TITLE: Road Rash AUTHOR: KyoshoBallard DATE: 11/04/2005 02:17:00 ip. ----- BODY:

I was watching an episode of Judgement Day on G4 a couple weeks ago, and they were reviewing a motorcycle racing game. I don't recall the game. All I remember is Tommy Tallarico was saying that throughout playing the game, he missed the ability to hit the other riders over the head with a baseball bat, etc. The review pretty much ended up being about them wanting a new version of Road Rash. And I agreed with them. Then I remembered there were a couple versions of Road Rash that I hadn't ever played. I'm sure everyone's played at least one version of Road Rash in their life. Most likely one of the ones on the Genesis/Master System. I believe the first one I played was Road Rash 2 on the Genesis. I have fond memories of playing that game multiplayer. A couple years later I bought the PC version of Road Rash. I loved it. Since then, I've always considered the PC version of Road Rash to be the best one released. Well, after playing the n64 version on an emulator, it's now a toss up. The n64 version, has a lot of improvements. For instance, when you wreck, you start at the back of the pack. In the PC version, you had to run back to your bike, and continue from where you were, playing catch-up. At first, I thought the back-of-the-pack thing was stupid and took some of the challenge away, but now I like it. The enemy AI is better now, too. The physics are a little more realistic this time around. No more crashing your bike into a sign and your rider flying a mile away. The graphics are nice improvement.
I realize they look similar in these shots, but when in motion, the PC version looks very bad compared to the n64 version. The PC version is 2.5D, not 3D, ala Doom, I think. Lots of jaggies. Overall, I suppose it's a superior version. The only thing that detracts from it is that even though I'm very far in the game, the sense of speed is nowhere near as cool as in the PC version. For some reason, I don't ever feel like I'm going very fast. I accidently turned on Frameskip on at one point, and of course things were twice as fast. It was kind of fun, but it's not the way the game was intended to be played. So, which do I like better, the PC version or the n64 version? I really can't decide. The n64 version has so many obvious improvements, but it's also missing the little touches that made the PC version so much fun. In the PC game, you'd get to see funny little FMVs after the races. Sure they were repetative, but I liked them. Also, the whole back-of-the-pack thing completely removes the ability and the satisfaction of making a truly spectacular comeback.

----- COMMENT: AUTHOR:  KyoshoBallard EMAIL: URL: DATE: 21:32 FD: It's on HOTU if you want to give it a go. And yes, it's Windows native. ----- --------