Road Rash (loose)

Description

This is a review for both the Game Gear and Master System versions of Road Rash, as there are only a few differences between them (screen size, colour palette and a few graphics), they essentially play the same.

Road Rash was originally released for the Sega Megadrive (Genesis) in 1991 and was ported to the aging Master System and Game Gear around 1993-1994; and what a conversion! This game truly pushes both systems to their limits in terms of graphics and indeed sound, whilst keeping the core elements of what makes the original such a fun game to play in the first place.

If you don't know already, the aim of the game is to participate in a series of illegal road races with 14 other bikers (Rashers) on twisting, turning roads whist using not only speed and skill but punching, kicking and clubbing the other Rashers to death! If the other opponents gunning for you wasn't enough, you also have to avoid general road obstacles such as cars, roadblocks, cattle, slippery oil, mud and sand. Of course, the long arm of the law doesn't take these races lightly and a variety of cops patrol the streets waiting to catch Rashers like you! There's also a wide selection of bikes (all with different speed and handling characteristics) to buy as you win races and work your way through the levels.

Whilst the gameplay remains essentially the same as the Megadrive version, right from the get go there is an obvious framerate decrease due to the conversion down to 8-bit, but you get used to it pretty quickly and it really isn't much of a problem as the bikes still handle very smooth, if anything, the decrease in speed is good to get new players used to the game, as the faster bikes later on are VERY fast! The rest of gameplay is solid, barring minor hit detection issues, what's interesting to note is the other Rashers are nowhere near as aggressive as the 16-bit version and only really attack if you're close by. A lot more emphasis has been put on the cops, seriously, these guys can and will run you into the ground! They actively chase you and wait for you if you fall off your bike. Which brings me to my only gameplay complaint that they could've easily used the police AI for some of the Rashers.