Road Rash is one of my all-time favorite classics from the glory days of the Sega Genesis, and ranks among Sonic the Hedgehog and DeCap Attack as one of the most important gaming experiences of my childhood. Kids raised on modern combat racing outings like Burnout probably won't have as deep an appreciation for the simple pleasure of clubbing a guy named Viper off of a generic blue sportsbike, or for the strangely satisfying way that first guy just ate shit if you punched him at just the right moment at the start of the race, but for me the first 3 16 bit offerings are nothing but classic.
Now, following Road Rash III on Genesis, the series jumped from platform to platform making it fairly difficult to track the series, which meant I didn't play a single Road Rash game until I heard they were making a next-gen update on the Dreamcast in the late 90's, early footage of which nearly had me pissing myself with anticipation. Sadly, that game never got made, but afterwards I came to realize that since 3, several new Road Rash games had been released without my knowledge. So, here's two that I managed to track down; the first is simply called "Road Rash," and it was released on the 3DO.
First thing I'd like to comment on, actually, is the size of the box the disc comes in. Apparently 3DO had the same idea as Sega with it's Sega CD packaging, and decided that a box a foot long and an inch in depth was necessary to house a single CD. The best part is that they had to add foam bricks or blocks of cardboard to counteract the fundamental dysfunction of the casing. Me, I always thought jewel cases were fine.
Jesus, how big does the box need to be?
So about "Road Rash 3D0," it's basically a 32 bit progression from Road Rash 3. As the box proudly proclaims, it has a soundtrack comprised of licensed music from a whole bunch of indie rock groups, including Soundgarden. That's great and all, but what they neglect to mention is that these songs are only heard during the menu screens...
Road Rash is one of my all-time favorite classics from the glory days of the Sega Genesis, and ranks among Sonic the Hedgehog and DeCap Attack as one of the most important gaming experiences of my childhood. Kids raised on modern combat racing outings like Burnout probably won't have as deep an appreciation for the simple pleasure of clubbing a guy named Viper off of a generic blue sportsbike, or for the strangely satisfying way that first guy just ate shit if you punched him at just the right moment at the start of the race, but for me the first 3 16 bit offerings are nothing but classic.
Now, following Road Rash III on Genesis, the series jumped from platform to platform making it fairly difficult to track the series, which meant I didn't play a single Road Rash game until I heard they were making a next-gen update on the Dreamcast in the late 90's, early footage of which nearly had me pissing myself with anticipation. Sadly, that game never got made, but afterwards I came to realize that since 3, several new Road Rash games had been released without my knowledge. So, here's two that I managed to track down; the first is simply called "Road Rash," and it was released on the 3DO.
First thing I'd like to comment on, actually, is the size of the box the disc comes in. Apparently 3DO had the same idea as Sega with it's Sega CD packaging, and decided that a box a foot long and an inch in depth was necessary to house a single CD. The best part is that they had to add foam bricks or blocks of cardboard to counteract the fundamental dysfunction of the casing. Me, I always thought jewel cases were fine.
Jesus, how big does the box need to be?
So about "Road Rash 3D0," it's basically a 32 bit progression from Road Rash 3. As the box proudly proclaims, it has a soundtrack comprised of licensed music from a whole bunch of indie rock groups, including Soundgarden. That's great and all, but what they neglect to mention is that these songs are only heard during the menu screens of the game. The races themselves use basic-sounding MIDI tracks which really aren't even as memorable as any of the music from the Genesis games. When I first played the game through my shitty monaural TV, I actually thought the game was glitching out or something. When played through stereo, I realized it just had really shitty music.
So the soundtrack is a total letdown, but how about the gameplay? Well, the track designs are pretty cool, taking the same formula as previous Road Rash games and expanding it to include 4 lane traffic, tunnels, cliffs, and forks in the road. The controls feel a bit stiff. You can't really adjust your steering as finely as you could in the 16 bit games, and often times when you hit objects (to include oncoming traffic) you just bounce off of them. You never really get a great sensation of speed, either.
But the worst thing, to me, is how useless the weapons all are in this game. While you can now start the game off with a club, and eventually you can steal chains and crowbars and all that stuff, it takes about a hundred consecutive hits to reduce someone's health enough to knock them off their bike. Usually it's not even worth the effort. The only thing that works is kicking people, but that's just as likely to send you flying off the road into a building or something.
While Road Rash for the 3DO borders on decent, it's a far cry from the classic games I remember. If I had spent $700 on this system at the time, and loaded up what should have been a kickass photorealistic sequel to one of the most badass Genesis games ever made only to get this, I daresay I would have shit my pants.
They eventually ported this game to the Playstation and the Saturn, for those who are interested but don't want to track down a 3DO. The Playstation version plays pretty well, and I seem to remember actual music playing during the races. (You know, the licensed sound track they laud on the box.) Don't even bother with the Saturn version, if you value your sanity. The load times take much longer and the game crashes. Just more time having to spend staring at the hideous new carnival-charceture art style they used for this game.
For some reason.
Seriously, just look at this ugly shit.
That's it for now, later on I'll have a follow-up on Road Rash: Jailbreak.
IPOD
RADIO
Now, following Road Rash III on Genesis, the series jumped from platform to platform making it fairly difficult to track the series, which meant I didn't play a single Road Rash game until I heard they were making a next-gen update on the Dreamcast in the late 90's, early footage of which nearly had me pissing myself with anticipation. Sadly, that game never got made, but afterwards I came to realize that since 3, several new Road Rash games had been released without my knowledge. So, here's two that I managed to track down; the first is simply called "Road Rash," and it was released on the 3DO.
First thing I'd like to comment on, actually, is the size of the box the disc comes in. Apparently 3DO had the same idea as Sega with it's Sega CD packaging, and decided that a box a foot long and an inch in depth was necessary to house a single CD. The best part is that they had to add foam bricks or blocks of cardboard to counteract the fundamental dysfunction of the casing. Me, I always thought jewel cases were fine.
Jesus, how big does the box need to be?
So about "Road Rash 3D0," it's basically a 32 bit progression from Road Rash 3. As the box proudly proclaims, it has a soundtrack comprised of licensed music from a whole bunch of indie rock groups, including Soundgarden. That's great and all, but what they neglect to mention is that these songs are only heard during the menu screens...