Of Bikes And Men: Deep Silver's Ride To Hell Resurfaces
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.
Strippers! Fire! Impaling strippers with fire! Yeah, I'm a bit worried that this one's looking at The Line and excitedly tugging the laces on its jumping boots. Fingers crossed for something that's just dumb enough, but I'm not getting my hopes up in spite of my love for all things grindhouse. For now, here's the basic premise of the main game, Ride to Hell: Retribution.
"Ride to Hell is the hard-hitting over-the-top action game of 2013 that doesn’t hold back. Players take on the role of Jake Conway, a man hell-bent on bringing down a ruthless biker gang called The Devil’s Hand. Jake will use any means necessary to enact his revenge, weaponizing his environment, getting up close and dirty with brutal melee combat, and engaging in high-speed shootouts on his custom hog."
Meanwhile, a complimentary arcade brawler, Ride to Hell: Route 666, will be riding into view around the same time as Retribution's rather sudden June 28th release date.
I'm bracing for ickiness, but then, the best grindhouse works are pulpy and exploitative with a sly wink of self-awareness, so perhaps there's more going on beneath the surface. Or maybe it's not grindhouse-y at all, and Deep Silver's just produced another CG trailer that gleefully (as opposed to tearfully) ignores the tonal beats of its own game. As ever, we shall see. Until then, is anyone feeling this? At all?