To be very honest, I didn’t know what was going on when I first opened the game. There was a cutscene and then a weird dream sequence thing. So, I thought the entirety of the game was going to be the dream sequence where you’re essentially playing a mix of Sonic and Subway Surfers with cool camera angles. However, after doing that for the first five minutes, I realized there was an actual story with plot and things to do. The art style itself reminds me a bit of old TellTale games and Life is Strange, which I found to be really cool. But before I move onto the actual review, I will say that I actually enjoyed playing this game more than I thought I would.
I’m going to start with the story. For some reason, I didn’t think that there would be one. I hadn’t even realized this game was supposed to be a prequel until I encountered a bug, and I couldn’t progress in the story. As for the actual story, there’s a lot to take in. You can interact with a lot of things in the game and hear conversations from basically all the NPCs. So, it’s very obvious the developers put a lot of thought into the story, especially with dialogue options. Even when you’re in the dream sequences (I’ll just continue to describe it like that because I don’t know what else to call it), you hear conversation from the NPCs. Also, most of the time either Kaito or Zoe will be talking while you can see what they’re actively describing trying not to die in the dream sequence. I will try not to spoil anything for those who will pick up the game, but let’s just say the story is very political and reflective of what’s happening in America. At least from what I picked, the similarities are almost a little scary. But that’s what makes the story good! That and along with the fact, you can actually make choices that affect the story with both Kaito and Zoe. The game allows you to make these choices with dialogue options but also with interacting with your environment. Speaking of environment interaction, I found it funny that NPCs also talk when you interact. For example, when Zoe digs in the trash, they say, “Does her father not feed her anymore?” There’s even an announcement mentioning that it’s illegal to dig through the trash.
Besides the story, I don’t have much to say about the gameplay – as in the dream sequences. It basically is Subway Surfers, you collect coins and get a score at the end. I never did particularly well on them – usually scoring a C or a B – so I don’t have much to say about them.
Other than that, I really appreciate the effort that the developers put into this game and I really enjoyed playing it. The graphics are pleasing to look at, the story, although confusing, is interesting the follow, and the interactiveness of the game made me want to keep playing. I am also interested in actually playing Road 96, so hopefully I can do that in the future.
Rating: 9/10
Related: Reviews by Maryanne Fadonougbo
Road 96: Mile 0 launches for PC via Steam today, April 4th.
"I've enjoyed gaming since I was little, playing games like Pokémon, Rayman, and Naruto every day. Besides that though, I've always had a love for writing. Now I am combining the two for the best of both worlds! My ultimate goal is to do narrative design for video games."
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