I saw Road Rash for the Playstation on the shelf at CEX, which seemed an ideal opportunity to try out the last of the sprite scaler games in the series (using the backwards-compatible PS3 for a decent output). Having previously played, and completed, Road Rash, Road Rash II, and Road Rash 3 (yes, the numbering scheme is annoying) on the Mega Drive, I’d never experienced the other game in the series – confusingly called Road Rash, and released on the 3DO and later the Playstation and Saturn. Even more confusingly, this was released before Road Rash 3, making this the third game and the Mega Drive RR3 the fourth game.
Road Rash for the 32-bit consoles is certainly a step up in graphics from Road Rash II, with a combination of colourful opponents, smoother scaling for roadside (and on-road) obstacles, and the use of textured polygons for buildings. It runs at a faster pace, and feels a lot more responsive while riding the bike, although there remains a bit of a lag when hitting the punch button. It is still a lot of fun, but there are a few things which feel a little off – maybe because the 16-bit games are so ingrained in me.
First, while the graphics are certainly better, they’re nowhere near what the Playstation is capable of. This is probably a result of the game’s origins on the 3DO (and, apparently, the Mega CD). What is more odd is the variety of art styles throughout. The in-game graphics appear to be higher resolution pixel art, looking much better than the digitised riders in Road Rash 3. These compare well to the grainy pink-tinged videos shown before and after races. Both these are preferably to the awful caricatured cartoons used to illustrate menus and represent the other riders.
Second, there are some elements of the game which have been changed for the worse since RRII. One of the staples of the series is the small selection of riders who will catch up to you throughout the race. In the Mega Drive games there are typically three groups of riders – those in places 10-15, those in places 4-9, and those in places 1-3 – which are roughly grouped throughout the stage. As you make your way past each group, you then have a break where one of the overtaken riders comes back and pulls up beside you, trying to knock you off – giving you an opportunity to punch them back, take their weapon, or push them over. That doesn’t happen here; no riders caught back up with me after being overtaken unless I crashed, and as a result I never actually knocked anyone off their bike.
The weapons are treated differently. I seem to have started with a baseball bat, and as a result (and because of other riders not travelling alongside me) I can’t access any other weapons – I don’t even know if it’s possible to steal them. The baseball bat doesn’t seem to do a lot of damage at all, but since I never hit anyone more than once it’s academic anyway.
Third, the menus are really badly designed. There’s a huge lag between selecting something and the menu changing, and the menu tree is needlessly confusing. There are two modes you can choose from at the start of the game – Thrash and Big Game – although it seems as if you can change between them through the options menu at any point. Thrash is effectively a quick race, with no progression saved, although it does seem to keep track of which races you’ve qualified in. Big Game is the main mode where you must earn money and qualify to be able to buy better bikes to compete at higher levels. More focus is placed on Thrash at the start of the game, and then the options menus list options not available in that mode.
Those are all relatively minor complaints, and I’m pleased I got hold of this. I’m halfway through the second level now, having just got a new bike, and the police have finally properly turned up. Combined with denser traffic and narrower roads, this makes some stages a bit more of a challenge.
