This disappointing regression in design makes the game feel like a remake more than it does a proper sequel, and it’s a feeling only made stronger by the all-California track selection and almost total lack of new ideas beyond the facelift. Speaking of which, Road Rash (1994) doesn’t feature any new weapons and neither does it support simultaneous 2-player. Attack damage has been drastically reduced as well, so compared to the first Road Rash where you could knock out an opposing rider in a couple of satisfying swings, here you’ll need to laboriously slug them several times before they go down, even when you’re holding a chain! Even then, the impact of a good punch is muted by the digitised fists and crummy sound effects. After all, when there’s more space to avoid your rivals, there’s less reason to fight in the first place. The wider lanes and alternate routes are ingredients that also give combat a different feel. The Pacific Coast track is also extremely narrow by comparison and has a truly awful mechanic whereby players are instantly eliminated if they crash too close to the cliff edge. Several tracks have wider lanes to allow the bikes more room to turn, but later levels present an absurd number of cars and obstacles players need to avoid. This doesn’t mean the game has gotten any easier in its later stages. Steering is generally smooth, depending on the bike you’ve chosen, and small obstacles can be lightly bumped into now without the bikes tipping over. The frame rate in the original 3DO version is also very low smoother than the Mega Drive entries, but not by much. Big Race mode uses the preferred campaign formula of the original 1992 Road Rash.īut while the graphics have been glitzed up with some 32-bit flair, the game retains a blurry look thanks to the console’s low internal resolution. Alongside 3D buildings hugging the track is the occasional polygonal tunnel and fork where the road splits into divergent routes.Ī new Arcade mode modifies the length and difficulty of one-off races. Road Rash (1994) uses messy digitised sprites like Road Rash 3 does, although they do look better here.
Axle road rash 3do full#
The licensed rock music alongside the high-octane full motion video and stylised menu screens make a bold first impression, and you can still appreciate the smooth drawing of the in-game backdrops and how they contribute to a more realistic feel in the racing action. Had I played it on original hardware in 1994, my story would be a little different because this certainly is an impressive-looking game for its time. I wasn’t thrilled by the Sega Saturn version back in the day and neither was I thrilled when playing it recently on a 3DO emulator. These ports added nothing new though, so by the time I was reading about them in magazine reviews around 1996-97, Road Rash (1994) was looking and sounding every bit of the 1994 in its name, which is problematic when you consider the Sega Saturn, for instance, already had Sega Rally Championship and Daytona USA by then. Looking back, I was surprised to hear how well it did on 3DO because the ports were more roundly criticised, even though they were solid conversions of the original. Years later, the game was ported to PC, PlayStation and Sega Saturn - which is where I first played it. Indeed, Road Rash (1994) was reputedly a killer app for the Panasonic 3DO a disc-based console that was testing the boundaries of what video games could be at the time. Music like this didn’t feature in video games often because CD-ROMs were still on the cutting edge. Road Rash (1994) then, could be considered a pioneer as far as reboots go, not just for the naming convention, but mainly for its next-gen presentation and licensed rock soundtrack. Much like this: the third game in the Road Rash series, released before another game called Road Rash 3, and the second production to be called just Road Rash.
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