Road Rash Leaves the Competition in the Dust

Call me a purist, but second-rate video games really drive me nuts, particularly when I play one right before diving into a classic as perpetually tasty as Electronic Arts’ Road Rash.

The motorcycle racer has landed on Sony PlayStation and, like many of the 3DO originals before it, looks and plays better than it ever has. Unfortunately, another new moto-racer, Hang On GP for Sega Saturn, limps and sputters along.

What puts the two on such totally different levels is the attention to detail. Simply put, Road Rash has it and Hang On doesn’t.

I haven’t ridden a motorcycle since my days as a kid in the sticks, but I remember well enough that when I clipped walnut trees while riding my old dirt bike, I generally ended up on my keister. But in Hang On, players can run smack into a wall and remain in full control.

Go figure.

Road Rash, on the other hand, requires careful riding to stay in control. Not only do mistakes result in some fairly nasty spills, but players also have to trot along the road to recover their bikes, hop back on and regain speed.

Luckily, wipeouts can be avoided on most of Road Rash’s courses, which tend to curve more gently than Hang On’s. What it lacks in course difficulty, though, is made up in challenging computer opponents, who constantly try to kick and punch players off their bikes.

Add to that some pretty great cinematics between races and the option to play in story mode, and Road Rash comes out on top again--proof that newer does not always mean better.

Panzer Dragoon Zwei: That said, newer can be better. The prequel to Panzer Dragoon for Sega Saturn is--if it can be believed--better than the original. Those are big words, coming from me.

The first Panzer was one of the only early Saturn games worth a darn. As playable as it was beautiful, Panzer wowed me as one of the best-looking games I’d ever seen on any platform.

But Panzer Zwei makes the original look shoddy, with environments so rich and so full of fluid detail that it’s fun just to sit and watch the various worlds unfold. In a particularly gorgeous sequence, the dragon flys off a cliff in a swooping scene that shows off all Saturn’s graphics muscle.

The story takes place long before the original in a time before dragons had wings and follows the training of the beasts that eventually take flight in Panzer. Great cinematics between rounds tell the tale with rendered animation.

In fact, everything about this game is pretty swell except for the name of the hero. Now I have nothing against the name Randy, but I have a hard time believing it was a popular name on some far-off planet thousands of years ago.

Democracy in Action: When this column was conceived more than a year ago, the intent was to provide a place in the paper that reads a little different than the dozens of serious, gray stories dealing with the news of the day. But it seems not everyone likes the style.

Justin Scott of Granada Hills writes that he was excited when the column debuted, but notes that his “excitement turned to repulsion when I saw the writing style that the column is handled in. Namely, Mr. Curtiss’ choice of words and phrases, that while they may be common slang usage, have no place in a newspaper. . . . A week never goes by that words such as ‘sucks,’ ‘crummy’ and ‘cheesy’ [don’t] appear in your pages in this column. . . . “ Scott objects to the casual way in which the column is written, calling it a “a black eye on not only the entire video gaming establishment, but on your paper.”

For the record, out of nearly 200 game reviews, the word “sucks” has appeared 22 times, but we aim to please. So we’re holding a referendum on the column’s style. Send your vote to the address below or drop an e-mail telling me whether you want the column to continue with its chatty style or to grow up and read like a classical-music or ballet review.

Just to make it interesting, all voters will be entered into a random drawing for a library of game titles. So one lucky person will walk away with a stack of hot 32-bit games. Who says democracy is dull? Votes are due next Thursday and the results will be announced the following week.

Staff writer Aaron Curtiss reviews video games every Thursday. To comment on a column or to suggest games for review, send letters to The Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth, CA 91311. Or send e-mail to Aaron.Curtiss@latimes.com.