This week, there are a few major videogame updates — the release of the new Red Dead Redemption 2 trailer, and Road Redemption is out! One of these updates needs to be discussed a little more in detail.
The surprising thing is that Road Redemption has nothing to do with Road Rash. The developers for both the games are different — and EA is probably regretting not coming up with the idea earlier.
Road Rash was nothing close to a driving simulator, but the greatest immersive gaming experience we could get at the time. Multiple versions were released for the PS and Sega platforms in the 90s, but none gained as much success as the one PC version of Road Rash that we’re all thinking about.
Bike racing games have always trailed behind the car versions. Cars are flashier, and don’t get damaged easily, and are harder to control — and therefore assumed to be more fun. The old Road Rash changed that. The ‘Single player’ required support from multiple external entities. One person typing out the nitrous boost cheat code while the main player continued to race, another person cheering the driver on while advising them to avoid the police, take that shortcut on the Sierra Nevada map and avoid the water on the Pacific Highway!
There were multiple indicators on the dashboard that told us everything we needed to know — crashing multiple times meant your bike’s health status would drop to red; an indicator showing the distance between you and the next player (if long enough, you’d be forced by the people sitting next to you to give up as you’d never catch up).
Road Redemption is a massive upgrade. The game with its high-end graphics focuses on bounty hunting missions in addition to racing — with a co-op campaign mode in addition to competitive multiplayer. The sticks and chains from before are now guns and powerups — which makes knocking people off bikes more fun. Being in a post-apocalyptic world is no deterrent to the police who are still out to get you. Although great, the game stands alone and is probably not as comparable to Road Rash as you’d think. Let’s hope EA comes up with an official new Road Rash game soon!
Why I like to play
Mohammed Kashif
Corporate sales executive, Chennai
I ’ve been gaming for the last 4 years. Dota 2 and Counter-Strike:Global Offensive are my favourite games; I have definitely played them for over 3000 hours.The concept of thinking and working as a team to achieve in-game goals, I find quite thrilling.
Jacob Juanni
Engineering student, Chennai
I t all started off one evening when my cousin made me choose between milkshake from Fruitshop and an hour of Call of Duty at a gaming café. The café is where I went and haven’t looked back ever since. Call of Duty is one of the best things that has ever happened to me.
Anusha Ganapathi
Twitter @quaffle_waffle