Review for No Straight Roads. Game for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 30/09/2020
No Straight Roads is an interesting concept filtered from a point of view too retrograde to exploit its full potential. This, summed up in one sentence, is our verdict on the music-themed action game developed by Metronomik coming out for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows. The idea of fighting an oppressive regime based on EDM music using Rock is very antiquated conceptually, bringing to mind the diatribes about what “real music” is that have now moved on to Trap; however the execution is rather nice, although predictable. This base simply serves as an excuse to throw the two protagonists into a long boss rush to defeat all of Vinyl City's EDM composers, and it is in these sections that the game shows its best points..
Unfortunately, the narrative is very invasive without having the necessary quality to justify the frequency of its videos. Without further ado, let's talk about the successes and failures of the great concert that is No Straight Roads.
As already mentioned, No Straight Roads is nothing more than a boss rush, interspersed with short pseudo-collectathon sections and others in which groups of basic enemies are faced before the bossfight. In general, these two sections of the game just mentioned are so short that their being sometimes very woody will not cause much discomfort. Fortunately, the main course, the battles against the DJs, are very well done.
And speaking of this we can underline the greatest merit of No Straight Roads, the visual and musical creativity of the bossfights alone is worth the price of the ticket.. Musically the game is fantastic, with tracks that change not only from phase to phase but also according to various unlockable rock or EDM remixes after completing a stage. We emphasize this as vital because in No Straight Roads everything moves in time, approximately, and having a very pleasant base to follow is vital for the quality of the experience.
Also on an aesthetic level we were very satisfied with the title of Metronomik, always very varied and original, with the exception perhaps of a slightly subdued final section. Unfortunately when you combine the creativity of some shots or some scenically gorgeous attacks, No Straight Roads has to contend with its own gameplay limits. The NSR combat system is all in all simple and functional, there will be melee attacks, ranged attacks that will need to collect musical notes, a parry for specific attacks, jump and dodge. Continuing with the adventure will unlock two special attacks and a finisher, as well as a basic tree of passive skills, but the base remains solid without wanting to do more than is possible with the available budget.
However, even in this solid base, there are some woodiness. In particular, we heard a slight but annoying input lag in commanding the two protagonists, to this is added the fact that enemy attacks often stun for too long, preventing the possibility of reacting to an error, creating a system where unfortunately sometimes we do find yourself being defeated without being in control of your actions.
In terms of mechanics, the bossfights are good; not up to the spectacularity of their aesthetics, but certainly very funny and varied. The real added value of these battles is the presence of multiple versions for each of them, unlockable after the defeat of the boss in the only initial difficulty.
High difficulty bossfights are a lot of fun, even beyond the frustration of the occasional unfair defeat, and No Straight Roads' scoring system encourages you to play and replay them as you progress.
Having said that, let's talk about the aforementioned big flaw in NSR, the narrative. Normally in a game like this we would give little weight to the plot, not being the focus, but the high amount of cutscenes and dialogue in No Straight Roads makes us think that perhaps for the developers the narration was a focus; in this case blatantly missed. The events are predictable and play against the gameplay, making many resolutions anticlimactic.
To make this inability to support the game even more serious is the main protagonist, unbearable for the whole game, perhaps even deliberately given some narrative implications.
No Straight Roads is on balance a good product, unfortunately the excessive woodiness and an intrusive narrative without having the merits for being so limits it enormously. If you're a fan of music-themed games, it's definitely worth giving it a try. The crazy aesthetics and delightful management of the music sector raise the title above the sufficiency, but we can only be regret in front of a potential great indie that fails to shine as it should.
► No Straight Roads is a scrolling Music-Beat 'em up game developed by Sold-Out Software and published by Metronomik for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 30/09/2020
