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The Week Ending January 25, 2000

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Road Rash: Jailbreak
Does anyone remember the Road Rash game on 3DO? I do, and I recall playing it for hours, appreciating the unique mix of combat and action.   Despite the fact that Road Rash was a relatively lucrative franchise in the early 90s on platforms such as the Genesis and 3DO, Electronic Arts has had a lot of trouble trying to bring a quality new version of the game to the masses on the PlayStation…until now.
Road Rash: Jailbreak for the PlayStation is basically Need for Speed with combat and a storyline, featuring a number of unique play modes (anyone want to be the cop chasing down the gang?) and a fast 3D engine.   Even the multiplayer is unique, featuring a sidecar mode that lets one player control the bike, while the other fights off challengers. Throw in a ton of new weapons, punches, and kicks, and the result is a faithful Road Rash racing game that makes 1998's Road Rash 3D look like road kill.   However, there's one caveat that drives me nuts: You can't really re-assign to controls to your liking.

Grim LucasArts News
George had Gracie, and LucasArts had Schafer. Some things are just meant to go together. It's with great grief that I report Tim Schafer, the man behind such classic games as Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, and Grim Fandango has recently left the company he called home for close to a decade, LucasArts. It seems that a number of creative folks have slowly been departing LucasArts over the past year, but Schafer's departure truly marks the changing of the guard. There's no question that his design coupled with LucasArts' artistic talent created some of the most celebrated games of the 90s, and one has to lament the fact that magic is now gone.
I have no doubt that whatever Schafer chooses to do next will be successful – let's hope he is planning to keep building games. However, I think his departure truly marks the end of an era, the end of the classic LucasArts and Sierra adventure game that ruled the market in the early 90s.   Over the past few years we've seen most of the classic adventure game designers grow frustrated with the move toward 3D technology, and it's disappointing to see such incredible storytellers feel restricted in the medium they once cherished.

I hope that we will hear from Schafer again in the interactive arena, because his zany dialogue, innovative puzzles, and ability to create characters is truly second to none.

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