Review by: Shawn Quigley

Published: April 16, 1997

Put your leather gloves on, lace up your leather boots, throw on that leather jacket, and prepare yourself for one hell of a ride in Electronic Arts’ Road Rash. This game puts you on top of your motorcycle and challenges you to stay on it while traveling through cities and other surroundings. This is the most aggressive motorcycle game ever to hit the PC.

After installing the game, you are brought into another world of gameplay. The graphics and menu screens are all classic representations of what the menu is. Once the game is loaded, you have the option to either enter right into the Thrash Mode of play, which is modeled after the arcade, or you can take on a personality and enter the Big Game Mode.

In Thrash Mode, you basically just pick the setting of the race and you are off. There are different courses to race on and they vary in style and size. Some of the courses wind around the cliffs along the ocean while others take you for a ride through populated living cities. All the different tracks require you to avoid cars as well as people that are living in that world. For example, while racing through the city, you have to watch out for not only traffic but for pedestrians crossing the road and other hazards along the way. This all has to be done while fighting off the other bikers in the game.

Where the excitement comes into the game is in the Big Game Mode. It is in this mode that you have the opportunity to choose a personality. Each person has different characteristics and different equipment that you begin with. The object in the Big Race Mode is to survive the races to make money — that you then can use to upgrade your bike to move further along in the races. In between each race, you can visit Olley’s Skoot-A-Rama bike shop to trade in your existing bike along with some of your winnings to purchase a new bike. If you’re not upgrading your bike, you may still be spending money in between races by either fixing your bike from damage that occurred during your previous races or paying fines that you accrued from being pulled over by the cops. You also have the opportunity to visit the Der Panzer Klub, where all the Road Rashers hang out when they are not trying to kick your butt. While inside the Klub, you can either spark up conversion with other Rashers or you can sign up for the next race. When talking with other Rashers, you get the chance to find out some inside information about other rashers as well as tips on how to win more races.