"This is one rash that isn't so bad..."

I remember sitting in my bedroom in my teenage years staring at the cover of a 1993 issue of SWAT Pro that featured Road Rash. The woman on the cover was wearing the tightest full body leather I had ever seen with breasts so big that they were just asking to be unzipped from their leather cage. With her blond hair and her blue eyes starring back at me, her lips almost seemed to move. She was saying "Buy me. Buy this game." I made up my mind right then and there. I need Road Rash and I needed it for the 3DO. The only problem was at the time, 3DO's cost $700 and I didn't have more than twenty bucks to my name. Years went by and I slowly forgot about that girl, even though I had cut her out and taped her up on my wall. By the time I was out of high school, I never even thought about it. That was until I came across a 3DO at a Good Will for the handsome some of $20. Needless to say, I bought it. When I got it home, what did I happen to find inside the disk drive? Why, it was Road Rash! The memories of that girl on the cover of that magazine flooded back into my then nineteen year old head. Once I started playing, I quickly realized that this girl was no where to be found and that those years of yearning for this game were in vain. However, what I did get was a pretty good game.

<b<Game Play
Racing games have always been in intriguing to me, being one who does not drive. Motorcycle racing is a little different that what I am used to, but this still is pretty fun. The basic set up is that this is street racing. A bunch of bikers that hang out at a bar sign up for a race and go speeds up to 150 miles per hour to the finish. What sets Road Rash apart from other generic games is that you can fight other bikers while going at such unhealthy speeds. Some racers have chains, some crow bars and as they fly past you, they aren't afraid to clock you on the head in hopes of wrecking you and your bike.

Each racer has his or her own attitude and if you cross him or her wrong, you'll get kicked right into an on coming car. The game sets you up with eight actual racers and another six that switch in and out that have nothing more than a name. Each racer has relation ships with all the others, some good, some bad. If you punch the wrong guy, you can get two or three others mad at you. It gets a little dicey when you are being beaten on both sides of your body as you are dodging traffic at 125 mph.

While running over pedestrians may be illegal in the real world, it almost seems to be encouraged within the game. Lets face it, old ladies on walkers should not be crossing the road where motorcycle street racing goes on. Sure, it slows you down a bit, but the look on her face is worth it.

You also get some awesome videos after certain things happen. If you crash next to a cop and get arrested, you get to see a few prime examples of police brutality.

What Road Rash delivers is a great way of seeing the California landscape without leaving the comfort (or discomfort) of your home. It proves to be a great racing game with awesome fighting aspects as well as upgradeable bikes. However, while it excels at some things, it fails at others.

While the game is indeed for two players, it does not offer two player simultaneous play! One person races and gets a time depending on the length of the course and the other player tried to beat that time. Whoever gets the better time wins. Now, in a game where fighting is a huge aspect of the game, why not grant the ability to smash your best friend's face in with a crowbar? I mean, why bother with this mode?

Another, and probably bigger, grudge I have with the game is that in "Big Game Mode" you only get five races. That's it. Five. As you advance in levels you get more miles added to the course and tougher computer controlled racers. But you don't get new levels. By the time you reach the fifth level, you will have done the first several miles of each course so many times that you probably can get though it with your eyes closed. While the difficulty gets tougher, the courses get longer, giving you more time to get back in first place after crashing.

While the game is fun, it gets monotonous very fast. This is the kind of game that you will play for a few days, then put away for six months before getting it back out for a few days again.

Score 7

Controls
The controls for Road Rash are spot on. Each bike has its own handling ability and you can actually feel it in the game. When trying to maneuver around cars and trees, your bike actually determines how well you do it and not your controller. The accelerate button is in the middle so using the attack button is easy and doesn't require you to lose any speed. Using nitrous is just a quick tap of the acceleration button and is easy to execute. The controls are quick to learn and will not frustrate.

Score 10

Graphics
The ersatz 3D graphics of Road Rash are pretty good, especially considering the time period. Real people were used for the racers as well as for the myriad of pedestrians and police officers. The actually look real and have different expressions and poses, depending on how close you come to running them over. The graphics during the race are very well detailed but suffer from repetitiveness, especially as you progress through the levels. It is sort of like a cartoon when the characters are running and continue to run by the same background over and over again. You'll see the same canyons, fields, trees, buildings and cars. There is enough variety that you don't get sick of it, but you will notice the repeating scenery.

What I really enjoy are the videos. The 3DO version of Road Rash has the best looking videos out of all the versions I have played. The colors aren't washed out, the quality is above average for Full Motion Video games of the time, and there are plenty of videos to view. I suppose the only thing I dislike about the looks of the videos are that the women are fairly ugly, but you can hardly blame the graphics of the game for that.

Score 9

Sounds and Music
The sound track for this game is my all time favorite. While the music is not original, it features many songs by various grunge artists. That's right. Grunge music is all over in this game. Grunge is perhaps my favorite genre of music so when I heard Sound Garden, I got excited. There are also some relatively unknown bands in the game, which is awesome. I like to discover some unknown bands every now and then. About the only complaint I have with the music is that there is no Nirvana, but there is a good reason. Nirvana was signed to a different label than the one that provided the music for the game. This is the one game that I insist on listing to the sound track over and over. There is also a juke box which you can change the song that plays during menu navigation.

While I am sitting here listing to the sound track, one thing that I do dislike is the race music. This music is generic, unenthusiastic, and just unnecessary. I don't understand why the didn't use the rest of the music for the game. As far as sound effects go, they are perfect. From engines revving, to old lady screams to cars breaking, everything is included that you would think of, including police sirens. Because of the CD quality audio, they sound real. Very well done.

Score 9

Overall, Road Rash is a very good game. While it suffers from a lack of originality after the first level, the awesome sound track and fairly good graphics help make up for it. While this game might not be a "must own," it is a game that you should consider owning. However, aside from better looking FMV, the Saturn and Playstation versions are identical and slightly easier to find. If you are a fanatic of racing games, then you should pick up a version of Road Rash. Just don't expect there to be hot blonds in leather.

Pros
1. Fun fighting style of racing
2. Great sound track for fans of Grunge or those who just haven't moved past 1994
3. Graphically superior videos than other incarnations

Cons
1. Repetitive scenery
2. In game music is not on par with the rest of the sound track

Final Score 8

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/04/07