Road Rash

"Some good, bruising fun"

There have been many editions of the famous series Road Rash, and Saturn was lucky enough to have one of its own. It featured a soundtrack with licensed artists such as Monster Magnet and Soundgarden and a huge amount of FMV that added greatly to the experience. It's been years now, and this game still stands tall against the test of time. Here is my breakdown of the aspects of the game:

GRAPHICS: 6/10
I have to be honest here, they really didn't pull out anything special for the graphics department. The riders themselves are 2D and have maybe three animations each. The buildings on the side of the road look pretty bad when you're not bolting past them, and the pedestrians are just 2D cutouts. The countryside and lake in certain levels just doesn't look convincing and it seems like EA could have put some more effort into the textures in the game. On a positive note, there is no slowdown in the game, which is great with all the fast paced action, and the FMV looks very good in this, even if the colors seem a little messed up. The pictures of the different characters in the menus look good and add some life to the game, and the menus and backgrounds in them only add to the experience. It has a cartoony feel to it, but it really just adds to the humor of the game.

SOUND: 7/10
I wish I could give it a really high score, because the licensed soundtrack in this game is awesome. Soundgarden contributes about four songs, Monster Magnet has a song, and Paw contributes three songs. There are various others, and they all fit in perfectly with the feel of the game. This really seemed to be ahead of its time, as I can't remember a game made this far back with a pretty deep soundtrack. So why just a decent score? Because during the race, all you get to listen to is a pretty abismal track that loops and doesn't set the mood for the race. It brings the experience down quite a bit. You also hear the grating of your engine, which can get on your nerves after a while. Why they didn't put licensed songs into the races is beyond me, but it still baffles me and brings the game down. Aside from that, the sound effects are decent. You get some funny lines when you hit a pedestrian, and there are grunts when you and another rider go at it. Nothing too exciting there though.

GAMEPLAY: 8/10
The concept for Road Rash is still awesome. Racing at 100+ miles an hour while dodging traffic and pedestrians while also going at other riders with chains and bats is still boss. You have a button to accelerate, a button to brake, and an attack button, and when you hit down plus the attack button you also get a kick. It works well enough. The races are held at five different courses, and there are five different levels for the courses. What this means is that for each level, the course gets longer. At level one, a race can be seven miles. By level five, it could be close to 20. There are only two modes, one being your standard pick a track and go and the other being Championship mode. In this, you pick a character, get cash from races and buy new bikes. You also interact with other riders. In the races themselves, there are also cops to add to the excitement. They try to catch you on their motorcycles and will attempt to beat you with their clubs until you fall off. You're going to have to open a can on a few cops if you want to win the big cash. Your bike can also take a certain amount of damage until it wrecks and causes you to bring it in for repairs. Overall, the feeling of dodging cars and whipping another racer with a metal chain is unlike an other and is enough to get your adrenaline pumping. It still remains a unique experience a dozen years later.

LASTING VALUE/REPLAYABILITY: 8/10
The championship mode is difficult. The races become harder, and even when you buy new bikes you will struggle. It's good because there is a good amount of challenge in the game. At the same time it can be frustrating, but it makes it that much better when you win. Something that really needed to be added was a split-screen two player mode, as the only multiplayer is where you alternate races in championship mode. This hurts the replay value quite a bit. Still, a challenging one player mode is enough to keep this game in your system as well as the enjoyment of whipping around turns and duking it out with another racer.

WORTH BUYING: YES
I picked up this title off ebay for about 5 bucks, and you could go much worse. I would say that any Saturn owner should own or at least play this title, because it is one of the best games on the system due to sheer innovation alone. It may be nothing to look at, but I guarantee that you'll have fun with it.

There you have it. Fans of the series, myself included, have been waiting for another edition of this title, and I wouldn't be surprised if EA granted that wish sometime in the future.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/15/08

Game Release: Road Rash (US, 1996)