Unfinished: Road Redemption 10/03/2014

Jason, you are awesome for quoting Soundgarden

Somehow this looks less fun than the original Road Rash.

Soundgarden is RAD.

Gotta say though, based on the first couple minutes of this Quick Look, this game got the music ALL WRONG.

Edit: Okay, it seemed like it got a bit better musically. Then it got worse again.

The roof level seemed rad, but everything else seemed kinda meh.

From that screenshot it reminds me more of Road to Hell: Retribution than Road Rash...

This looks fucking rad. Really dumb, but kind of wonderful. I kind wish they just made a complete Road Rash knock off, but what's here is really intriguing.

Is there some significant difference between the 3do and the sat/psx versions? The sat version was one of my favorite domestic releases.

I want to like this so bad. There's so much cool stuff in it, and the world needs more vehicle combat. If you think about it, Road Rash really was just Burnout but with more graphic violence! But if this game is as finished as they made it sound like it is, then that doesn't bode well. There's so much placeholder-y stuff going on. Even the music sounds like something they found on the Internet and threw in to make it not just be silence. Devs please? I want to buy this, but in this state, I can't make myself do it.

Man, this doesn't seem very good.

No kidding, one of the songs sounds like an Amiga "cracktro".

I liked it when the rider ate shit and went flying through the air.

Er...

That's about it, though!

PewDiePie? Really. Come on devs...

This is a Unity game isn't it? There are some parts that look like they just zoomed the camera right up close to Wasteland 2 assets.

That harpoon gun is dope!

As someone who played a bunch of Road Rash on the Genesis back in the day, this seems pretty close to replicating the old games. I think the music could be better and I'd like a little more variety in the track types (which could be later in the game as Jeff didn't even make it to the Midwest on the map). If this ends up getting ported to consoles, I'll definitely check it out.

Can I be the first to say, fuck local coop? It shouldn't be that hard to implement internet multiplayer. There are options out there that are pretty much made for you, all you have to do is work a bit to implement it. It doesn't have to be great, just allow me to play on the internet. I'm betting more people would use online coop than split-screen, so use one of the netcode middlewares and give us useful multiplayer. Local is great for some games, but online is just as good and far more applicable for the majority of people.

That said, this looks entertaining. Probably a good podcast game, while the enjoyment lasts anyway.

I was hoping this would look better in action than from the early screenshots but I think I'll just go play road rash now

Too bad they didn't get to see the Rainbow Road level...

I played the hell out of Road Rash for the Genesis in the day, and since that game's save battery is dead...

Gut reaction is - really? Guns, axes? The idea was to cheap-shot with blunt weapons like clubs, chains, and electric shocks. The part where you actually killed someone might only be implied by the fact that you brained them and their bike head-on collided with an oncoming vehicle and exploded, not that you actually put a bullet in them yourself.

Darkest timeline is actually a Community reference.

@jarmahead said:

"Can I be the first to say, fuck local coop? It shouldn't be that hard to implement internet multiplayer."

You might be the ONLY person to say "fuck local co-op". Also, any time anyone who isn't a developer for the particular game in question says "You should do X because I think it's easy, although I don't really know how game development works" I cringe. It's 100% not easy to add multiplayer networking code unless the game was designed from it from Day 1.

I'll use Just Cause 2 as an example, because I've heard people use it as an example of "developers are just lazy for leaving out multi-player if modders can add it themselves". It took modders 6 years to finally get on-line multiplayer working for JC2. For professional developers working with their own system, it still can take the better part of a year or more to make internet multiplay work.

On topic, I'm a bit disappointed that this isn't a spiritual successor to Full Throttle.

I'm 99% positive that the names are taken from kickstarter backers who supported above a certain dollar amount.

The PC version of Road Rash is the definitive version of Road Rash. All other versions of Road Rash are inferior. =P

That being said I have the PC and the Sega Genesis versions. I loved that game- played it all the time.

I would be on board with this game if they fix some of the problems with it. However, it's not like anyone else is making these games (I have never understood why not, the only motorcycle combat games are Road Rash, and game with motorcycle combat mini game is Full Throttle) so I may buy it anyway to support a worthy cause.

Don't take this as me supporting bad design developers. No. Don't do it.

Also, I liked Community, but the amount of references this game makes to it alone are kind of absurd.

