Zombies combined with Oregon Trail may have already been done in the popular Organ Trail; but it committed the cardinal sin of being so married to the original’s structure that it felt more like a parody, rather than its own unique experience. Death Road to Canada takes the management of The Oregon Trail but tacks on satisfying beat-em’-up gameplay that helps ratchet up the tension to heights its closest peer couldn’t reach.
Death Road starts the player off with two survivors in a car in the American South. Zombies have overrun America and your goal is to make it to the zombie-less sanctuary of Canada. The trip is long and fraught with peril, but you will gain new friends, abilities, and items to aid in your journey. For most the game, you’ll drive in your car deciding when to make stops and route choices (yes, including fording through high water). Your car will not last forever though so maintenance or acquiring a new vehicle quick are necessary, as having your team run will drain them of stamina. On top of that you will also have to manage your crew’s health, hunger and morale.
And you’ll need your team to be at their best because the other half of gameplay is the beat-em’-up sections where you’ll kill zombies and scavenge for supplies. Weapons at your disposal are the typical guns and melee weapons you might expect from a zombie setting. I would highly recommend specializing in melee abilities because ammo is very hard to find for your guns and melee weapons are plentiful and mostly durable.
You’ll be able to customize your characters (and save them to a pool) with appearance items and traits that allow them to specialize in ranged or melee combat, or other skills like first aid and repair. You’ll only be able to start with two characters at first so choose wisely on these. You can improve your stats throughout a game session. You can also gain stronger traits and unlock new ones as well in the game’s store with points accumulated through multiple playthroughs. This really encouraged replayability for me because it meant that I would have an easier time during the game’s increasingly difficult playthroughs.
On most game modes the zombies become more numerous, and more violent, the closer you get to the northern border. During my first couple playthroughs, I only had one or two more days of travel before I my team succumbed to the undead. These game overs can feel unfair at times considering how the combat scenarios can get hairy and your AI teammates making boneheaded decisions at times. The aforementioned upgrades in the store can help immensely with making you more effective in these.
There are multiple settings for a new game but the best one by far is playing with a character pool made up solely of the game’s “Rare” characters. You’ll be able to recruit everyone from Anime Girls and Gordon Freeman, to Raphael from TMNT and Link. Accompanying these characters are some signature weapons that really carve through hordes, which helps level the playing field .
To complement these characters is also some silly writing that thankfully isn’t only limited to this aspect of the game. The game’s sense of humor permeates every facet and even some grisly deaths and negative scenarios have a bit of a lighthearted gag in them.
Then there will be more humorous setups times like running along the red and seeing a car up ahead. Your team has been without a car for maybe a couple of days and you all could really use the help. But instead of pulling over and stopping the driver yells “NEEEEEEEERRRRRDS” out the window and your team’s morale is lowered.
It’s moments like these that really help make Death Road to Canada feel like a really fun road movie starring you and your buddies (and maybe Bart Simpson and Rick Grimes). It may sound like some soulless Ready Player One reverence, but it really adds some absurd flavoring and you can avoid having these pop culture figures pop up if you’d prefer. Either way there is a whole lot of great times to be had with Death Road, and having it on Switch is the perfect way to kick back and hit the road.
8/10
Check Out the Death Road To Canada Release Trailer:
Death Road To Canada is available now on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
Nintendo Switch Review
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Overall Score - 8/108/10
Colin's enthusiasm for games knows no bounds. He enjoys discussing what other people love about their favorite games and is continually in awe of the medium's ability to captivate.
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