Article 46264 of rec.games.video: Path: uwm.edu!news.bbn.com!noc.near.net!uunet!digex.com!ramsays From: ramsays@access.digex.com (Scott Ramsay) Newsgroups: rec.games.video Subject: GENESIS: Road Rash 2 is out! (review) Date: 3 Jan 1993 16:39:04 GMT Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA Lines: 62 Distribution: world Message-ID: <1i74r8INNs54@mirror.digex.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: access.digex.com I'm suprised that no one has mentioned this on the net yet. I picked it up at Software ETC. on friday. I have the first RR, IMHO can say its a definate improvement. (Esp. in the controlling, and two player modes) The graphics are basically the same. The scaled houses are larger so when you smack against them they look like real-houses not doll houses. There are most side stuff. Like Billboards, etc. The tracks are based on states. Vermont is very colorfull. The dashboard is more similar to race bikes. The in-between-race-animation scenes are hilarious! The wipeouts are funny and there is also a hidden suprise that I won't tell. ;> There are four modes of play, Single play, Two-player(take turns), Two-player(split screen), and Two-player(duel). The duel mode only you and a friend race (no computer racers). You pick the weapons (none,club,chain) and go at it. BTW the chain is the best. It can take out people the fastest. The two player-split screen is really good. But it suffers from the same problems as Sonic 2, (too small). It doesn't really slow down. The only gripe I had with it was that when I buy a new bike (say a new color bike), player 2's bike color would change to the same color also. The game IS harder! I could not do the one-punch-knock-the-biker off. You really have to fight. They also fight better. I ACTUALLY GOT PUNCHED OFF MY BIKE! (That never happend to me in the first game, and I finished Road Rash 1) There are more cops, more road blocks, more jumps, more cop cars, etc. The nice thing is (I have nothing against police :) ) that you can knock the police of their bikes. Some of them even use clubs! There is more JUNK on the road. even litte red things on the side for jumping. There are more bikes to choose from. Three sets. Lite bikes, Super, and nitro. The nitro bikes are cool! You press the B-button twice and you get a quick burst of speed (remember to keep you finger on the B button on the second press), you only get four nitros per race. The music is like the traditional EA games. Nothing new there. I don't know about sound effects though. They make a drum sound when you collide bikes. With the music off, you can hear the bike sound... It still sounds like a high-pitched kid's bike. The between race interface is alot better. It's done with selection menus instead of the confusing A-B-C selection. (Passwords are shorter too.) Ok more about controlling, you can now tell the difference between the controls between bikes. The heavy bikes definately take longer to react. The first bike has good control. It still is sensitive. But alot better than RR1. The A-B-C buttons are the same. A-break C-gas B-fight. There are also minor touches. Like the end of the race. The other bikers actually stop and wait at the finish line. (There also is a nice zoom out if you win) I think I covered most of it. For all you Road Rash 1 owners, I recommend to go out and get it. ---- Scott Ramsay ramsays@access.digex.com Article 46322 of rec.games.video: Path: uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!qt.cs.utexas.edu!news.Brown.EDU!news.Brown.EDU!news From: MJV@brownvm.brown.edu (Marshall Vale) Newsgroups: rec.games.video Subject: [Genesis] Road Rash II--more thoughts Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 10:44:40 EST Organization: Brown University - Providence, Rhode Island USA Lines: 34 Distribution: world Message-ID: <1i9m1kINNdlc@cat.cis.Brown.EDU> NNTP-Posting-Host: brownvm.brown.edu News-Software: BNN via BNN_POST v1.0 beta I picked up RRII just last week and since someone else has already reviewed it, I'll just add a few points. This game is a definite improvement on RRI, not only because of the two player modes, but because of the more intelligent computer racers and better controls. The other racers are much more capable of fighting and quickly taking you off the rode. They also try to block you from passing by constanly staying in front of you. This makes the fighting a more important part of the game than RRI where it seemed to be merely a diversion. Some of the players even seem to hold vendetta's against you if you really bop them. I've seen a couple computer players come screaming back not to pass me but to just bash me off the road after I nailed them. There is a lot more junk on the road and most of it is on the sides. Things like cop cars sitting, broken down cars and lots of various animals. This makes hugging the sides less of a safe tactic as in RRI. I still don't understand how tumbleweeds would make you jump though. The original tracks are gone, replaced by the 5 state theme: Hawaii, Alaska, Vermont, Tennessee and Arizona. Each seems to be a little different in style, Alaska is very twisty, but I do miss the originals. I do wish they had merely added these new ones to the old rather than replace them. The two-player modes takes awhile to get used to since it has neither rear view mirrors nor a very fast update. Because of the update speed, turns have to be negotiated a little sooner. Overall, this still has all the fun that I found in the original and of all, I like the replay value of the cart. Marshall mjv@brownvm.brown.edu Article 46347 of rec.games.video: Newsgroups: rec.games.video Path: uwm.