Lassie) where going to be there, that was all he needed to be in. I think he was just playing hard to get but was actually super psyched that I invited him to come to the show for the day and I know that he is thinking about all those trips out to the Shriners Auditorium when me and my brothers where just kids.

The Guest stars are just the beginning of the attractions there will also be vendors and activities to fill your day with plenty of entertainment and a concessions stand to keep you fed I hope you will join me and the IssuesProgram.com this Memorial day weekend at the Shriners Auditorium in Wilmington MA for PCX 2014. Please keep checking back with the issuesprogram.com for our continuing coverage leading up to and through this event.

Talk a bit about the foundation of Pop culture, How do you define its origins?

In my opinion, Pop Culture began with Mark Twain and PT Barnum … both became incredibly popular with the public as entertainment … anything that is cultural and popular could qualify as Pop Culture … so many facets that it is now all-encompassing.

What prompted you to create an amazing event like Pop culture expo?

Having produced hundreds of events over the past 409 years, the time was right to merge all the fun aspects of Pop Culture into an event that fans and families would enjoy, where you could meet a diverse selection of celebrities and spend a day being totally entertained.

What are some of challenges you have faced along the way creating this event?

The Fan Convention marketplace has become dominated by corporate events like out of town traveling events that care little about the fan and the way too numerous overly crowded hotel shows, so the challenge has been creating something different that includes technology to ease long waits in lines and a large enough venue so that everyone is comfortable … we have succeeded with both of our goals.

How has the role of pop culture evolved over time in our society and the global society?

The Internet is a grandchild and evolutionary being of Pop Culture … everything on the Internet can become popular and the comedy and tragedy, the good, the bad and the ugly, all have a chance to make a permanent impact on the world and the future … creating pop culture appears to now be as important as appreciating it.

As a kid what are some of the first shows, books, films, music/radio, etc that really moved you?

I am from the first TV generation and have seen black and white merge into color, witnessed the acceptance of records, cassettes, 8 tracks, CDs, DVDs, downloads and streaming as a progression based on demand from the market I was a part of … and took the time during the past 5 decades to study, immerse and prosper from my love of Pop Culture … I am a Disney geek and a Dr. Seuss Nerd … I am a walking cartoon and know the values of 100,000 useless objects.

Working on the Antique roadshow must be an interesting experience could you talk a bit about how you got involved with it and some of the more interesting things you have found while doing the show?

I appeared for 13 seasons as an appraiser of Collectibles, Toys and Pop Culture on the program and had fun meeting people and sharing my knowledge with the viewing public … some of my favorite appearances are constantly in repeats including the Frank Zappa Oil Painting, Beatles Butcher Cover,, star Wars action figures, Hot Wheels, and the collection of original Peanuts art by Charles Schulz.

What are a few things you personally look forward to the most at the PCX?

I will be hosting the Voice Actors Script Read and hope that everyone comes out to see/hear the greatest voices in an amazing presentation. I also look forward to seeing the impact the NAO Robot has on solving problems for children with learning disabilities in the future .. this robot is very important to me, the show and to families with Autistic children.

The Pop Culture Expo May 24-25 at the Shriners Auditorium in Wilmington, MA
Buy Tickets Here

So, I was talking with a good friend and fellow member of my ESH family B3’s King-Baby-Duck about what I should do for my first review as an official member of ESH. He, knowing my taste, said he has the perfect game for my first review that could take that love for the past and mix it with my love for blatant destruction and modern convenience. He suggested Brian Provinciano’s Retro City Rampage recently released for Wii Ware. I had not gotten a chance to play it yet, so it was the perfect game to get my feet wet with reviewing. What a ride it was playing this insanely fun game.

Now this being my first written review I will explain how I am going to do things. I judge on 4 vague categories, I will explain them below.

My overall score will be out of 10, but the game will be judged for what it’s trying to accomplish. To give a few examples: I would give Super Mario 3, Knights of the Old Republic 1, Arkham City, Pac-man, and Tecmo Bowl all 10 out of 10. That rating is regardless of the genre or age it was released. It’s just what I feel they were trying to accomplish with a game, how successful they were, and how much I enjoyed it.

Enough foreplay. Here we go!

Atmosphere (Story/Style/Graphics/Music)

Retro City Rampage at its core is an open world game, in the vein of a Grand Theft Auto. In fact, when first starting to play I would often get a feeling similar to the first time I ever played a GTA game. A feeling of complete freedom to explore a very alive city, full of all types of characters and many things to do as “player” who is a simple criminal set to accomplish tasks in his wacky criminal world.

