Road Rash Download - The first knowledge sharing application in Vietnam

It’s great! So listen up squid! Get this game! Put on your leathers and I’ll see you on the starting line. Get a good look at my face. You’ll be seein’ the back of my skid lid for the next 10 miles. Loser buys breakfast at Alices! (And hey, it’s a game! Never ride like this! But you knew that.)

Road Rash is a fun game you can play right away. After you get the hang of it you’re still challenged by the higher levels. Password saves enable you to pick up where you leave off. All the grunts and groans of heavy bashing and crashing are there along with tire squeals, police sirens, and cow moo’s. No lie. The bikes fly in mid air, jump rocks, rip around comers, and look great. If you love great race games this meets almost all of your criteria for an instantly addictive motorcycle 16-bit game with a somewhat sick twist thrown in.

Unfortunately, you’re gonna’ crash. If you don’t crash too much you’ll make it to the end of the track. Each crash makes your bike run a little worse and handle a little poorer. If you crash out too much and don’t finish high enough you’ll run out of money and the game is over. Boo hoo. The other way to lose money is to get busted by the cops. Out run ‘em or it could cost you a heavy fine. The good news is that, unlike real life, it’s kind of hard to run out of money.

The kind folks at EA understand that life’s not easy Road Rashin’ on California’s back roads. Therefore, you can’t die while you play this game. You can, however, run out of money! No matter where you finish at the end of each track you get some prize money. You can use the cash to buy better and faster bikes from the eight offered. Each bike is described on the screen with info about engine, weight, handling characteristics, and price. If you want a top of the line Diablo 1000 it’s a deal at only $25,000 (no tax!).

The screen shows speed, tach, odometer, stamina meters, two mirrors, and a timer. You can see the action behind you and watch as the riders you race against take each other out.

You don’t shift. You don’t get any laser cannons. You don’t fight any alien mutants on sewer cycles. You DO get a smooth scrolling motorcycle race game. It’s got really hot bikes with great detailed graphics.

When the roads get tight you’ll have to use the brake. Brake just before the turn and power through so you can be at full speed on the straight just after the turn.

By the time you get to the third level there are faster riders, more cars in your way, friendly officers to remind you of the penal code, and other annoyances that slow you down… it gets really tough. But wait, there’s good news!

ProTip: Once you’re in fourth place during a race you may want to ride more cautiously and just keep an eye on your mirrors. At each level the tracks get longer and the turns get tighter. The first level is pretty easy. It’s a good place to hone your Road Rash skills.

Your job is to pass as many other bikers as possible. Sometimes you gotta’ do a little bashin’. All the fighting is done on the bikes at full speed around corners, flat out full throttle on straights, and in mid air!! The object is not to kill the opponent. All you want to do is pass ’em and move on. If you spend too much time trying to eliminate the other riders, you waste time which isn’t cool ’cause you need to finish in the top four on each track to move on to the next level. Since there are five tracks in each level and five levels you’ve really got to hustle.

Button A is for brake, Button B is for go, and Button C is for (here’s the good part!) slap, punch, and kick. Every time you hit the road you face 14 other Road Rashers. As you try to pass by they’ll punch you in the head, kick you into a horizontal position, or, if they’re nice, just run you off the road.

If you’ve heard of this race game and thought it sounded hot, wait until you slap it into your Genesis system and twist the throttle! Road Rash enables you to race a high tech sportbike against 15 other bikers who try to beat you to the finish and also try to beat you over the head. While you retaliate you must avoid cars, cows, cops, trees, rocks, and just about every inconvenience imaginable while cruisin’ the best of California’s backroads at 140 mph.

Game Reviews

It is pretty crazy to think that the original Road Rash is the better part of 30 years old! This was and is a real landmark title for their Sega Genesis and one of the big hits for EA (before they sold their souls) and it was a huge exclusive for the Sega Genesis which would see two sequels released before the series went multiplatform.

Hotel California

This first Road Rash game is set in California. You have five different races that you need to compete in, each one based on a different part of California. You need to finish from 1st to 3rd place in order to advance to the next race. While at first glance, Road Rash may seem like it is just another motorcycle racing game. It is actually, far, far more than that.