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!darwin.sura.net!mlb.semi.harris.com!eltanin.rtp.semi.harris.com!clary From: clary@eltanin.rtp.semi.harris.com (Dave Clary x631) Subject: [GENESIS] Road Rash II 2 Player Mode Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 18:45:00 GMT Nntp-Posting-Host: eltanin.rtp.semi.harris.com Organization: Harris Semiconductor, Research Triangle Park, NC Sender: news@mlb.semi.harris.com Message-ID: <1993Jan4.184500.24449@mlb.semi.harris.com> Lines: 30 As an avid rasher I good hardly keep my britches on waiting for Road Rash II and the sure to be outrageous two-player simultaneous mode......Surprise, it ain't worth diddly, to put it mildly. The control slowdown makes for huge sweeping sliding turns even on level 1 with the lowly Shuriken 400. Yes, the scenery is nice and scrolls by smoothly, but so what? Dodging anything becomes a nightmare, including cars going the same direction! What does EA have to say? It's a feature, we can only put so much in a cart, the frame rate just can't keep up with two players and the extra bikes, etc etc.....but we'll market it, sell it and you'll buy it, so there. To the good points: the man to man mode (just two players and no other bikers) doesn't suffer control problems to the same degree, but it's bad enough that you'll be back to "taking turns" mode after a couple races, but it's fun to try all the various bikes and levels (yeah, they're options in this mode). The courses are a good mix and different enough from Rash I. The music is again quite good and grows on you in no time. Lots more stuff on the road, a new chain to swing, cops which hang on your wheel a lot longer and meaner bikers who remember that little punch and do their best to catch you and put you on your face (nice ender, header, slider etc). So, that's my $47.95 worth. Back to work. Article 46483 of rec.games.video: Path: uwm.edu!wupost!howland.reston.ans.net!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!cis.ohio-state.edu!news.sei.cmu.edu!drycas.club.cc.cmu.edu!pitt.edu!bluecow Newsgroups: rec.games.video Subject: Another Road Rash II opinion (Genesis) Message-ID: <1406@blue.cis.pitt.edu> From: bluecow+@pitt.edu (Tobish E Smith) Date: 5 Jan 93 18:30:10 GMT Sender: news+@pitt.edu References: <9301033752@genesis.nred.ma.us> Organization: University of Pittsburgh Lines: 44 In article <9301033752@genesis.nred.ma.us> nugget@genesis.nred.ma.us (Ralph Barbagallo) writes: > I thought Road Rash II was dreadful... it had very few improvements over >the original... EA has a habit of making a few minor changes in their sequels >and then making a mint of them... RRII was their biggest example... > Ralph A. Barbagallo III > nugget@genesis.nred.ma.us I just can't stand by and let this statement go. On what do you base this statement??? By all accounts, the original Road Rash is ANYTHING but "dreadful," and RRII has improved on the original in all areas. There is NO aspect of RRII that makes me think "Well gee, the original was better in this respect." And as for "a few minor changes," what more could they possibly DO to improve on the original? Let's see, could it be that they used the same courses? Nope, the courses are new. Hm, how about the between-races interface? I guess they didn't change that, since this is, after all, such a weak tit, rip-off-the-consumer effort, right? Oh, wait, the interface IS new and more intuitive. Well... I bet they kept all the enemy player logic the same. But gee, you know, I could SWEAR that in this version the computer opponents are much more aggressive, and you know, I'd go so far as to say that the computer players' logic HAS been revamped. But of course, changing the enemy logic won't matter that much to the game play, since you're still riding the same models of motorcycles that were in the original version, so the game's gonna be pretty much the same, right? Wait. The original bikes AREN'T in this version. There's 15 NEW bikes. And my goodness, some of them have nitro. So hm, that's new. Gosh, well what else is left. Ah. The WEAPONS. Hitting/clubbing wasn't too imperative in the first version since the computer players weren't terribly good, but those slackers at EA managed to get off their butts and change the computer driving logic, so you know what, it looks like they added a new weapon, too, so you can better whale away at your opponents. Well, hell, that's about all the areas of the game I can think of, and you know what, they've ALL been changed! Oh wait, I think Ralph the man might have a serious point here after all: looks like the graphics for the bikes themselves during the race ARE INDEED IDENTICAL TO THE FIRST VERSION!! Dammit, I'm gonna call these scoundrels at EA RIGHT NOW and tell them exactly what I think of THAT slander. I wonder why they couldn't be bothered to get motivated and change those sprites. Gosh, maybe it's because they were too busy writing an entirely new two-player split screen mode. Nah, that couldn't be it. They must just make dreadful games. I've seen the light, Ralph. I'm gonna return this game TODAY. Tob