No Straight Roads – Byte Size Review (PC)
In No Straight Roads self confessed hardcore rockers Mayday and Zuke are out to take down the powers of Vinyl City and their music of choice, EDM! As a big rock fan myself it is easy to side with our rocking duo and take the fight to the evil EDM empire. There is only one small problem with the pair who are collectively known as the Indie rock band Bunk Bed Junction. That is that their music, in my opinion, is not even remotely rock. Ignoring that small point, lets rock on and take down that nasty EDM!
Turn The Beat Around.
Straight off the bat I got a real Dreamcast feeling from No Straight Roads. Think Jet Set Radio and Space Channel 5. As an action–adventure with the combat based around the rhythm of music, No Straight Roads seems to be missing a beat. It is a bit of fun but never grabbed me. Unlike pure rhythm games like Guitar Hero and Beat Saber, No Straight Roads is more about the game than the music. If that makes sense. Maybe more like Brutal Legend, without the memorable soundtrack, and the awesome gameplay.
Love To Hear The Percussion.
To be honest the music is really unmemorable. Maybe I am too old school in my music tastes, hell, there even might be some known modern stuff in there. And unfortunately since the music is core to combat, it is hard to feel engaged if you aren’t feeling the sounds. There is plenty going on here in No Straight Roads with some really interesting ideas. But it just doesn’t gel into a cohesive experience. Some parts are just too long, almost tedious, to play through. Especially when it is a battle which is just rounds based on the same method with a different sequence.
Turn It Upside Down.
Switching between Mayday and Zuke can be interesting for a while but unless the music has really struck a chord with you then that interest will wane pretty quickly. This is the kind of game that will no doubt be super popular in Japan. Meanwhile the rest of the world will be, man those Japanese be crazy. Even though the development is being viewed as ‘proudly Malaysian’, it definitely oozes with good old Japanese charm.
Closing Comments.
I feel jaded as a gamer. Be it a Triple A or Indie release, there is very little that get my juices flowing at the moment. No Straight Roads has hit me at the wrong time. Given time I may return and try No Straight Roads again. Maybe in the summer with the volume cranked up. I guess I can use the old ‘It’s not you, It’s me’ line, actually, it might be a bit of both of us.