Cruising For A Bruising

While racing is, of course, the main aspect of Road Rash. This is illegal motorcycle street racing we are talking about! As a result, there are no rules and you are greatly encouraged to fight the other racers. You can punch and kick them when you are close enough and you can even take weapons from them such as clubs and chains and use them.

Be careful as they can hit you too! You do have a stamina meter which you have to keep an eye on. Also, you can crash and come flying off your bike, causing you to have to run back to it. You can even get hit by cars that are on the road. Road Rash is a rather challenging game as you have to really pay attention to what you are doing, but this is a really fun experience and one that is super addictive.

Bike RPG?

Ok so calling the original Road Rash an RPG is a bit of a stretch, but I do feel that it has somewhat could be described as RPG elements. You see, money plays a bit part in the game. You start off with just a grand in your pocket, but the better you do the more money you make and you will need more money!

You can purchase new and better bikes, but you also need money to pay for repairs and even fines if you get busted by the cops. If you run out of money and cannot pay for a repair after your bike is wrecked or if you cannot pay the cops, it is game over.

I love the original Road Rash and feel that it still holds up very well to this day. While I will always have a soft spot for the original Sega Genesis version of the game, it was ported to other consoles eventually such as the 3DO and the original PlayStation with better graphics, presentation, and sound so they are also worth checking out.

Pros:

The racing is a lot of fun
The tracks are super long and intense
Fighting other bikers is really cool
It is kind of funny when you fly off your bike
The way the game deals with money is kind of like an RPG

Cons:

The frame rate is a little erratic at times
I do feel that the sequel is just a tad better

Bikes and violence tend to go together, thanks to Hell’s Angels and those weird people from the Saturn car commercials. Putting them together deliberately has long been the job of Electronic Arts, with its bestselling series of Road Rash games.The original Genesis game caused a huge stir when it was released several years ago. This latest Saturn conversion of the game is no disappointment.

The graphics, although not quite as silky as in the previous PlayStation incarnation, are certainly a lot better than the 3DO game’s visuals. Smooth-scrolling road terrain flashes past as you attempt to dismount competing racers with maximum force. Race game though it certainly is at heart, Road Rash could never be described as a sport, since none of your activities are particularly sportsmanlike.
The wealth of options is useful, but the handiest of all is the inclusion of a simultaneous two-player, split-screen game.’ Woo-hoo! In two-player mode, Road Rash is elevated from an interesting diversion to an all-out road-war. The strategy involved in arcing and fighting your way through the various tracks is super-
snse.You can also block out your opponent by trapping him behind you. In short, the possibilities are limitless.

One of the coolest things about Road Rash is the soundtrack.This extra musical dimension was obviously missing from the Genesis game, but the CD consoles have music by the bucketful, as well as some totally bitchin’ sound effects.The Saturn version in particular sounds very crisp and clear. Trying to spot the difference between this and the PlayStation version is not an easy task.
Electronic Arts is really starting to come through with the goods for Saturn owners, and after a fairly quiet year (thanks to the long delay of Madden for’ PlayStation) it finally looks like the boys are back in town.

Hyperhint:

Fighting may be cool, but it’s not always the smartest thing to do. If you’re concentrating on trying to beat an opponent, you could well lose your place in the overall race. A far smarter strategy is to concentrate on racing first and fighting second. If someone’s getting in your way, attack ’em with any force necessary, by all means; otherwise, avoid them. Also, like any racing game, try to find the racing line through corners.

Graphics – 7

Sound/FX – 8

Gameplay – 8

Rating – 8

Fans who are still itching for the radical Road Rash action they found on the Genesis will welcome this one-meg Game Boy cart. Riding high-performance bikes and brandishing clubs and chains, gamers take on 15 other competitors in one-player races. Your behind-the-bike view shows you five rough-and-tumble Western locations such as the Palm Desert, Sierra Nevada mountains, and Pacific Coast.

People say:

Like most Game Boy versions of big-name games, I had my doubts about Road Rash. I figured it’d be another watered-down kid’s game. I was wrong. While Road Rash on the Game Boy isn’t quite as robust as recent installments on home systems (which is to be expected to a degree), it does a great job at providing the experience in handheld form. In fact, it reminds me of the Genesis version of Road Rash. The title has a ton of bikes to buy once you work your way up the ranks of the money winners, and plenty of racers and cops to knock around with different types of weapons (it’s hard to see the difference in the weapons though). The scaling effect on tracks is the game’s most impressive feature–you have to see it to believe it. Also the control is surprisingly solid for being digital. Thankfully, the game is quite challenging too, so you’re kept on your toes most of the time. The courses aren’t terribly different however, so the races do get boring after awhile. Of course you can always bust out a Link Cable and go for some two-player fun.

