Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Apart from a recent trailer for Ride to Hell: Redemption that failed to put the ‘grin’ in grindhouse, I hadn’t seen any information at all about the Ride To Hell games, so imagine my surprise when downloadable spin-off title Route 666 turned out to be a real-time game of tactical motorbike combat. I didn’t even know motorbikes were capable of such things. As they travel down the highways and byways, the gangs of Route 666 arrange themselves, almost like tiny thundering fleets, so as best to counter the attacks of rival gangs. The formations can be switched to use each class to the best of their ability, protecting medics (apparently ‘sultry’) with burly chain-wielding brutes riding the chunkiest hogs in the land. That sort of thing.

Read the rest of this entry »

Deep Silver’s a pretty cool company, except when it’s super, super not. On one hand, their devil-may-care approach to, well, existing lends itself quite well to the Saints Row series, which they recently salvaged from THQ’s twisted, Darksiders-spattered wreckage. But, on the other, you might remember Dead Island’s bust of, you know, a female bust, disgustingly dismembered because shock value or something. Ride To Hell‘s sudden reappearance after its 2008 debut, then, leaves me wondering if it’s time to be all revved up or completely revolted. I mean, this new CG trailer looks almost like a grindhouse-y biker-themed Saints Row (correct reaction to these words: yesssssssssss), but the insanity’s toned down and stripper-laden enough to feel a bit gross. Personally, I need to see more before making any definitive judgments. For now, though, all we’ve got to go on is after the break.

Read the rest of this entry »

FX’s Sons Of Anarchy is currently doing a fine job of making biker culture seem interesting all over again, exploring the disintegration of ’60s biker ‘values’ in a post-millennial America. Meanwhile, a new game from Deep Silver is going back to those 60s roots, creating an action game based on those hazy James Dean days. Ride To Hell looks likely to be a GTA-in-the-West-Coast-Biker-Scene, which is no bad thing. There’s not a lot on show here – men riding bikes. But the music is great. While it reaches the more obvious Steppenwolf territory in the second half, the bluesy steel guitar for the first half is a thing of joy. A thousand points to the first person who can tell me what it’s from.

The video’s bumped below the jump, because GV have chosen to stick a 30 second advert on the front of the gaming advert. Boo.

Read the rest of this entry »