No Straight Roads (NSR), from publisher Sold Out and developer Metronomik, is a music game, but don’t mistake that for your standard rhythm game. This is a game about music, yet it plays like a classic action-adventure game. You (and a friend, if you so choose) take control of main characters Mayday and Zuke, the guitarist and drummer respectively of a rock band called Bunk Bed Junction. Their hometown of Vinyl City has been powered by music, but lately the city’s power has been experiencing outages. That doesn’t stop the EDM artists of NSR, who are in charge of the power generation and distribution, from commandeering what power remains. After being denied a role in power generation by NSR themselves due to their taste in music, Bunk Bed Junction decides to take things into their own hands to take down the artists of NSR and return the power back to the people.
My favorite part of this game has to be the storyline. The characters and the vivid environments tell such a compelling story that always leaves me wanting to see what’s next. The game plays out like a boss rush with each boss having multiple phases relating to its own quirks. Without spoiling too much, the first boss of the game, DJ Subatomic Supernova, adheres to the theme of space – he attacks you by throwing planets at you, and grows bigger like a supernova as the battle progresses.
The voice acting and characterization of each boss really makes you feel. At one point, I was walking through the hub world collecting powerups scattered about (as action-adventures do) and I kept hearing the same piercing voice in the background. It genuinely annoyed me, until I reached a point where Mayday says in game how annoying that repetitive sound is. It was then that I realized how good a job these developers did in making the player empathize with the main characters. Storytelling and characters like these make for an unforgettable experience.
It’s hard for me to really dive into game mechanics individually since each boss fight has its own. The player can do all the things you’d expect from a game like this – run, jump, dodge, shoot, and parry – but for different reasons depending on the fight. Because this is a music game first and foremost, it tries to keep that theme intact by making all of the enemies move to the rhythm of the background music. That being said, I still wouldn’t classify it as a rhythm game, since each enemy essentially announces its attacks visually and through somewhat jarring drum beats a bar or two ahead of striking depending on the enemy. Once you get the pattern of attack down, the sync with the music just becomes a nice touch of ambiance rather than an integral part of the game. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, either. I don’t believe this game was trying to be a rhythm game. The music is mostly there to get you into the rhythm, if you will.
I really enjoyed No Straight Roads. There’s very little I could ask of it in terms of changes I would make. The extent of my complaints comes down to minor things like the awkward interactions between Mayday and Zuke and their fans on the street or the occasional lack of direction. Overall, though, I would say this was a great, wholesome experience that anyone can relate to, even if you’re like me and actually enjoy EDM.
9.5/10
Check Out the No Straight Roads Trailer:
No Straight Roads is available for the PlayStation 4 computer entertainment system, the Xbox One family of devices, including Xbox One X, Nintendo Switch, and PC via the Epic Games Store.
For more information, please visit: https://www.metronomik.net/
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I am an aspiring game designer looking to explore the philosophy behind game creation. Some of my favorite games include Overwatch, Super Smash Bros, Portal, and Beat Saber.
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