Overview

It’s a lazy Saturday afternoon, and little Johnny and his friends are sitting around trying to think up something to do. “You know what it’s time for?” Johnny asks, a sardonic grin spreading across his face. “Road Rash!” Then Johnny pops his Swervedriver CD into the hi-fi, cranks up “Last Train to Satansville” and grabs a chain. Bobby and Suzy don brass knuckles and Ricky snags a Louisville Slugger from the toy box as the sound of revving dirt bikes roars across the neighborhood. Just some kids out for a nice afternoon of beating the living hell out of each other, or something more sinister?

If you have any shred of political correctness in you, you should NOT buy this game … if, on the other hand you were the kind of kid who liked those bubble gum cards with the repulsive caricatures of various monster-truck driving, motorcycle-revving thugs on them, then this game is the answer to all your violent adolescent fantasies. Finally, if you are the parent of a young Johnny or Suzy who already owns a dirt bike and a bad attitude, you may wish to purchase something a little less inciting than Road Rash. The opening screen for the game even goes so far as to feature a lengthy disclaimer, similar to what MTV added to episodes of Beavis and Butt-head following the, ah, excesses of some of their viewers.
This first joint project from Electronic Arts and Papyrus — the kings of racing games — scores some points for audio achievement and gameplay, but has some noticeable weak points, the adolescent-toned overkill throughout definitely being one of them.

Hardware Requirements

Well, I’ve got to start here, because in a word, they’re ridiculous! Yes, even Grandma has a Pentium in her Packard Bell these days, but on my P-166 Road Rash jerked and hopped and choked in 640×480 full screen mode and the videos never ran no matter what settings I tried to coax from my nearly brand new ATI Xpression. Simply inexcusable given the talents of EA and Papyrus … but then, EA did release The Need for Speed SE with enough hardware incompatibilities in the video subsystem that the local Computer City had a stack of ten returns piled in a box by the time I returned my copy.

Editor’s Note: we tried Road Rash on three high-end Pentium systems, all with name-brand video cards, sound cards, CD-ROMs, etc. but to no avail. We are looking into these problems with EA and will let you know what we find out.

Installation and Setup

This went fairly smoothly until the game installed the DirectX drivers; then everything went black … or rather, pinkish-orange, and my system hung. On rebooting it popped Windows 95 into safe mode and it took me a good 20 minutes to resolve all the conflicts and get back to almost normal. And I work with Windows 95 everyday, so let the less technologically savvy out there install at their own risk.

Controls

Pretty standard fare: joystick or keyboard. My SideWinder did fine, but has to be recalibrated each time before entering the game or the game options screen has a seizure and I can just about forget about playing. Keyboard controls are straightforward, but pretty inadequate for driving a motorcycle. Guess that’s why they build ’em with throttles and not ALT keys…

Gameplay

It’s no secret that EA and Papyrus are the forces to be reckoned with in racing games, and they nearly come through again here — the racing model is almost entirely taken from The Need for Speed, with the nice additions of crossroads, merging traffic, stop lights and hapless pedestrians. Another nice touch is, of course, the weapons at your disposal. While there are no double-barreled shotguns or heat-seeking missiles, there are baseball bats, chains and nightsticks. At the outset, you’re unarmed and must kick and punch your way past better-armed opponents, but, you quickly figure out that if you swing at a fellow thug at the right time, you can grab his weapon and use it against him — including the cops and their nightsticks. It makes for an interesting battle to be traveling at 120 MPH beating on a cop with a chain while he beats at you with his nightstick, and some other punk is trying to kick your bike out from under you. Clearly this aspect of the game was given the most attention in the development cycle as I’ll explain below.

Audio

It’s odd that EA and company didn’t call this game Awesome Music … And Oh Yeah, Some Motorcycle Thugs. You’ve got Soundgarden, Hammerbox, Swervedriver, Therapy?, Paw, and Monster Magnet combining for 14 hard-edged, excellent tracks on the CD. $45 for a killer music CD might be a little steep, but this is truly the best part of this game. The music sets a dark, driving, totally appropriate tone for the game, but is actually a bit too mature for the ridiculous illustrations and otherwise childish tones elsewhere in the game.

