RoadKill
GTA III + Twisted Metal: Black - Intelligence = RoadKill
Published: December 20, 2003
Remember in the movie Twins how Arnold Schwarzenegger got all the good genes and ended up with arms like tree trunks, and Danny DeVito got what was left? He was short, annoying and tried more than a few times to be like his bigger, burlier bro, but there was still something endearing about the guy. In a world where GTAIII and Vice City are the Arnold's, games like RoadKill are the Danny's; utterly incapable of matching the greatness of the original yet still somehow enjoyable in their own way.
There's no mistaking the fact that RoadKill desperately wants to be Grand Theft Auto III. I could go on and on pointing out all the little areas where Midway bit the style off of Rockstar North's do-anything epic, but the simple fact of the matter is, plenty has been duplicated on a slightly less advanced engine by slightly less experienced developers. The injection of Twisted Metal: Black-style post-apocalyptic elements are an oddly fitting addition to the whole stew, but again it's rather obvious that major inspiration was drawn from both games. The biggest difference between RoadKill and its inspiration, however, is the fact that you can't actually get out of the vehicle you're in. Take that as you will, as it does limit the sense of immersion, but in the car combat-fueled world of RoadKill, stepping out on foot is probably a pretty foolish idea.
You play Mason, a permanently 5 o' clock shadow-stricken foul-mouthed toughie just trying to make ends meet on his way to fabled Paradise City, a glitzy metropolis that supposedly escaped a plague called The Rot that wiped out nearly everyone on the planet. Most of RoadKill's world is a bleak, dirty, rusty world that lives in constant disarray. Gangs own the streets, Twisted Metal-style car combat is the norm while dashing from one mission to the next in almost picture perfect GTA form, and the world is a generally lawless place to live in.
It's here that you'll experience RoadKill's storyline. The warring gangs and unsavory characters that populate the game's twisty narrative are firmly entrenched in their less that peachy environment and act accordingly. It seems nearly everyone - including the on-air radio chatter you can flip through - has enjoyed a hearty injection of four letter word usage as a byproduct of the post-apocalyptic fallout. Through a series of pre-rendered CG sequences, various thugs and high ranking criminals alike will dole out missions they deem necessary before you can move on to the next part of the city.
Just like the GTA series, the option to take missions or just explore the city is almost always available. Cars, weapons, races, sniper challenges, survival modes, and more are scattered across the cities. Due to the fact that there is no law, there's no real ruling police state, so RoadKill opts for a RIOT meter. As you kill, the meter slowly fills a letter at a time, the more of the word that gets spelled out, the more frenzied all the pedestrians and vehicles become, firing on you or anything else that moves. Power-ups allow you to either kick on the RIOT in full effect for the aforementioned survival mode or cool it down a notch instantly with a peace icon.
While RoadKill may look and feel quite a bit like Rockstar North's efforts, it's nowhere near as polished or well presented. Missions difficulty can very wildly from mission to mission, and while most vehicles early on look different, they don't exhibit much in the way of performance differences. While there is a nice bit of dark humor tossed into cutscenes and overheard on the radio, the overall feeling is a game that tries too hard to copy games that game before it while leaning heavily on an original storyline. The two don't mesh too well, and as a result, RoadKill's world never really seems like its own.
If nothing else, Terminal Reality should be commended for crafting a nicely detailed trio of cities. All three sections of the world offer ample alleyways and hidden goodies to find. A good 50% of the game's length can be found in just exploring the different environments, but while things are expansive, they aren't exactly pretty. Granted, RoadKill is supposed to look bleak, but the lower texture resolution and limited color palette mean things all start to blend into each other, creating a world that's at once memorable for being so bleak, yet utterly forgettable when it comes to actual locations.
There's also something to be said about crafting the mission cutscenes from pre-rendered CG sequences. The character designs are decent, but they can't really hang with even the 3D GTA games' in-game cinemas when it comes to style. Most of the CG in the game, while passable, suffers from the same lack of detail that keeps most U.S. CG artists' work from looking as polished as the CG from, say, Square or Namco; the whole look just reeks a bit too much of a design student's portfolio rather than some truly engaging, detailed CG.
Aurally, things have a bit more sheen to them. Voice acting across the board is some of the best heard in games of this type and while RoadKill doesn't boast the massive Hollywood voice cast of its Rockstar competition, what's there certainly does the trick. Mason is a bit flat on delivery (and personality), but most of the other characters are nearly instantly fleshed out personality-wise within a few lines a dialogue. Explosions, weapon effects, street chatter and random comments from your gunner or driver are also quite well done.
RoadKill's decision to include selectable radio stations comes as no coincidence. Most of the same styles of radio that were in GTAIII and Vice City are here; talk radio, rock, political discussion, and even a little on-air love advice. Aside from the many opinions cluttering the airwaves, RoadKill also boasts a few music stations with licensed tracks. Most of the tunes in the game are resurrected 70s rock hits from groups like Judas Priest and Blue Oyster Cult. What's amazing is how well the songs work in the game, lending an odd feeling of familiarity, and meshing perfectly with the scorched, dilapidated environments. The work that Section 8 Comedy lent to the improved radio bits is genuinely funny if a bit forced at times.
