Written By Shaun McCracken

Roadkill is a disappointing game. Perhaps it's because it's not really the game I thought it would be, or that the game has the looks of a budget title. But in either case, once you play the game for an hour or so, you really just don't care about it anymore. I was hoping this game would be in the same vein as Vigilante 8 or Twisted Metal, and to a degree, it is. But then there's a Grand Theft Auto element thrown in, in where you can go around town, and look for something to do (except you never leave your car to go on-foot). Something like this could have worked, but Terminal Reality never gives you a sense of direction on what needs to be done next. You're given a map with some confusing icons, and are expected to know where to go and what to do based off of that. The design seems a bit broken. I would have preffered straight up vehicular combat, at least that would have simplified things.

There is one appeal to Roadkill, and it's not from the gameplay, and definitley not from the graphics. It's the theme and the writing. Roadkill is kind of a dark comedy, in which you roam around in a post-apocolyptic town, yet to the people that live there, it doesn't bother them. Just listen to the talk shows on the radio, which has off the wall discussions about jumping and blowing up vehicles to homosexual topics. And it's very vulgar as well. But, it's not as bad as what was done in BMX XXX. In that game, the vulgarity was just there, and had no direction. Here, it works, and does add shock value to what you'll hear. So if you like vulgarity, then this game is for you.

The technical aspects of Roadkill are unimpressive, notably, within the visuals. The game has a real muddy, almost N64-ish look to it. At least where textruing is concerned. Compared to other games out there, even on the Gamecube, the visuals are severly lacking. Average town models, muddy and blurry texturing, lack of lighting and a lack of special effects. This is how a budget game should look, not a larger release. At least the framerate holds up.

If this review seems shorter than other reviews on this site, than that's really due to the fact that there's not much to say about Roadkill that would make you go and hunt for this game to play. Other than the mature writing and subject matter, it's design just isn't that fun and there's nothing to really keep you playing past the two-hour mark. If you want vehicular combat, go play Twisted Metal Black on the PS2. If you want some exploration with your driving, pick up Grand Theft Auto or True Crime. Roadkill tries to combine two game elements, and fails to deliver a quality product upon that.

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