No Straight Roads Game Review – A fun filled homage to rock
No Straight Roads is fun. There’s no doubting that, nor is there any doubt that it definitely has it’s issues too. Without getting too picky. Alot of those issues are small and usually easily ignored. But in a game with this much promise they become so blatant and obvious that the little jem takes a bit of a hit because of them. Developed by Metronomik Inc and published by Sold Out Games, NSR is a game that took me by surprise with how much I loved it when I first started playing. It was colourful, fun and just quirky enough to grab my interest from the start. Not all of the jokes landed and when that happened it did become a little cringe-worthy but honestly it happened so rarely that I was able to overlook it and accept that maybe I was the problem there.
Plot
No Straight Roads has a pretty basic plot. You play as both Mayday and her friend Zeke who, together, are a two man indie rock band. They notice the corruption going on in their city. Vinyl City. Due to the EDM empire and are determined to bring them down with rock.
Together they take on each leader of the EDM empire to rid the city of them and find a new and fairer source of musical power.
Gameplay
No Straight Roads plays between a mix between a rhythm game and a beat em up RPG. You time you blocks, attacks and dodges to the beat in order to make sure you get out of confrontation unscathed. Running around Vinyl City you can collect stickers to level up your instruments. And energy to use to power up areas of the city that’s gone offline.
With each boss the battles are slightly different depending. Generally however the recipe is similar for all of them. Collect music notes to then attack them with using ranged attacks.
After a small while you unlock a skill tree that is precisely what it sounds like. Whilst the stickers you use for a buff in health or attack are temporary. The skill tree unlocks new and powerful attacks that can give you the upper hand even before you’ve jumped head first into battle.
Overall thoughts
I really like this game. In fact, I love it. I’m not sure if I love it so much because I think it’s reasonably priced for what you get or because it’s just somehow managed to grab my heart and keep a hold of it. The music is addictive as hell, even the EDM stuff. And is definitely where the game shines.
I’ll admit to kinda hating the character designs at first but eventually they grew on me. Mayday however is a character I’m still not sure about. She often comes off as obnoxious and it takes a while to find her even slightly likeable. Zeke doesn’t really have a personality.
The controls can be a bit of a mess sometimes, especially jumping ledges and fighting. I often found myself smacking fresh air because there’s no real way to aim so you think you’re within range and you end up not being at all. It does become frustrating and without the whimsy and general fun of the game in general would almost certainly be a nail in the coffin.
Despite all these issues. The game is just plain fun. It’s colourful. Funny. Addictive and there’s enough content there to keep you going. Even if it’s just for the music.