Video

Bleah! SVGA (640×480) mode is really nice to look at, but I guess it takes a P-200 or better to get it to run smoothly enough to play decently. In 320×200 mode it runs very nicely, but it looks kind of like an impressionist version of motorcycle racing at that resolution. Maybe I’ll go computer shopping and see what I can get…

Computer salesperson: “Can I help you?”

Me: “Yeah, how much for the Cray?”

Computer salesperson: “Two million dollars.”

Me: “OK. Will it run Road Rash?”

Computer salesperson: “Uh, well, how much memory were you gonna put in it?”

Me: “Oh, forget it…”

Customization

This is a very cool feature in Road Rash… unlike the static settings in The Need for Speed or the overly technical nuances in Indycar and NASCAR, Road Rash lets you purchase any of a dozen or more bikes with your winnings. It doesn’t let you do much beyond that, but the variety in bike style and performance makes this an interesting feature and makes each race take on more significance, as you are not only often learning how to tweak a new bike for maximum performance, you’re also trying to rack up wins to get enough money for that really sleek red machine back in the bike shop.

Enemy AI

Nothing to write home about. In the first few races (each race course gets longer as you progress through the classes, from road-rat to accomplished thug) the other racers are easy to beat as long as you stay upright and the cross-traffic doesn’t pick you off. As you progress, though, they get better — not in knocking you off your bike so much as they get faster and more able until, like other EA and Papyrus racers, they can basically beat you just by showing up … you’re up against a computer, so it can choose how bad or good it is after all. I’d tell you about playing against human opponents, but I could never even get the modem interface to recognize my modem, much less dial out, so maybe it’s cool. The interface sure isn’t.

System Requirements

Windows 95, Pentium 75, 16 MB RAM, 2X CD-ROM drive, 25 MB hard drive space, SVGA video card capable of “direct draw,” keyboard

Recommended: Pentium 120, 4X CD-ROM drive, 16 MB RAM, SVGA video card with 2 MB RAM, sound card, joystick

Reviewed on: Pentium-166, 40 MB RAM, 6X CD-ROM drive, ATI Xpression 3D, SoundBlaster AWE32, SideWinder Pro

Bottom Line

Road Rash is a great concept carried to an extreme, both in hardware requirements and juvenile attitude. With the likes of EA and Papyrus behind this title, it should have had the best of both companies’ impressive qualities; instead it seems to have carried over the worst mistakes of their past racing titles — Papyrus’ blocky graphics and EA’s recurring hardware-compatibility difficulties. Still, even with its drawbacks, I did find myself playing it for quite a few hours and having quite a bit of fun. Overall I rate it a 72. So much promise … it should have been so much better.

Editor’s Note

We’ve received a lot of feedback about this review, mostly from people who haven’t had any problems with the game and wonder why it was only rated a 72. Most of those who wrote in suggested we get a different video card to test the game on. In fact, the game was tested on three separate machines, all of which had trouble with the graphics. We have subsequently tested the game on a machine running a Matrox Millennium and it ran fine. The cards that had problems with it were the ATI Xpression 3D, the Diamond Stealth 64 and the STB Lightwave 128. These cards all perform admirably with almost every other title we have tested on them, but not with Road Rash. It is fine for our readership to suggest to us that we test a game on numerous video cards, processors, etc., as that is part of our job as reviewers. However, we feel that it is also our duty as reviewers to warn the buying public about glitches, bugs or installation/gameplay difficulties that the commercial web sites, publishers and magazines might not bother to mention, since most people can’t afford to run out and buy a new video card just because a certain software title is picky about the cards it likes.

Surprise, surprise, surprise–Road Rash on the PlayStation. This game has all of the spills and thrills of the other Road Rash titles. If you love fast-action motorcycle racing, then this game is for you.

It will be available for the Sony PlayStation when the system is launched Sept. 9 in North America.

The game has all of your favorite bikes and some new weapons (five of them in fact) that will help you get back at the guy who just knocked you off your bike or rudely cut you off.

If you’re a Road Rash fan, you’ll want to kick start your PlayStation library with this game. It’s a translation of the 3DO Road Rash with some new tracks and a few new twists and turns.