That's no excuse IMO. It just makes everyone involved look scummy.

I like the Bad Boys 2 style physics where any car getting the smallest bit of lift off the ground goes rolling like crazy.

@cassus: True, but it has involved into such a tired meme with time. I just sigh when I see stuff like that in games.

I've only played the PS1 version of Road Rash, which came alongside Broken Sword and Myst in this strange compilation titled ''Help'' or something...

I really enjoyed Road Rash anywhoo, though since it's the only version I've played I have no idea how it stacks up to the other versions. I was very young at the time (literally like 6-7) so it could have been a total shitshow and I wouldn't have known any better.

Also, I kinda wish this was 2D, or at least had more of a stylised art aesthetic to it. Though it's still 'Unfinished' and all, so.

Really started warming up to this when harpoon boost shit started happening.

Man, at first I thought this just looked worse than Lost and Damned's road rash style racing, but when the harpoons and random explosives showed up, it kinda sold me. Still wish there were no guns or katanas and stuff, only chains, pipes and the like, but still, game looks cool, if not exactly what I'd want out of a modern road rash.

2 seconds in and this Redemption thing is doomed judging by music alone.

YEAHHH, RIPPING!

Early in the video, but so far it looks like Motorstorm on highways ? With bad graphics...

The Spoonman appreciates your Soundgarden reference.

I would rather see a revival of Rocket Jockey.

I don't know, this seems a little rough around the edges but it's got something, man. It's got heart, you know?

Really? That's the thing you gonna complain about? Who cares?!

@jaypb08 said:

Damn, I was wondering if that was Jeff. I was gonna say, that sentence is poetry.

EDIT: Apparently that song was the theme for Road Rash on PS1, so there you go.

The harpoon and jump jets turn this game from a disappointing reimagining of road rash to kickin' rad idea.

I used to work at an EB when the 3DO was released and I made sure Road Rash was always on display. As a side effect, this intro is permanently burned into my brain:

This looks awful. Jeff crashed in to so many cars and just kinda clipped right through them. Yeah, it's early access but I don't see this game getting much more exciting to play.

Edit: Having watched til the end, it does have some pretty neat ideas.

So many people rushing to judge this game. I was one of the Kickstarter backers, and so far I've played 5-6 hours of it. While it's certainly not the most polished game (yet), it's definitely the most fun I've had in a racing game in a long time.

I completely agree. It's kind of absurd, really, but I definitely felt like a line was crossed even when the first hit was delivered in that video and you could see blood spray.

I guess the goofy style of RR on PS1, as well as the fact that all the racers were wearing full gear, always made me feel like everything on screen was safe in a weird way.

@jarmahead:

I'm one of the developers on this game. Implementing online multiplayer is actually a HUGE challenge. It's not trivial at all. You have to account for the fact that you'll have 100ms-200ms lag time, which changes everything. What happens when you think you're one place and your opponent thinks you're 20 feet away?

You also have to figure out what to do with physics. Do you simulate physics on both machines? Just one? How do you get the physics simulations to match up?

As you can see, there are a TON of considerations when implementing online multiplayer that you don't have to worry about when it comes to local multiplayer.

-Ian Fisch

Seems like the GB crew forget halfway through that this is still a very early early access game. Looks very promising to me so far. I'm diggin' the look of new stuff like jump jets and stupid things like battle axes. If you want to be crotchety and play your old ass 3D0 game, go play that. Don't hold back new games from trying new things because you're a nostalgic bastard.

That said, still looks like they've got some tuning to do with the physics and whatnot to give everything some heft, but that's also to be expected in a game this early.

These things have been taken into consideration thousands of times by other developers, see what ideas you like best and use 'em. These aren't new problems. It's a huge challenge, but it's a huge black mark if you don't have it.

Yes I am. It's no different to me than that Shaun White Skateboarding game with the Target ads in it. I didn't even like when Guacamelee referenced Giant Bomb and Nintendo in the background. Nothing brakes immersion more than stupid advertising or pop culture references.

@pudge: immersion? its road rash what kind of deep lore is immersing you in this world?

this game looks terrible

Yep, this game looks like junk.

Loved the Genesis Road Rash games and always hoped for a revival. I'm curious?

this game looks amazing. i hope they don't toy with the crazy physics

OK, someone make Rogue Rash