My Played Video Games Review: Road Rash II for the Sega Genesis

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Road Rash II is a motorcycle racing game with violent elements developed and published by American game development company Electronic Arts (EA) for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive in 1992.

I remember making bets and playing this with my friends with a bootleg copy during the early 1990s. It was pretty good fun because it was a little bit violent.

The Story

Road Rashing is not just a motorsport. It is a raging attitude! Road Rash II is the exciting 2-player racing game with a pretty cool split-screen for identifying between the player racers. Cruising the highways was never this awesome! Spectacular new body-rolling wipe outs! More obstacles to crash into than you can predict. Beat your opponents on 5 new tracks, each with 5 different levels. Swing a metal chain for some traumatic damage! 15 brand new, speedy cycles, including those nitro-boosted Super-Bikes!

The Graphics and Sound

The graphics for the Road Rash games were not exactly that great at that time, but they were still adequate for their intended purpose. You do not need very nice graphics to make a game a hit, and this undeniably proves that. The graphics may not be that great, but they really do not need to be - Road Rash is all about the fun gameplay, not some groovy eye-candy.

Every racing track has got its own music that is playing during races, but the sound effects and tracks are limited. They may not be very good, but they get the job done. Repeated, the music can be annoying. But not too bad to force you to turn it down.

The Gameplay

The setting is that you are in an illegal motorcycle race, riding your bike through the highways against 14 competitors, outrunning any highway patrol police while making sure you do not go into a vehicular accident that sends you rolling across the ground. It is a simple enough idea, and the gameplay of the idea works.

You got to win the races, earn some cash, buy with that cash new faster bikes, and repeat again. Soon enough you'll be buzzing the roads with the ultimate superbike.

Yes, there are no damn rules to follow. You can hit your opponents with punches, kicks or handy weapons to knock them into oncoming traffic or just attempt to knock them off their motorcycle. Some of your opponents are wielding clubs and chains. If you are lucky, you may be able to steal theirs from so you can use it on them.

You will be repeating your favorite races over and over again to build up the cash if you want the top bikes so you can compete in the later levels. But doing races over and over to get cash for new bikes does get quite tiresome after a while. Though the races get longer and the opponents having faster bikes as the levels increase do help increase the game's longevity.

Replay value is good. This game is pretty addictive be it solo play or with 2 player mode. Even though graphics are not that good, there is an appeal to it that makes you want to play it again. Unfortunately, future replays offer no extra goodies to unlock, but the addictive gameplay still holds up.

My Verdict

Road Rash II may not be graphically pleasing, but this game sure has some gameplay heart. If you are a damn retro gamer like me and this game is not in your list of played games, you need to play it now.

Go and try it out on the memorable Sega Genesis/Mega Drive or play it on some easy to use emulator.

Let's keep on gaming in the free world!