There are no rules. In this version you can buy upgrades to improve your tires, performance and suspension. These kits will give you quicker acceleration and help you finish in the money.

There’s also a new Snitch Mode that allows you to rat on another biker and decrease your own fine at the same time. When you rat on someone, you’d better have eyes in the back of your head because they’ll get you for it in the end.

Road Rash is back and badder than ever. This is the ultimate street racing game, and it rocks on the 3DO. It comes with all the whips, chains, and 180-mph high jinks that the first two versions of Road Rash for the Genesis had.

Multiply that by 100 and you’ll have found the secret formula that makes Road Rash kick fun into the 3DO.

The awesome music is the icing on the cake. The game was actually shot on real streets and highways, with hundreds of hours of full-motion footage shot, digitized, then put together to make up this game.

The rules are basically the same, but this time the police are a little smarter and harder to get away from. No leaving your bike and hiding behind a cow or a tree and waiting for them to leave.

The pace is fast and the driving’s hard as you strive to buy your dream bike. What more can you ask for with all of this in a single CD? Well, there’s more!

TEAR UP THE ROAD WITH THE FINEST HIKES AROUND

The 1000-cc Diablo Vipera N worth $40,000 or the 900-cc Stiletto Assassino N worth $35,000 are two bikes to choose from.

There are five levels with five tracks in each; the Sierra Nevada, the city, Napa Valley, the Peninsula, and the Pacific Highway. Each course presents its own challenges, including avoiding cops and running into zombie pedestrians. If you don’t place in the four, you’ll finish out of the money and won’t be able to buy your dream bike. If you like a game with fast action and lots of twists, turns, and challenges, then your wait is over. Time to smoke the tires and get back to this game, I can’t get enough of it!

No limits and no rules, Road Rash for the PlayStation has you racing on the hottest super bikes ever to breeze the pavement. The competition is racer vs. racer in a no-holds-barred race to the finish. Fast bikes, cheating tactics and a jacket full of weapons is the way to get through the levels and make a name for yourself while earning some respect.

Choose from the eight characters, each of whom has his or her own starting cash as well as a preferred motorcycle. At the Main Screen you can choose to shop for a new bike at Olley’s Skoot-A-Rama or hang out at Der Panzer Klub to soak up some gossip and sign up for an upcoming race. At the Race Screen you can choose from any of the five races that comprise the level. After all of the first level races are completed, you advance to the second level where the tracks get longer and the competition is more challenging.

Road Rash’s graphics and play are smooth but seem to copy the 3DO version a little too closely, barely putting to use the added muscle of the PlayStation. Play is still fun and exciting, but not as impressive as the owners of PlayStations had hoped this release would be.

The soundtrack features more than 14 songs by artists such as Soundgarden, Swervedriver and Paw. This gives you upbeat music to thrash to as you risk your life on the aluminum and plastic rockets of death.

The courses have you racing through five different stages in different areas of the country. In one race you may be racing through the countryside on a four-lane highway and the next in a city dodging cars and mindless pedestrians whose only purpose is to get in your way.

Road Rash for the PlayStation continues the game’s reputation and brings PS owners a good version of their old favorite. This release mainly comes in as a teaser, making players long for RR2 or even RR3 for the PlayStation.

DON’T WASTE TIME

The key to advancing to the winner’s circle is not to waste time smashing skulls during the race. As fun as it may be, your best option is to put more focus on your racing skills and avoid ending up on the hood of an oncoming car. The higher you place in a race; the more money you earn to get a better bike that will increase your chances in the next race. But if you have a top speed 50 mph faster than all the others you are racing against, you can stop and bash a few opponents off of their motorcycles.

TEDIOUS PROGRESSION

Having a bike that is 10 times better than your opponents’ is your only chance to repeatedly blow through the stages. Your beginning bike is good enough to win any of the five races in the first level, but when you hit the second level you will find it tough to place in any race without the help of a better bike. To advance to the next level, you are expected to place in each of the five races. Without a faster bike you will only be running on two cylinders. Your best option is to race any four of the races and keep on racing (and winning) them until you get enough money to purchase a bike better than the opposition. Imagine hitting the second level with the fastest $40,000 kamikaze super bike.

MANUFACTURER – Electronic Arts
DIFFICULTY – Moderate
THEME – Racing
NUMBER OF PLAYERS – 1

It will be available for the Sony PlayStation when the system is launched Sept. 9 in North America.

