Road Redemption

Fans of Road Rash will find a lot of like in this predominantly nostalgic experience. However, the game has no real staying power, due to the repetitive nature of its gameplay.

Road Redemption may be fun for a short period of time, but it’s not something I will find myself going back to play. It’s not a bad game, it just doesn’t stand out among the array of options available.

It’s fun for awhile but the thrills soon peter out as the scope of combat feels so locked down and restrained compared to what you can do in other games. The inherent limitations of the overall game concept really stand out and the one trick pony nature of a Road Rash game just doesn’t fly today.

Road Redemption is a fun successor to the classic Road Rash, but its inclusion of a roguelike element simply leads to far too much repetition.

While Road Redemption does have its issues, it did more than enough to keep me playing. Following in the tracks of Road Rash, it nails that one more go feeling that you can lose so much time to. However, while the core gameplay is entertaining, the surrounding package could have been better with basic online and and a roguelite structure that some may find uninspired. Road Redemption is a mixed bag that is fun to play, but it could have been so much better.

Road Redemption's combat offers options and the roguelite structure helps give the game a little more life, despite the limited tracks and environments. The physics present some wonky moments and some events are too short for their own good. Still, the upgrades always manage to give you something to chase, even if it's a slow, frustrating start.

Road Redemption feels like a PS2 arcade racer, for better and for worse. The high speed violence is fun to play in the decent roguelite campaign, online, and single races, and a cheesy tone keeps it down to earth. Visually, it's a generation behind, the controls take some getting used to, and there are undeniable performance problems, but there's a certain boldness and "screw you" vibe that somehow overrides these issues. If you're looking for a straightforward game to let loose in, this is a deeply flawed yet surprisingly enjoyable biker brawler.

Beating up folks with a motorcycle between your legs sounds like fun and it is. That being said, Road Redemption simply doesn't provide enough long-lasting gameplay to keep the average gamer entertained for longer than a couple of hours.

Given how long it’s been since I played the game from which this draws such a heavy influence, it’s quite possible that this was how the original Road Rash games played as well. But even if it wasn’t, Road Redemption is such a reasonable facsimile that it makes me feel like it’s a possibility, which seems like an achievement in and of itself. That doesn’t make it a great game (or even a very good one, or even one you should consider buying unless you have a desperate need to relive the ‘90s), but it does make Road Redemption a perfect successor to the games it’s trying to emulate.

Road Redemption delivers exactly what it promises – an accurate recreation of decades-old racing games that maybe weren’t all that hot to begin with. If you legitimately love and have continued to play Road Rash all these years, by all means, give Road Redemption a shot. You’ll probably enjoy it. If the 16-bit era was before your time, or you haven’t touched Road Rash since you returned it to Blockbuster Video in 1993, be prepared for a bumpy ride.

I'm sure there's something good at the core of Road Redemption, but over and over again the developers made some truly horrible decisions that let that core down. Coupled with an attempt to emulate the aesthetic of Mad Max without the slightest understanding on why Mad Max is such a revered series of films, Road Redemption comes across as a wild swing for glory that didn't even come close to connecting with the ball.