Very quickly you see that this game is much more than just an open world game. It’s more of a tribute, a love letter to gaming history with constant smart referential humor. Yeah, I wanted to see how many pedestrians I could hit with the wonderful supply of vehicles you can “borrow” at any time. At the same time the game goes out of its way to remind you of some of your favorite franchises from the 8-bit age, and all in a very upbeat entertaining way.

As you might have guessed from the title, Retro City Rampage is designed in world of the 8-bit past. The graphics of the game have the looks similar to an old school NES game and they look great. The music sets the tone, as well being very familiar, but unique to the game and what mission you are on. I would sometimes stop playing for while just to flip stations on the radio, to listen to the rocking 8-bit music tracks.

The game also use some of today’s advances to immerse the gamer in the retro world, such as achievements, customization, auto save, game speed, ROM City Rampage; a prototype NES version of the game and more. The city you inhabit looks similar to the over world in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the NES, which is sick because I always wanted to explore and kick ass in that world. Many buildings have things to do inside like play arcade games, gamble, run side missions, and customize your character.

The story is basic, but very entertaining. Right from the beginning you will be overwhelmed with the nonstop references from 80’s/90’s pop culture and gaming history. It is especially fun when you get to interact with characters from different franchises and at times and it almost plays out like fan fiction. I like the main story, but was way more impressed with the rapid fire jokes and humor that the game had to offer.

All in all the atmosphere of this game really brought you in and with access to different cars, weapons and things to do in the city Retro City Rampage really makes the 8-bit world alive like it never has before.

Feel (GamePlay/Controls)

Retro city Rampage felt rewarding to play and I have zero complaints about the way the game plays. The controls were very responsive and all the vehicles had a very different style when driving. Some were extremely funny. I wont spoil much in this review, but I will say my favorite of the vehicles that you see around town looks very similar to the Turtle Van for the aforementioned TMNT NES game and when you steal it, someone looking remarkably like Michelangelo comes out looking real pissed off. It’s this level of detail that this game brings to the table. Tons of weapons change up how you can handle enemies and for lovers of Super Mario you can even stomp on your foes heads.

When playing with a classic control style the layout is perfect. You can shoot your weapons (guns) with right stick, which is very accurate. When using the Wii remote (and I used this more because of convenient purposes) it became a bit harder, but was still extremely playable. After a while I had no issues playing this way. In fact, I always like playing any throw back or retro game with this control scheme; it really creates that nostalgic sensation being so close to the feel of the NES control pad.

Addiction Rating (replay)

Retro City Rampage is a game I will always come back to over the years. It’s what I call a “friends over game” as well, because I want to show it to my old school gamer friends when they come over. Even old friends who may not have gamed in years would love it. The arcade challenge mode and free play are perfect for having people jump right in for party play without wasting any time.

After finishing the main story, because of all the rapid fire of jokes and references, I personally wanted to immediately play the game again to experience the fun and see what I missed. This game is crack for me and I couldn’t get enough of it! At least for the reasonable future, this will be in my weekly gaming life to pick up and run through the city causing havoc.

Issues

Not many issues, but nothing is perfect. One of the strengths for me could also be a weakness for some people. The game, as I mentioned, has cultural references thrown at the player in rapid fire from beginning to end. While I do love this, when observing someone else playing through the story mode they said more than a few times, “Wow it all happens so fast I keep missing things. I wish it would slow down”. The game is like watching Robin Williams do stand up back in his coked up days. Non-stop frantic action and I can see how that might not be for everyone.

My only real issue is actually a personal wish. I would love if it was possible to zoom in a bit on the city; same thing in Tecmo Super Bowl, I wish you could zoom in and make the players bigger, like in the original Tecmo Bowl. It’s not really a big deal, but I’m a bit blind. Zooming in would have just been an amazing extra option. But at no point did this detract form my enjoyment of the game it only would of helped me personally immerse myself even more in the action and humor.

In the End

Retro City Rampage is a title that any life long gamer and anyone with some gaming knowledge, love for 80’s-90’s pop culture, or just a fan of the 8-bit age, owes it to themselves to play through. You will smile and laugh more times than you can count and it’s a fun game for local play with friends working on challenges while rampaging through the city. The game has fast paced action which can become overwhelming at times for some, but the games fun factor pushes it to the point of a must play for everyone.

Loves
Cultural references will have me laughing for years and sharing with friends
Game play amazingly fun, easy and rewarding
Incredible amount of extra content for non-stop action and lots of love put in by the game designers
Music is perfect!

Final Issues
May be a bit too rapid fire for some folks
Sensitive people need not apply, as this game glorifies violence in the best cartoon way
Gameplay is so fun I could care less about a story
Wish you could zoom in on the city

9 out of 10
A Must Play!