The game has all of your favorite bikes and some new weapons (five of them in fact) that will help you get back at the guy who just knocked you off your bike or rudely cut you off.

If you’re a Road Rash fan, you’ll want to kick start your PlayStation library with this game. It’s a translation of the 3DO Road Rash with some new tracks and a few new twists and turns.

There are no rules. In this version you can buy upgrades to improve your tires, performance and suspension. These kits will give you quicker acceleration and help you finish in the money.

EA’s Road Rash was popular on the Genesis – so much so that it prompted last year’s sequel, Road Rash 2. It’s only natural that it
would make a run to the portable market, and U.S. Gold’s Game Gear version revs up some minimotorcycling fun!

You’re Not Pedaling Those Wares

The story begins with some friendly off-track cycling. Okay, so there’s nothing friendly about it as racers take their bikes to 150 mph
while kicking, punching, and clawing their competition. Winning is simple: Handle your throttle and keep your opponents from
throttling you. If you’re lucky, you’ll clean up with some greenbacks to get your-self a better bike.

Controlling your bike and your rider’s actions is a piece of cake. There’s little more to it than keeping your cycle between the lane lines
and taking an occasional poke at a nearby racer. Just be sure you don’t get taken out yourself on some corner. The action gets more
intense – and more difficult to get through in one piece – as you successfully compete from race to race.

Riding a Vicious Cycle

The graphics are very clean, Especially given the size of the screen. The animations of the niders don’t need to be too extensive, but
they are easy to see on the Game Gear. The landscape graphics move by seamlessly and without a flicker. You’ll quickly get caught
up in the behind-the-bike perspective, leaning as you swoop through tight turns on the beautiful road.

The audio treatment in Road Rash is equally good, offering ample sound effects and accompanying music. The sounds don’t get in
the way, but it’s still easy to get into the action as the tires chatter and your opponents thump to the pavement as they slide out in the
turns.

Give Me a Brake!

All the elements put together create a wonderful game – and a real task to battle through. It’s a lot of fun to work from level to level, to
conquer the windy roads and your quality competitors. The challenge is high, so you’ll have hours of fun in the Road Rash.

ProTips:

Obviously, it’s most Important to stay on your bike. Keep your eyes peeled for obstacles in the road, like cars and animals.
Get used to pumping the accelerator while holding down the Punch button – that Is, if you wairl to play the part of the tough biker.
Natasha and the others will give you pre-race advice. Keep your eyes open for it.

Manufacturer: Electronic Arts
Machine: Sega CD

This bike-riding’, skull-crushing game has always been great fun in the past, so what the hell happened to this version? The low-grade graphics and backgrounds combine with some unknown rock band’s music (Hammerbox?) to take a great title to new lows.

Your on the race course with a brand new cycle. Win the race to earn more money. Use your winnings to buy faster and better cycles!

Ready to experience the thrill of a motorcycle road race combined with the excitement of a barroom brawl? It so, then you’re ready for Road Rash! In this race, you had better not look back or take an eye off the competition, because they are just waiting to pull you off your bike. This game is not for anyone with slow reflexes! One false move and you can expect to plow into a parked cow. Only the best biker will make it to the winner’s circle.

Road Rash debuts on the Sega CD with an uneven but exciting version of the top motorcycle thrashing game. This disc, which blends the phenomenal tunes and full-motion video of RR 3DO with simpler, bit-mapped courses, will thrill Genesis Rashers but disappoint 3DO gamers.

Crack that Chain

Like the 3DO version, this Rash pits you against five tracks in such California locations as Napa Valley, the Sierra Nevadas, and the Pacific Coast. With a club or chain in hand, you race and fight through Thrash mode, which lets you pick any track on any level. Or tackle Big Game where you assume an identity and save your green for better bikes as you battle though the levels.

Sadly, Rash on the Sega CD lacks the 3DO’s breathtaking scenery and the Genesis’s two- player simutaneous racing and endless options. But you’ll have a blast clobbering the pack and dashing to the finish even without these niceties.

ProTip: Take blind turns and rises on the right side.

