Road Rash 3D

"One word, "disappointing!!!""

Fans of Electronic Arts's Road Rash may buy it, but you will definitely be disappointed. If you haven't played Road Rash before, don't consider buying it because there's lots more better motorcycle games out there.

Basically, what is Road Rash 3D about? Your main destination is to reach the finishing line but what makes it different from other motorcycle games, is the fact that you can bash up your competitors with some weapons like chains and clubs along the way. Of course, your competitors will do that to you too. Speeding and racing against other people on the road is illegal. You can expect yourself to be chased by policeman sometimes, who is patrolling around. Once you get caught by a police, it's gameover. To make it simply, you are racing illegally with a group of daring bikers, and by winning the race, you win prices to upgrade your bikes.

Your competitors Al are much better than before. They do remember what you did to them before. Sometimes, a group of bikers will team up and start to attack a biker. The enviroments look much better. You can ride uphill or downhill. Physics model is quite generally quite good. Besides, it supports analog controller. However, the control does not show any major leap in terms of feel, speed or reaction time.

The best feature of Road Rash 3D is the fact that it has tunes from CIV, Full on the Mouth, Kid Rock, the Mermen, Sugar Ray and The Tea Party. Besides that, Road Rash 3D features Dolby Surround and there's also the soundtrack too. The sound effect is undoubtedly good with all the enemies growling, pedestrians howling and the actual bike sounds sounded very realistic.

I have to admit that i am quite disappointed with Road Rash 3D. The game is not totally flawless and the lack of major leaps over its predecessors, is its greatest downside. What happened to the two player mode??? Oh, it's so disappointing. The frame rate is pretty slow as it does not have the feel of true speed. Why isn't the control perfect? And, the impact due to collision. Can it be even more better??? The visual, sound, music etc do really get better, thanks to the advanced capabilities of the PlayStation but the gameplay remains old, with a lack of innovative and creativity.

Overall, if you are a Road Rash fan, you might want to rent it first. If not, stay away from it and buy other good motorcycle games.

Graphics : 8.0/10.0
Concept : 3.0/10.0
Control : 6.5/10.0
Music : 9.0/10.0
Sound : 8.0/10.0
Gameplay : 3.0/10.0
Replay : 3.0/10.0
Challenge : 2.0/10.0
Overall : 4.0/10.0

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 02/22/00, Updated 12/16/02