Road Rash (Sega CD review)

Developer: Monkey Do Productions, New Level Software
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Released: 1995

Road Rash is a vehicular combat racing game that was originally released on the Sega Mega Drive / Genesis in 1991.

+ Brisk gameplay keeps you on the edge of your seat and on tenterhooks as to what's lurking around the next corner.

+ Eases beginners into the short and simple tracks, while upping the ante for veterans with longer tracks and tighter chicanes.

+ Licensed music is a huge improvement and unlike the 3DO / PS1 / Saturn releases you can listen to the tracks while racing.

+ Can save your progress to the built-in memory, and the FMV cut-scenes enhance the game's tongue-in-cheek personality.

- Actual racing is no different to the 16-bit original, which is odd considering the hardware has sprite-scaling capabilities.

- Controls are hyper sensitive and it takes a while to adjust to simply tapping the d-pad in order to avoid over-steering.

- Frame-rate is extremely low and trying to carefully and precisely evade a collision is always a nerve-racking affair.

Courier Crisis (Sony PS1 review)

Developer: New Level Software
Publisher: GT Interactive
Released: 1997

Courier Crisis is an action game that was also released on the Sega Saturn in 1997.

+ Heavily inspired by Crazy Taxi (2000, Sega Dreamcast), but focuses on a mission structure for bite-sized gameplay.

+ The traffic light system showing how you performed for each delivery acts as a motive for perfect runs and earning money.

+ Hitting the restart option during an unproductive mission attempt gets you back into the action instantly with no loading.

- The controls are sub-standard and often feel far too heavy for a lightweight bike during cornering / avoiding traffic.

- Frame-rate is extremely low which causes choppy gameplay, and the draw-distance is poor.

- The music is a mixed bag, as while the rock tracks bring energy, the blues songs are dreadfully out-of-place.

- No tutorial on how vital the trick system is for adding extra seconds to the clock, causing a jarring moment in Level 5.