Ram Rash

The graphics peel out with striking full-motion-video cinematics that pump you up before a race, reward your victories, and mock your defeats with hilarious put-downs. Once you hit the streets, though, the graphics return to the less dazzling 16-bit realm. Realistic backgrounds provide a pretty backdrop to bland foregrounds lined with pedestrians and other obstacles.

Unfortunately, the slight pause between pressing a button and the onscreen response dampens the kind of high speed reactions that redline the intensity. The controls otherwise respond ably; as you sink money into better bikes, you’ll feel what you’re paying for.

Black Sun

With killer grunge tunes from hot bands like Sound- garden, the rockin’ music perfectly accompanies the rough-n-tumble action. You can even change songs when you pause!

The nice sound-mixing feature enables you to fine-tune the blend of music, engine roars, and sound effects. Although the hard-drivin’ engine noises energize the action, you’ll turn down the other effects after your first race.

Despite its shortcomings, this disc’s amusing cinematics, thrilling gameplay, and increasingly difficult levels will draw you in. The Rash has finally arrived on the Sega CD!

On the City course, keep an eye out for pedestrians. Mowing one down can wreck you — especially at low speeds.
When approaching someone from behind with the club, hold Up and press Button C to clock them as you pass.

There are no laws in the Road Rash Jungle. Forget about going in circles on some wimpy track. In this insane, two-player motorbike racing simulation game cum beat-em-up with ultra-authentic multi-scrolling graphics, you ride your mean machine over even meaner streets and roads. It’s a free-for-all, which fists and feet are flying, as you have complete, unlimited access to the public roads in five, different locations — no coppers allowed! Dodge your way around enraged motorists, slow moving cows, and other bikes are other equally crazy and competitive riders to be exact! There’s no mercy on the streets of Road Rash.

Road Rash is a series of games developed and published by Electronic Arts between 1991 and 1996. The game is a motorcycle arcade racing simulator, and the debut was made in 1991 on Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. The game and two following sequels followed later on for the PSP. The game was licensed in 2004 for Game Boy.

Road Rash features violent illegal street racing, with police following sometimes, and the player can choose from up to eight different bikes. All the tracks are from the United States and California on long two-lane roads. The multiplayer engine only allowed two players to play in turns.
There are different levels through each player has to pass, starting with Sierra Nevada (CA 89), Pacific Coast (CA 1), Redwood Forest (no highway), Palm Desert (CA 74) and Grass Valley (CA 49). The tracks depict California States Routes or highway shields.

There are also two weapons to choose from: clubs and chains. Players can win races by being placed on first, second, third or fourth in each of the tracks, which is a bit weird, because all the racing games nowadays request players to get the first place to advance. After the player gets past all tracks, they become longer, the opponents faster and better, and the stake is much higher.

The game was played in third-person and, by placing in the first three on each track, the player earned money which could have been used for buying faster and better bikes. Unfortunately the game was over if the player didn’t have enough money to repair the wrecked motorcycle or to pay for being arrested.

The game was made available for Game Gear, Sega Master System, Nintendo Game Boy and Commodore AMIGA later on, but Road Rash, the original game, was the only one to have been distributed onto other consoles and computer.

The original came was received very well by critics and players. It received very favorable reviews in Mean Machines magazine, and an overall score of 91% for the music, graphics and gameplay. The game released on Commodore AMIGA received an overall rating of 84%. Road Rash won several awards over the time, with the Electronic Gaming Monthly giving three awards in 1994. The Best Driving Game, Best Music in a CD-Based Game and the Best 3DO Game in 1994 were offered to this production by the publication.

Electronic Arts released a statement two years ago, saying they are working on the next generation Road Rash, but nothing more has been heard yet.

The Rash screeches onto the PlayStation with the same motorcycle combat that pushed it to the top of the Genesis pack.

Although this is a tuned-up version of Road Rash 3DO, EA did a fine job of jacking up the speed and cleaning up the graphics. If you never conquered the 3DO Rash, you’ll find plenty of intense racing blended with fierce fighting. The controls, though stiffer than previous versions’, still respond keenly.

Graphically, you streak past beautifully detailed California landscapes, though some of the sprite animations stutter slightly. On the sound side, unrealistic effects interfere with the killer soundtrack, which features top bands like Soundgarden.

The gameplay calls for excellent driving more than heroic combat, but you still won’t want to relinquish the controller. This Road’s well worth the toll at the cash register.

