Both developer Eutchnyx and publisher Deep Silver have a history of putting out games that can either be hit or miss including fun titles such as
Auto Club Revolution and the
Dead Island series or some other questionable releases, so the release of
Ride to Hell: Retribution would obviously be met with some expected various levels of optimism. The concept of the game isn't a bad one allowing players to take control of a rough and tough biker in the 1960s to bust some skulls and rule the open roads, but the finished product is less than stellar and one of the worst games of the year so far. There have been several games released in 2013 alone that make people throw out words such as "unpolished, incomplete or rushed, " but
Ride to Hell: Retribution is easily the worst of them all and the perfect example of what a completed video game shouldn't be. If you were hoping to get your bike gang fix with
Ride to Hell: Retribution, you'd definitely be better served revisiting the
Lost and the Damned DLC for
Grand Theft Auto IV before jumping into a session of this messy title.
Ride to Hell: Retribution is set in the United States during the supposedly, crazy 1960s. Players take control of biker Jake Conway on a mission to rid the roads of the troublesome gang known as The Devil's Hand, though the game's protagonist isn't your typical hero and wants to take control of the road for his own selfish reasons. Jake Conway isn't out to make friends, but to get drunk, make money and have sex with as many poorly designed hookers as possible. The result is a game that tries to take itself seriously while being a parody unto itself and ends up being much similar to a terrible clone of the classic film
Mad Max than
Sons of Anarchy. The game does allow players to explore the open roads and meet new characters to find and accept new missions, but the gameplay is so horrible that most players would rather get the crap kicked out of them by a biker gang in real life than find out what happens in
Ride to Hell: Retribution's pathetic excuse for a storyline.
For everything
Ride to Hell: Retribution lacks in the form of a storyline, the game could've redeemed itself with some solid gameplay, but unfortunately the same quality that produced one of the most uninteresting, bigoted and short-sighted campaigns in recent memory made it's way into the level design and overall quality of gameplay in the new release. Some missions will seem near impossible at times, character animations can become glitched for seemingly no reason at all and combat is a crapshoot as to whether an attack will land or miss. Fights can happen on foot with melee attacks or firearms, or riders can battle it out on the back of their favorite bike. While the concept sounds promising, the frequency of fun scenarios and the game actually working as intended are very few and far between making most of the game a slog just to get to another checkpoint. Lazily designed quick-time events are thrown in for good measure, and even these seem to not always function as they should and never really help to create the tense moments for which they were designed. It's difficult to think of a game that managed to fail in so many aspects of design and seems like a game that was simply rushed to release before the next generation of consoles arrive and everyone moves on from Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
Compounding every problem the game has,
Ride to Hell: Retribution features clunky controls and terrible camera quality. Driving a bike is fine and there are some customization options to make it the most redeeming quality in the game, but combat on bikes is imprecise and too difficult to execute. On foot controls are nearly as bad, and terrible graphics and character animations look as good as a game from 15 years ago and take away from any immersive qualities the game tries to feebly to establish. Camera controls are even worse and make accurately attacking a desired opponent a nightmare in certain situations. Some missions will be failed because of this one flaw alone, though the one bright spot about the poor camera is that at least you won't have time to take in the pukeworthy scenery as you'll be too busy trying to find your target. The game's soundtrack offers some standard rock tracks that sound like covers of more popular songs, but voice acting is dreadful in most missions to considerably drag down any positives the game produces in the sound department.
Ride to Hell: Retribution is a game that shouldn't be purchased by anyone. The game has absolutely no true redeeming qualities and is as an incomplete of a game as any the industry has seen. The game is never mistaken for fun or entertaining during is 8 to 10 hour campaign, and there are no bonus features or special content to waste anymore of your time outside of a few bike options, but why would you bother? Even if you're the type that enjoys playing bad games for a laugh, you'll likely find yourself having a bad experience here as frustration mounts through broken missions and the utter failure in game design that is
Ride to Hell: Retribution. For the sake of the gaming industry and other high quality games being released daily across various platforms, take a stand against bad games and don't waste your time or money on
Ride to Hell: Retribution.
Ride to Hell: Retribution is now available from most major retailers and can be purchased for the MSRP of $29.99 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.
Ride to Hell: Retribution is rated M for Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content & Strong Language. For more information on the game, check out the official
Ride to Hell: Retribution website.
Game Features:
Single Player
Customizable Bikes
Online Leaderboards
DLC Support
Trophy/Achievement Support
Game Information:
Developer:
Eutechnyx
Publisher:
Deep Silver
Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 & PC (reviewed)
Release Date: June 25, 2013
Score: 1 out of 10
