No Straight Roads
No Straight Roads, from Malaysian game studio Metronomik, is a game that immediately caught our attention due to its vibrant colour palette, stunning aesthetic and rhythmic gameplay. Unlike most rhythm-based games, NSR features a fantastic story and immersive gameplay style that one-ups the standard tapping to the beat method. You play as Mayday and Zuke, members of rock band Bunk Bed Junction, as they embark on an adventure to climb the charts, and not let the corrupt music empire No Straight Roads stand in their way.
Combat feels well designed, with enemy movement and attacks syncing up to the beat. This is where I found I had the upper hand over Allan (a rare occurrence, may I add) as rhythm games are by far one of my favourite genres. What can I say? I grew up playing DDR so much I could confidently do it facing away from the screen. Timing your attacks and when to dodge was fairly straightforward for me, whereas Allan found himself caught up in it all more than a few times. I have poor hearing, but even when I could barely hear the beat I was still able to keep up from learning the patterns, which frustrated Allan to no end as he struggled to get a hang of it at first. After a bit of perseverance he got there, but it’s definitely something to keep in mind if you struggle with the timing.
The art style is one of the most interesting and unique, yet madly colourful and modern looks I’ve seen in a while. Everything is screenshot-worthy. As you wander around the various locations, you are spoiled for choice at beautiful scenery and amazingly detailed signage and paraphernalia - and when taking on bosses things are cranked up a notch once more. We did encounter a couple of weird graphical glitches at times (causing the screen to stutter before blacking out, but with sound still coming through) but I couldn’t quite work out if this was intentional or not due to the fight I encountered it in. Different districts in the game have very different, distinct styles - and as mentioned before, this makes everything look mesmerising and screenshot-worthy. Many of the images I’ve saved would work well in a big frame on my wall!
Being a game focused on music, the soundtrack is as you would expect - fantastic. I would have been significantly disappointed if the music hadn’t lived up to expectations, after all, it’s one of the biggest things about this game! NSR as a company are all about EDM music, as they require the energy from music fans to power the city, they have their grubby mitts on everything, leading to a total dictatorship where they have full control over who can make it in the music world. Sadly, BBJ are a rock group, and so don’t fit into NSR’s ideal EDM category - this causes a pretty cool back and forth between styles during battles, as bosses work best during the EDM sections whereas Zuke and Mayday get a boost from Rock.
Playing No Straight Roads, and having control of two characters with individual skills and abilities that can be switched between at any time is a really cool way to experience the game. Mayday definitely feels like the leader of the two, as most dialogue and interactions with other people are from her, whilst Zuke takes a slight back seat. Upon our first time booting up the game and spotting the option for two-player, we chose to set out on the journey together, with me as Mayday and Allan taking the role of Zuke. Sadly, even though the game is designed with two characters - the focus on Mayday as the lead means that the camera is always cantered on her, leaving Player 2 to feel like a spare part. This can make taking on bosses feel much more frustrating and difficult than it needed to be, so I’d highly recommend sticking to single player if you want to have a more enjoyable play through.
Priced at £34.99 on Xbox One, it’s a game we had a lot of fun with and one I’m sure I’ll go back to for years to come - as long as I’m playing solo. There’s upgrades to be had and collectibles to be obtained, so there’s enough stuff to keep you coming back for more - especially if you want all of the achievements!
In the end, we decided to give No Straight Roads the Collecting Asylum rating of 7.5/10.
Have you played NSR yet? What did you think of it?
Let us know in the comments below!
- V x
Thank you to SoldOut Games for the No Straight Roads Xbox One review code!
