Developed by Malaysian indie studio Metronomik and published by Sold Out (The Survivalists), No Straight Roads was finally released on PC via the Epic Games Store and all other major platforms on August 25 after numerous delays as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The game draws influence from sources like Steven Universe and Scott Pilgrim to create a charming, although simplistic, musical adventure.
No Straight Roads is set in a world that is literally powered by music and puts players in the role of two-person rock band Bunk Bed Junction, consisting of Mayday (guitarist) and Zuke (drummer), who wish to bring the lost art of rock and roll to Vinyl City. Unfortunately, the city’s monolithic council of judges, dubbed NSR, rejects them, leading the pair to fire up their instruments to rebel against their army of evil musicians. The game's story campaign isn't very long, but it is filled with clever writing and lots of witty dialogue, with the highlight being Zuke’s chill personality contrasting with Mayday’s hot-headedness.
One of No Straight Roads’ unique qualities is how the music follows the action onscreen; enemies sway with the background music, which in turn gives players a clue as to when they’re about to attack. Combat has players jumping to dodge attacks and returning their own during openings in the beat. They can also parry certain attacks back at enemies for extra points, although this requires precise timing to pull off. The game can be played by one or two players, and those who play solo can switch between Mayday and Zuke with the press of a button. Both have their own special skills and abilities: Mayday inflicts more damage, while Zuke specializes in combos and rapid attacks. If one of the heroes dies, players are given the choice of starting over at their current checkpoint, but at the cost of a reduced score at the end of the level.
Outside of combat, players hang out at Bunk Bed Junction's sewer hideout, where they can equip new power-ups to help in their mission, unlock new abilities and status upgrades using the fans they gain in their journey or gain insight on the next boss. From there, they transverse the open world until they reach their next story objective in a manner not unlike the first Sonic Adventure. They can also collect little floating canisters called mini-qwasas, which can be used to power the homes of the City’s citizens and thus gain their trust. With each boss defeated, players gain a Platinum Record, which they can then use to gain access to other parts of the city.
No Straight Roads’ graphics and art style are bright and colorful, with expressive character models that bring Disney Infinity and Psychonauts to mind. The character designs lend themselves well to the hand-drawn static renderings and 2D cutscenes that the game employs during conversations with NPCs and news reports of Bunk Bed Junctions’ exploits. Appropriately, the music is a nice mix of rock and electric dance, and there are plenty of catchy beats throughout the experience.
As fun as No Straight Roads' story and presentation are, the gameplay is pretty much a standard beat-em-up, and things do get repetitive after a while. Also, while the rap battle minigame between Zuke and his brother is fun once its figured out, it can be quite confusing due to the obstacles players need to avoid looking like the notes normally collected in titles like Guitar Hero, and the game doesn't really indicate that this isn't the case.
In some ways, No Straight Roads might have worked better as a cartoon than a video game, as its colorful characters and quirky writing outshine its somewhat by-the-numbers gameplay. Still, it has a solid presentation that makes it worth at least a weekend playthrough, and there’s plenty of charm for those looking to rock out.
No Straight Roads is now available for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. Screen Rant was provided a PS4 download code for the purpose of this review.
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