ProTips:

Kick pesky opponents off the road.
Stick to the yellow line, where It’s easier to respond to oncoming obstacles.

Combat racing like no other blasts onto the PlayStation. Road Rash, the motorcycle racing/combat game that has built up a loyal following in the 16-bit arena, features photorealistic, texture-mapped 3D graphics that imbue the five racing locales and your opponents with realistic color and atmosphere. Plus, you and a friend can link up for two-player combat.

As in the 3DO version, you’ll open ‘er up across the Sierras, the Peninsula, the City, Napa Valley, and the Pacific Coast Highway, battling Road Rashers who are rendered in 24-bit color. With music from such alternative-rock bands as Soundgarden, the sizzling soundtrack pumps up the volume and your adrenaline. This version also includes full-length music videos from Paw and Swervedriver.

Video gaming’s premier motorcycle racer tears onto the PlayStation with all the features that made it a classic. Careen through Northern California across five photorealistic, texture-mapped tracks (the City, the Sierras, the Peninsula, Napa Valley, and the Pacific Coast Highway). Anything goes, including whaling on your opponents with fists, chains, clubs, and other weapons.

In addition to the beautifully detailed courses, the game kicks into high gear with live-action video sequences, hard-driving music from six A+M bands like Soundgarden, and two full-length music videos from Paw and Swervedriver.

Road Rash has been an incredibly successful series of games for Electronic Arts. APart from sterling Genesis and 3DO games, Road Rash has had a sequel, a groovy soundtrack and a couple of vague rip-offs, including EA’s own Skitchin’ and Sony’s ESPN Extreme Games for the PlayStation. Now however, PlayStation fans get their chance to have a go at the real thing. Road Rash Racing, the single most dangerous pursuit since appearing on the Howard Stern show.

The PlayStation version of the game at first sight appears to be a direct port of the 3DO game. That’s a pretty accurate description of what it is. Given time, Electronic Arts could have come up with something a little more visually dynamic than this. In its defense, Road Rash for the PlayStation is the fastest, smoothest version so far, and hey, it comes on a black disc, so it’s cooler too.

The problem is that in terms of gameplay, it’s exactly the same deal. Drive along, knock people off their motorcycles, earn money, win races, buy a new bike, participate in acts of horrifying violence at high speeds, eat two-lane blacktop for lunch…wait, what am I saying?This is awesome!

Strap on your helmets, rashers, and prepare to thrash through the best set of Road Rash races to emerge from EA! This stunning game will tempt many racers to spring for a 3DO system.

Better For Ever

There’s a rash o’ racin’ in this wildly entertaining game. The five levels send you battling through five all-new tracks in San Francisco, the Pacific Coast, Napa Valley, and other areas around California. Rashers choose between Thrash mode, where you tackle any race at any level, or Big Came mode, where you develop a character, save your money for better bikes, and work through each level.

Builam version, improvesaded roads and multi the finish line. But there just to ride bikes face cops, chains, clubs, punches, and kicks as you thrash through this heated mix of racing and combat.

Fortunately, you can fight back: The bikes handle smoothly, and with practice, you’ll learn to clobber your fellow racers into submission.

Beautiful Rash

The striking graphics immediately grab your attention. Superb digitized backgrounds will leave many players gaping at the scenery, and every car, sign, and billboard flashes by with uncanny realism. Humor-ous full-motion cinematic clips pop up at every juncture, rewarding you for winning and taunting you for failing.

To top it off, music by killer bands like Soundgarden keep your pulse thumping. The sound effects, from the roaring engines to the howls of the pedestrian you just mowed down, wash through the room with remarkable clarity.

Tight Riding

Despite this sensory feast, veteran rashers will find the allenging than previous version. You just don’t wreck as easily-if you ram a car, you’ll often just bump around it. As the levels progress, though, even advanced gamers will be challenged by the high speeds and longer tracks. The only true disappointment is the lack of simultaneous two-play-er racing, which would’ve intensified the competition.

If you don’t own a 3DO, you won’t regret the bucks you dish out to rent a system and this, gabie. And if you do, you gotta get the Rash!

ProTips:

To quickly ditcti an opponent, kick ’em off toe rood. In dties, you can pulverize your foes by booting them Into walls at intersections!
Don’t blaze recklessly over Mils or through Mind turns on the wrong side of the road-an oncoming car will frequently take you down.