Road Redemption Review

The 90s were good for three things: Carlton was a good team in the AFL, Adam Sandler films were funny and EA was churning out Road Rash titles at a rapid pace (there were five releases between 1990-99). Then the 2000s hit and Carlton became the easy beats of the competition and the release of Road Rash titles dried up like Adam Sandler’s comedy hits. Fast-forward to 2017 and we have Road Redemption, a Kickstarted Road Rash fan-made spiritual successor from Pixel Dash Studios and EQ Games that has been in Early Access since 2014. Thankfully, the game embodies everything that made Road Rash such a cult-classic and delivers a game worth swinging your chain in the air in celebration.

Who’s copping a booting first?

Road Redemption sees the player jump into the leather boots of a member of the motorcycle gang, The Jackals, who like every other bikie member in the region is trying to find and kill the assassin of the Ironsight Weapons Cartel leader and claim a $15 million bounty for their efforts. The campaign is one long road trip through four different environments and is made up of a number of varying race types, such as standard races, takedown missions and evade missions. While the campaign is fun and challenging overall, the most gruelling aspect of the campaign is that death is permanent; once you die you must go all the way back to the first race and start again. Make no mistake, the game is no Sunday stroll and while this does add a challenge, it takes away from the pick-up-and-play aspect that made Road Rash so fun. There is a checkpoint of sorts which activates once you reach certain races (race 9 etc.) and you can quit out and return later, but if you die after then it’s back to square one. The actual race objectives themselves aren’t difficult, it’s ensuring that you’re not beaten to a pulp by one of the many cronies on the road that can prove challenging. For those who want the option of playing a couple races at a time there is the Single Race mode, however this does not contribute to the campaign at all. There’s also four-player split-screen and online play for those that want to take their game to the next level.

If you’ve ever played Road Rash then you know what to expect from Road Redemption gameplay-wise. It’s taken everything that made Road Rash such a fun and violent vehicular brawler and garnished it with a few extras of its own to give it some modernity. For one, players have access to more than one weapon at a time with multiple weapon slots available for the player to cycle through by using the D-pad (for those like me using a controller on PC). Weapons vary between steel poles, swords, explosives and guns, and there’s even a shotgun reload animation which is ripped straight from Terminator 2. It’s awesome. Bikers also have the ability to parry and perform critical hits for extra damage, but fear not, there is still nothing sweeter than laying a good boot into your opponent (especially the coppers) and sending them into oncoming traffic or off the side of bridges or cliffs. Your two-wheeled partner in crime is equipped with a nitrous system allowing for you get out of tight spots when the heat is getting too much to handle or to catch up to your target if you’ve fallen behind. Furthermore, at a certain point in the campaign your bike is equipped with a jetpack (yes you read that right), allowing you to skyrocket away from danger.

The bikes glide across the surfaces with ease, and while the handling is redolent of the originator, it fails to improve on the quondam mechanics

I hope you like the taste of steel pipe

There’s also a fairly decent upgrade system included which players can utilise by using currency and XP acquired during and after the completion of races. Currency is used to purchase short-term upgrades such as additional health or a weapon upgrade which are lost once you perish, while XP is used to purchase permanent skill-tree upgrades that players can carry across playthroughs. Players can also unlock a range of bikes as you progress, each with their individual boons. However, none of the bikes feel like they handle any better than one another and no differently on different terrain. The bikes glide across the surfaces with ease, and while the handling is redolent of the originator, it fails to improve on the quondam mechanics. Players can also choose between various characters each with different loadouts.

Visually the game is a little rough around the edges, but that is to be expected from a fan-made Kickstarter project, and in no way does it take away from the game’s entertainment value. Another impressive aspect is the soundtrack, which features some hand-horn saluting rock tracks that keeps the adrenaline pumping while you slice and dice people on your way to find the assassin. Sadly the same audio quality doesn’t apply to the game’s voice acting, which is cringe-worthy at best.

Looks aren’t everything

Final Thoughts

Road Redemption offers famished Road Rash fans an opportunity to get back on the bike and enjoy pure unadulterated anarchy. It pays homage to a time when all you needed to do after a rough day was jump on your bike and engage in a few vehicular donnybrooks and then head to Der Panzer Klub (Road Rash fans will know this reference) for a cold beer to blow off some steam. While its appeal may wane after the six-hour campaign, Road Redemption successfully manages to mesh the best parts of Road Rash while adding its own spin on the genre.

Reviewed on PC