RoadKill is not Grand Theft Auto, no matter how hard it tries. Still, there's enough originality here and a mildly interesting world to explore, both of which add up to a game that's not quite good enough to recommend to everyone, but those that dig on the premise of mixing GTA with Mad Max and Twisted Metal: Black will probably find enough here to amuse themselves. RoadKill is probably the first real unabashed GTA clone that manages to still work well on its own merits. Definitely worth a rental, and for those that really dig the motif, probably not a bad buy either.
There's no mistaking the fact that RoadKill desperately wants to be Grand Theft Auto III. I could go on and on pointing out all the little areas where Midway bit the style off of Rockstar North's do-anything epic, but the simple fact of the matter is, plenty has been duplicated on a slightly less advanced engine by slightly less experienced developers. The injection of Twisted Metal: Black-style post-apocalyptic elements are an oddly fitting addition to the whole stew, but again it's rather obvious that major inspiration was drawn from both games. The biggest difference between RoadKill and its inspiration, however, is the fact that you can't actually get out of the vehicle you're in. Take that as you will, as it does limit the sense of immersion, but in the car combat-fueled world of RoadKill, stepping out on foot is probably a pretty foolish idea.
You play Mason, a permanently 5 o' clock shadow-stricken foul-mouthed toughie just trying to make ends meet on his way to fabled Paradise City, a glitzy metropolis that supposedly escaped a plague called The Rot that wiped out nearly everyone on the planet. Most of RoadKill's world is a bleak, dirty, rusty world that lives in constant disarray. Gangs own the streets, Twisted Metal-style car combat is the norm while dashing from one mission to the next in almost picture perfect GTA form, and the world is a generally lawless place to live in.
It's here that you'll experience RoadKill's storyline. The warring gangs and unsavory characters that populate the game's twisty narrative are firmly entrenched in their less that peachy environment and act accordingly. It seems nearly everyone - including the on-air radio chatter you can flip through - has enjoyed a hearty injection of four letter word usage as a byproduct of the post-apocalyptic fallout. Through a series of pre-rendered CG sequences, various thugs and high ranking criminals alike will dole out missions they deem necessary before you can move on to the next part of the city.
Just like the GTA series, the option to take missions or just explore the city is almost always available. Cars, weapons, races, sniper challenges, survival modes, and more are scattered across the cities. Due to the fact that there is no law, there's no real ruling police state, so RoadKill opts for a RIOT meter. As you kill, the meter slowly fills a letter at a time, the more of the word that gets spelled out, the more frenzied all the pedestrians and vehicles become, firing on you or anything else that moves. Power-ups allow you to either kick on the RIOT in full effect for the aforementioned survival mode or cool it down a notch instantly with a peace icon.
While RoadKill may look and feel quite a bit like Rockstar North's efforts, it's nowhere near as polished or well presented. Missions difficulty can very wildly from mission to mission, and while most vehicles early on look different, they don't exhibit much in the way of performance differences. While there is a nice bit of dark humor tossed into cutscenes and overheard on the radio, the overall feeling is a game that tries too hard to copy games that game before it while leaning heavily on an original storyline. The two don't mesh too well, and as a result, RoadKill's world never really seems like its own.
If nothing else, Terminal Reality should be commended for crafting a nicely detailed trio of cities. All three sections of the world offer ample alleyways and hidden goodies to find. A good 50% of the game's length can be found in just exploring the different environments, but while things are expansive, they aren't exactly pretty. Granted, RoadKill is supposed to look bleak, but the lower texture resolution and limited color palette mean things all start to blend into each other, creating a world that's at once memorable for being so bleak, yet utterly forgettable when it comes to actual locations.
There's also something to be said about crafting the mission cutscenes from pre-rendered CG sequences. The character designs are decent, but they can't really hang with even the 3D GTA games' in-game cinemas when it comes to style. Most of the CG in the game, while passable, suffers from the same lack of detail that keeps most U.S. CG artists' work from looking as polished as the CG from, say, Square or Namco; the whole look just reeks a bit too much of a design student's portfolio rather than some truly engaging, detailed CG.
Aurally, things have a bit more sheen to them. Voice acting across the board is some of the best heard in games of this type and while RoadKill doesn't boast the massive Hollywood voice cast of its Rockstar competition, what's there certainly does the trick. Mason is a bit flat on delivery (and personality), but most of the other characters are nearly instantly fleshed out personality-wise within a few lines a dialogue. Explosions, weapon effects, street chatter and random comments from your gunner or driver are also quite well done.
RoadKill's decision to include selectable radio stations comes as no coincidence. Most of the same styles of radio that were in GTAIII and Vice City are here; talk radio, rock, political discussion, and even a little on-air love advice. Aside from the many opinions cluttering the airwaves, RoadKill also boasts a few music stations with licensed tracks. Most of the tunes in the game are resurrected 70s rock hits from groups like Judas Priest and Blue Oyster Cult. What's amazing is how well the songs work in the game, lending an odd feeling of familiarity, and meshing perfectly with the scorched, dilapidated environments. The work that Section 8 Comedy lent to the improved radio bits is genuinely funny if a bit forced at times.
RoadKill is not Grand Theft Auto, no matter how hard it tries. Still, there's enough originality here and a mildly interesting world to explore, both of which add up to a game that's not quite good enough to recommend to everyone, but those that dig on the premise of mixing GTA with Mad Max and Twisted Metal: Black will probably find enough here to amuse themselves. RoadKill is probably the first real unabashed GTA clone that manages to still work well on its own merits. Definitely worth a rental, and for those that really dig the motif, probably not a bad buy either.
