Anything odd will over-amuse gamers these days, precisely because most games are so
derivative. 5% of uniqueness can go a long way… sometimes too far to be justified.
That's how I feel about Road Rash Jailbreak. In the two-player mode, one person drives while
the other one throws punches at other drivers from his perch in the sidecar. Okay, this is
funny… for a few minutes.
Okay, when my own teammate accidentally knocks me off the bike, that's funny… for a minute.
Then I have to walk all the way back to my bike and get back on. It would be funny if my friend
could get in the driver's seat and keep going without me.
It would be funny if I could keep walking on a split screen, punch someone off his bike, and
pursue my friend… or I could walk off-road and find a Road Runner power-up…
The rogue violence is amusing, but the game play suffers. It's too hard to fight drivers when
they can vary their speeds so easily.
Analog control is well-executed. The right stick is for acceleration (up and down); the left stick
is for steering (left and right). However, there seems to be a strange bug where the analog
indicator light shuts off after the slightest bump, forcing you to press the button again (and again
and again) or settle with the D-pad.
Solo modes include Jailbreak, Time Trial, and Five-O. In Five-O, you play as the cops, just like
EA's other recent racer, Need for Speed: High Stakes.
Multiplayer modes include skull-to-skull, cops and robbers, sidecar co-op, sidecar versus, and
time trials again.
Publisher: Electronic Arts