Road Rash 3D

"Rashin' and Mashin'"

::: The Review:::

I have always loved a good game of Road Rash. Ever since the legendary Genesis games to the huge, and much anticipated 3DO version (which I played like hell till my hands bled!). You see the Road Rash series has always enjoyed a good rasher of weeding out all the useless crap, so it can focus more on its gameplay and surprise all with its witty and endurable 2D graphics. Well after enjoying a good season as a reigning 2D-bike king, the series takes a move to the more advance and more transverse system: the Sony PlayStation. But in the end you must ask this to yourself. Was this move good or bad?

Road Rash 3D is the first bona fide Road Rash incarnation for the PlayStation, and in a sense, this title takes everything that was good about Rashin’ and Mashin’ and hangs it in front of your face like meat for a Pitbull. Every single little aspect that was featured in all of those classic titles is all commemorated here (with slightly tuned color!).

All of the action in this game is all Dual Analog controlled, with a little flicker of the throttle resulting in a kind and smoothly animated wheelie; oh, what a nice touch. The now revamped 3D engine just gives and gives and gives with horizons that you simply won’t believe – I mean, you can see everything from a distance, or you can see everything really far. If anyone likes to give complains about “pixely graphics,” they should be run over because until you bail, they are not. The art style (an aspect always important in these Road Rash games) has been adhered to as well, with crude rude dudes and nasty girls a-plenty. Nothing so nasty as the 3DO’s pee-filled bowls, but close.

This time around, when you choose a bike, you choose a lifestyle! All the characters are so realistic in at least one way that you most likely will want to ponder. For example, the Kaffe boys ride the plastic covered Japanese stunt-racers, the TechGeists ride the cool sporty Sport bikes, the Dewleys ride the dirty hogs, and the DeSades ride around their Rat Bikes. Sometime you might even be careful on who you run with; because it all makes a difference.

Audibly, this time out the developers (Electronic Arts (EA)) stay closely adhere to the formula, but unfortunately the tunes of Soundgarden are now replaced by tunes from Sugar frikkin’ Ray (whom I barely dig) who were still an up-and-coming band from the time this game was released. Oh, well! The rest of the “axe grinders” are also pretty good, although I would have preferred a more diverse mix of artists.

Overall, Road Rash 3D is an above-average title for the PlayStation, and one that is a solid 2nd effort from Electronic Arts to return the game to its classic formula and to its classic status. While the older titles were much better, 3D still has that old-school attitude that will make many people with different tastes give this game a try.

::: End of Review :::

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/21/02, Updated 09/03/02