Road Avenger

Road Avenger, Sega CD, Data East Corporation, 1993

One day I was digging through some of my unplayed Sega CD games and noticed Road Avenger. I realized I'd never heard of the game, but I loved its title, so into the Sega CD it went.
Mind blown.

How could I not like a game made by "WOLF TEAM?"

Road Avenger is a port of a 1985 Japanese arcade game, Road Blaster. The gist of the game is that you're out to avenge the death of your wife at the hands of an evil biker gang. You've souped up your car to an alarming level, and now you're hitting the mean, animated streets to make the wicked gang pay.

Hey, didn't you read the last paragraph? I JUST souped up this thing! You're gonna get it.

The gameplay is simple--levels are awesomely pre-animated by Toei, the same studio that has animated countless great anime, as well as the 1986 Transformers film. You're basically put inside an incredible action film, featuring the height of 80's animation, to run amok. These pre-animated, full motion video sequences require you to tap either left, right, brake, or turbo when commanded.

I told you you were gonna get it. Also, duh, of course I'm gonna brake.

While this may sound simple, as you drive through Road Avenger's thrilling nine stages, your time window for following commands becomes shorter and shorter. The last few levels require razor sharp  reflexes and memory, particularly the insanely chaotic final stage.

The mortician is gonna wish you wore deodorant! Does deodorant work on a corpse? Do corpses sweat? Road Avenger, you've opened up Pandora's Box!

The nine levels, composed of 15,000 hand-painted cels, and over 30-minutes of animation, feature just about any car chase environment you could want, from a cliff-hugging highway, to an elevated freeway, to a deep-forest logging road, and more. You also get to do just about every awesome car stunt possible, from the ramming off the road basics, to shaking off unwanted rooftop passengers, to jumping over an exploding helicopter. Some of the scenarios the developers have dreamed up are so delightfully over-the-top and outlandish, you'll want to experience them again and again.

Tuesday.

Yes, Road Avenger is essentially one big quicktime event game. However, your actions are so naturally incorporated into in-game events that Road Avenger seldom just feels like it's on rails.  In fact, on the hardest difficulty, you're not even given the commands, and have to figure out which buttons to press given the situation. Of course, inputting the wrong command results in instantly crashing, but isn't that the way it is with actual, high-speed driving?

You know, you drive through a field and get firebombed by attack helicopters, just like real life!

As far as production values go, the animation is incredible. Though there is some grain, its impact to gameplay or to even enjoying the graphics in general is negligible. Sound effects are all pretty awesome, though the squealing brake can be a bit grating. The music is pretty far back in the mix, but it still brings energy to the experience. Also, the opening cinema, which sets up the game's story, features a sweet power-metal ballad.

These kids love it. Get off the damn sidewalk, kids!

Like most games from this period, the player is only given several tries and continues. After that, it's game over, and you've got to start from the beginning. At only nine levels, a straight play-through only takes about half-an-hour, and once you're done, you're done--and it's an identical experience again and again after that...even if it's an awesome one. Also, given how difficult that final level is, having to play all the way through the game to get to it again and again after constant game overs can get a bit old. It doesn't help that, unlike Road Avenger's previous levels, the last doesn't have any checkpoints.

How am I supposed to continue if I can't see, ass?!

Still, though, even with its flaws and short running time, Road Avenger is a singular experience. There's really nothing quite like it on the market today, and there wasn't much like it in the 80's or 90's, either. If you want to pull out a Sega CD game to quickly wow a guest, you can't do much better than Road Avenger.

Vroom, vroom.

Graphics: 8.5/10.0
Sound: 7.0/10.0
Gameplay: 8.0/10.0
Lasting Value: 6.0/10.0
Overall (Not an Average): 8.0/10.0