Road Rash 3

Road Rash 3 puts the player in control of a motorcycle racer who must finish in third-place or higher among fourteen other racers in a series of five road races out of seven tracks to advance throughout the game's five levels.[1] The game's races take place in a number of locales around the world, consisting of Australia, Kenya, Japan, Italy, Brazil, Germany, and the United Kingdom.[2] During a race, the player can brake, accelerate and attack neighboring racers. The player character will punch at the nearest racer with a default input, while holding a directional button during the input will result in either a backhand or a kick. Some opponents wield weapons such as clubs, chains, nunchaku, crowbars, mace, cattle prods and oil cans, which can be taken and used by the player if the enemy racer is attacked as they are holding the weapon out to strike.[3][4] The player can carry multiple weapons at once and cycle through them to select a weapon for use. The mace, cattle prod and oil can are limited to ten charges each, and will be discarded when all charges have been used.[4] The player racer can be ejected from their bike if they crash into an obstacle or if they run out of stamina (shown in the bottom-left corner of the screen) due to fights with other racers.[1][4] In this event, the racer will automatically run back toward their bike, though the player can alter their course with the directional buttons, or stand still by holding the brake input button.[5] Opponents will likewise be ejected from their bike if their own stamina is depleted; the stamina of the nearest racer is visible within the bottom-right corner of the screen.[4]

The player character begins the game with $1,000.[6] When the player wins a race, a cash prize is added to the player's balance.[1] The player can access a bike shop from the game's main menu to view bikes of differing weights, speeds and steering capabilities, and the player may potentially purchase a new bike with the money they have accumulated.[7] Certain bikes are equipped with a series of nitrous oxide charges, which can provide a burst of speed if the player quickly taps the acceleration input button twice.[5] The player can also upgrade their current bike in four areas: engine performance, chassis endurance, tires and suspension. A bike can only be upgraded once in each area. The player will receive a password at the end of a successful race, which can be entered at a password entry screen in a subsequent session to maintain the player's progress.[7] When the player wins a race on five of the game's seven tracks, they will advance to the next level.[1]

The player's bike has its own "damage gauge" between the player's and opponents' stamina meters, which decreases with every crash the player gets involved in. If the meter fully depletes, the bike will be wrecked, the player's participation in the current race will end, and a repair bill must be paid. Motorcycle cops also make sporadic appearances throughout the game's tracks. If the player crashes within the vicinity of a cop, the cop will end their participation in the current race by apprehending them and charging them with a fine. The appearance of a police helicopter signifies the nearby presence of a motorcycle cop, and the helicopter will attempt to strike the player with its landing rails and make them vulnerable to the upcoming cop. If the player lacks the funds to cover either a repair bill or a fine, the player will respectively be asked to continue as a repo man for the bike shop or a snitch for the cops. In either case, the player will be given the task of apprehending a wanted racer by making them crash and pulling over next to them. To aid in this mission, the bike shop owner will provide the player with a crowbar, while the cops will provide a club. The wanted racer stands out from the others by wearing differently colored leathers. Successful apprehension of the wanted racer will result in the player's repair bill or fine being waived, while failure will prematurely end the game.[6]

Road Rash 3 features a two-player mode that can either be played intermittently between players or simultaneously with the use of a split-screen display. Two players can either race against each other along with other computer-controlled racers or engage in the "Mano a Mano" mode, in which the two human players are the only competing racers on the track. In this mode, the players can select a weapon to wield prior to the start of the race.[7]

Upon the completion of Road Rash II, series programmer Dan Geisler planned to leave EA and accepted an employment offer from Crystal Dynamics; he was primarily motivated by inadequate compensation for his work on the first two titles, and he felt that the technology for the Genesis had been pushed as far as it could. Geisler only remained with EA after negotiating for a significant payment up front. During a frustrating experience working on Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City, Geisler ran into EA Vice President of Marketing Bing Gordon and offered to create Road Rash 3, which Gordon accepted.[2]

Artist Michael Hulme was recruited from Cinemaware for the game's development team, and was told that Road Rash 3 would be EA's final title for the Sega Genesis. For the game's worldwide locales, Hulme painted ten rough conceptual settings in four days, which were eventually whittled down to seven settings for the final game. Road Rash 3 was developed in parallel with the 3DO version of Road Rash, and the two titles shared production assets as a result, particularly the gameplay sprites.[2] The game's audio was created by Don Veca.

Road Rash 3 was released in March 1995.[8] A promotional sweepstake was run by GamePro and Best Buy the following month, in which contestants who filled and mailed an entry form were eligible to win a grand prize consisting of an all-expenses-paid trip for the winner and a guest to San Francisco in June to see a concert performance by Monster Magnet, one of the featured bands in the 3DO and Sega CD versions of Road Rash. The winner would meet the band backstage and receive an autographed copy of their latest album Dopes to Infinity, and would also receive a Sega Genesis console and a copy of Road Rash 3.[9]

Road Rash 3 was met with generally positive reviews. Bacon of GamePro voiced approval for the game's variety of weapons and tracks, and said that the tight controls complimented the bike-upgrading feature, though he criticized the unwieldy weapon-cycling mechanic, and felt that the two-player mode, while faster and more fluid than that of Road Rash II, was still twitchier and less responsive than the single-player campaign. He noted the enhanced realism of the visual details and scenery and the slickness of the sprites, but criticized the music as "annoyingly peppy" and described the sound effects as "often silly".[12] Gary Lord of Computer and Video Games and Neil West of Game Players deemed Road Rash 3 to be essentially the same game as the previous entries in spite of its visual and gameplay enhancements.[11][14] West considered the visuals to be dated despite the extra animations and scenery, and while he described the soundtrack as "nifty" and the sound effects as convincing, but questioned the absence of the grunge soundtrack from the 3DO entry.[14] Gus Swan and Steve Merrett of Mean Machines Sega considered Road Rash 3 to be the fastest and most refined installment of the series, but also dated in comparison to Ridge Racer and Daytona USA, and they cited EA's previous title Skitchin' as a more effective and original take on the formula. Although they acknowledged the increased crispness and size of the graphics and the variety of the audio, Merrett saw the colors as "dreadfully washed out", and they derided the music as "sad Megadrive metal for people with acne and Bon Jovi T-shirts".[15] Chris Gore of VideoGames declared Road Rash 3 to be "the best one yet" and praised the violent gameplay and realistic backgrounds, but felt the music was "okay".[16] A reviewer for Next Generation applauded the game's inclusion of the animations and track layouts of the acclaimed 3DO version of Road Rash, as well as the new weapons and bike enhancer mode.[13]

• Road Rash 3 at MobyGames