Approximate Release Date: November 1, 1992
Genre: Racing
Developer: Equilibrium
Publisher: THQ
Road Riot 4WD is another Super Nintendo racing game that is barely functional.
Remember Race Drivin’ from a few weeks ago? Almost every issue I had with that game is present in Road Riot 4WD: awful graphics, unresponsive controls, and a frame rate that struggles to reach double digits. All of these problems magnify each other. Because you can’t see very far in front of your car, you can’t react to obstacles in your path. Because the game is running like garbage, even if you could see far enough ahead of you to react there’s not enough time because of the sluggish controls. At least you can shoot ineffective ping-pong balls at cars with the shoulder buttons. I assume it slows the cars down, but it’s hard to tell.
This is a fundamentally bad game.
But to its credit, Road Riot 4WD has a decent amount of track variety, complete with unfortunate early-’90s style casual stereotyping of various ethnicities. You can choose any track in whatever order you want, Mega Man-style, and the game scores you on your performance once you finish all 12 races. And then you do it again and beat your high scores!
But you won’t want to play Road Riot 4WD again. Ever.
Tomorrow: Beep! Beep! Road Runner’s Death Valley Rally!
