Rock 'N Roll Racing

"A fine example of the 16-bit era of consoles."

Introduction:
Rock 'n' Roll Racing was originally released back in 1993 by Interplay. Made by a company called Silicon & Synapse (who, by the way, are now called Blizzard, it was different to many of the other games available on the SNES. Think of it as R. C. Pro Am with weapons....

Gameplay: 9/10
Basically, you're up against three opponents (three CPU or two CPU and a human) and you have to come first (duh!). You can use all kind of tricks to get first place; firing missiles at opponents in front, releasing mines or oils slicks for opponents behind, using nitros, whatever. Your prize money depends on your final position and you can also gain cash by collecting money on the circuit and from destroying the opposition. After the race you can spend this money on upgrading your car; whether it be better suspension, more nitros, more ammo or even a completely new car. Get a mate to play with you for maximum fun!

Story: 0/10
You race, you win, you get money, you upgrade, you race, you win.... there ain't no story here!

Graphics: 7/10
Not brilliant, but pretty good all the same. Rock 'n' Roll Racing was never going to be the prettiest game on the SNES. The graphics do their job; you know where you are, you know where you're going. The wheels move, which is a nice touch, and the backgrounds, although a little bland, are nice.

Sound: 10/10
The highlight of the game. First of all, the background music was....amazing for a SNES. While racing you listen to such classic songs as ''Paranoid'' by Black Sabbath and ''Born to be Wild'' by Steppenwolf. Granted, there are no lyrics, but the SNES's version of these songs is more than adequate. There are only five songs, but who cares when they're this good!
Secondly, we have Larry ''Supermouth'' Huffman. Although he repeats himself (hey, it is only a SNES!), it's a quite funny addition to the game. For example, when you come last you get: ''Rip, is in ANOTHER time zone''.
The sound effects themselves aren't great, but it's excellent stuff all round.

Replayability: 7/10
Hmmmm. It's not exactly hard and it does get boring kinda quickly in one player mode. Race, win, upgrade, race, win.... well you get the picture. Once you've played through it a couple of times and you've seen all the cars and stuff, you're unlikely to put in your SNES for a while. Even with three difficulty levels and six drivers, it gets tired. It'll last you about a month and a half.
You never get tired of it in two player mode. Maybe it's the thrill of blasting away your cough*friend*cough on the final lap and stealing his/her victory....

Buy / Rent:
Buy, if you can find it. It's a fine example of the 16-bit era of games and one you should be proud to have in your collection.

Overall: 9/10
As I said, a fine example of the SNES era. Great sound, great gameplay, great game!
The good: The sound
The bad: Password save..... ack!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/05/01, Updated 11/05/01