Road Rash

"The King of All Combat Racers in a field of imitators."

Road Rash is the original combat racing game. The premise is to hop onto a motorcycle and, basically:

A. Beat the snot out of people and come in first

B. Come in first the nice way

Obviously, the former of the two is the more fun. This 3DO version of the game is actually an enhanced version of the genesis title of the same name. The team at EA did an outstanding job with this one, however, they didn't just make the game run on a 3DO and toss it out the door. It is easy to say that this game is the reigning king of combat racers, and cannot be dethroned.

When the game is booted, you are greeted by a nice FMV video. Wait, come back! It's not bad FMV, it's actually pretty good. The FMV is in the intro, and pre/post race. Some of the FMV sequences (like being chased down by a squad of police dogs when you get busted) are actually pretty funny. There seems to be a lot of FMV sequences, as it changes every race. It will repeat after a while, obviously, but it won't get repetitive until about the 5th hour of playing. It's good stuff.

The visuals are also nice. Everything is cardboard-cutout quality (except for the road, which is real purdy-lookin'), but you must remember that this is 3DO, whose hardware didn't even match that of the Playstation or Saturn. It seems to look good, but the animations are bad. The punch animation is TWO FRAMES. But it moves very nicely at a fast pace. No complaints here.

Gameplay is rock-solid. Control is tight, although it may take a while to adjust to the steering. It seems a little too responsive at times, and not responsive enough at other times. You'll be taking turns at 120 MPH in no time, though. Combat is tight, just a button that controls both punch and kick attacks. Time your movements and you can take an opponent's chain or pipe or a police officer's club.

The sound is hit or miss. The menu and FMV music is all licensed metal by bands such as Paw and Soundgarden (whose song ''Rusty Cage'' is the theme) and is really good. If you don't do anything on a menu, a music video even comes up after a while. Props to EA on the music.

So the music's good, right? That would be menu and FMV music. In game music is totally different. It's horrid. Take a monkey. This monkey was born with cerebral palsy and down syndrome. He was born with no joints on his fingers, or a thumb or elbows. Now give him a bass guitar. The sound the aforementioned monkey makes is the music in-game. If you turn it off, you can hear engine sounds, but they are bad, too. Turn them both off, and it's eerily silent. It could have used a little more work here.

This game is good. REALLY good. It stands the test of time well, and keeps its crown as the king of all action/arcade races, and is one of the best racing games ever.

Pluses: Smooth, fast gameplay, good FMV and menu music, an advanced game for its day.

Minuses: Grating in-game music, turning has a learning curve

Bottom Line: An amazing game that shouldn't be passed up. Track it down if you own a 3DO, it's the best version available, in the series and genre.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/16/02, Updated 05/16/02