Road Redemption Review (Sintag)
I'm gonna break my rusty cage!
Road Redemption is a biker game that seeks to be a spiritual successor to the Road Rash franchise of games. For those who don't speak 80's/90's gaming, think motorcycle racing meets road combat. For those that do, yes, the wonderful nostalgic feeling you're getting is all-natural and perfectly harmful to your wallet, you don't need to call a doctor.
Road Redemption's story is simple; There's been an apocalypse. The highways and, strangely enough, oddly-dense rooftops of America, now thoroughly populated by Australians, are lawless killing grounds. On these grounds, a man thought to be invincible found out via 7.62 that he wasn't, courtesy of an assassin. The cartel he was a part of has put a hit on this assassin. Mayhem ensues as everyone and their literal mother saddles up on their motorcycles and sets out to out-Hell's Angels their way to the bounty.
Gameplay-wise, this is a successor to Road Rash with a roguish twist. That's right, it's our favorite rogue-lite mechanics back at it again in another game where I'd argue they don't really belong. Every time you get wasted, you're able to upgrade yourself and better parts of the game, such as beginning with a pistol, or being able to skip some stages. Most of the improvements, I find, tend to be 'raise your base stat'-type improvements, which is fine enough, but most of your improvement as a player is going to come from the same place as other rogue-likes: Over a mound of your dead bodies. If this isn't your style, turn back now.
Graphically, it's fine. There's nothing offensive, the game itself is a pretty lightweight thing, and when you're moving at high speeds and readability takes priority, that is very much a beloved thing. Special enemies are denoted with icons, again reminiscent of 90's game design, giving a bounty of resources, or being pains in the neck who block harder than a deodorant commercial's claims.
Road Redemption is, by design and nature, replayable indeed, with the challenges randomizing before every run, and if you really want to go mad, the New Game + mode offers utterly randomized everything as opposed to linear progression, which can make for quite the rollercoaster ride in terms of difficulty; One early challenge might send you against endgame enemies, only for the next to hurl you back into the early game's enemies. It's good if you want a taste of utter madness, just be forewarned that the game will enjoy throwing gut-shots at you with reckless abandon.
Overall, is it worth 20$? Yes, BUT only if you enjoy rogue-lites or have some serious nostalgia for Road Rash. It's otherwise a great 'sale' purchase, as while I did enjoy my time with Road Redemption, I can easily see quite a few issues with the game; Some characters' challenges are more or less just artificial locks masquerading as difficulty, the combat can quickly get kind of repetitive and same-y, especially once you get guns and get good at gunfights on motorbikes, and the rogue-lite nature, while allowing for improvement, also means a single slip-up can spell a doomed run or a slope too steep to climb back up.
But on the bright side; If all else fails, this game comes with a free Killing Floor 2 weapon. So... There's that?