No Straight Roads Review

Metronomik’s debut work has finally hit the market. The personalities behind the software house are certainly not irrelevant names. Here we are talking about Daim Dziauddin, the character designer of Street Fighter V, and Wan Hazmer, the lead designer of Final Fantasy XV. Will the two and their team be able to convince me with this peculiar rhythm-infused third-person combat title? Here is my No Straight Roads review on PC.

MUSIC IS POWER

The principal events of the title revolve around the rock band ‘Bunk Bed Junction’, formed by the passionate Mayday and the more studious Zuke. The two, after being brutally rejected during a talent show by No Straight Roads (or NSR), the record company that holds control of the Vinyl City energy network, decide to declare war on them and start a revolution.

In this world, in fact, music is used as a source of energy and has allowed the NSR to rise to power. The record company is forcing EDM music on citizens, rejecting any other form of personal expression. In a race towards the strong powers of the NSR, Bunk Bed Junction will climb to the top of the charts to implement a real revolution not only musical, but also social.

Representatives of this power embody the more ambiguous sides of the record industry and will lead us towards an ending that sadly didn’t quite satisfy me. Without going into details, I found that the escalation leading to the credits is hasty and poor in details, and Metronomik could have enriched the story a bit more.

QUALITY SEEMS DIFFICULT

No Straight Roads is a title that thrives on dualisms in strong contrast to each other. Rock and EDM, 2D graphics with 3D graphics, action boss fights and exploratory platforming stages. Most of the time, however, one of these elements is of a much higher quality than the other, creating ups and downs in terms of fully enjoying the game.

It becomes difficult to judge Metronomik’s No Straight Roads due to this fluctuating quality. Let’s start with the action component of the game. You can control both Zuke and Mayday (also in local multiplayer), with the former being able to perform quick and chained attacks while the latter is slower, but stronger.

Take note that they added a musical game component to the very simple combat system. The enemies, be they common or boss, will attack to the rhythm of the music, transforming the title into a real rhythm game. It is too bad that the developers did not fully exploit the fights with common enemies.

There are not a lot of fights with common enemies, and I often found myself in rather similar situations throughout the game. They even made this all more complicated due to the terrible responsiveness of characters that could put the player in a difficult situation from time to time.

THE GOOD AND THE UGLY

The boss fights are truly engaging and the best part of the game. This is where not only the plot moves forward, but we come into contact with an explosion of style, from the colors to the soundtrack. The gameplay, despite its basic simplicity, becomes fast and energetic, infused by a level of difficulty that requires commitment and concentration.

You will also find some small unique mechanics in these boss fights that may surprise you. The ability to replay these fights certainly represents a good foothold to enjoy what No Straight Roads does best and could provide a few more hours for a game that takes only about 5 hours to complete.

Let’s move on to the weak point of the game, namely the platform stages. These stages offer no particular glow in terms of level design or gameplay, and it is impossible not to see them as a mere filler. This only slows down the otherwise hectic pace of the game. Fortunately, these are quick stages that you will probably just decide to ignore.

SATISFYING GRAPHICS

The graphics in Metronomik’s No Straight Roads are very pleasant and will satisfy you properly. The game makes use of a 3D graphic style that is predominant throughout the game. They also added two-dimensional elements to represent the dialogues of some characters. You will often see a conversation between a 2D and a 3D model without these two elements colliding with each other.

The graphic style chosen, with bright colors and few details, manages to amalgamate the different elements on the screen quite well. Unfortunately, however, this poverty of detail makes you turn up your nose a bit in some rare situations, but overall you will absolutely be delighted with the final result. There will be occasions in which the extreme heat of the action will pleasantly surprise you.

WONDERFUL TO LISTEN TO

Can a game based on music disappoint on the sound sector front when it comes to the gameplay and the major themes of the narrative? Of course not, and No Straight Roads is no exception. The soundtrack is simply outstanding and pervades the entire work non-stop. In the fights, in the menus, and in the cutscenes, the music is the pillar of the whole adventure and succeeds in making the action frenetic.

At the same time, however, the music transforms the action phases into more reasoned phases. If you intend to reach high scores, you will have to stop for a second and learn the rhythm of the attacks. There are also Rock or EDM versions of the boss songs that further enrich an already excellent soundtrack.

CONCLUSION

Metronomik’s No Straight Roads is a title with some satisfying features, however I would have preferred the developers to put more attention on the combat system in order to deepen and improve it. The platform stages are really superfluous in all respects.

Almost every aspect unfortunately has a “but”, which does not leave me completely convinced. However, the really excellent soundtrack should be praised, which manages to give a feeling of enjoyment and raises the quality of the product.

Do you want to try Metronomik and Sold Out’s No Straight Roads? What do you think of my No Straight Roads review on PC? Please leave your thoughts in the comments below. Are you interested in more recently released games? Check out our reviews for Backfire, Peaky Blinders Mastermind, PGA Tour 2K21, Microsoft Flight Simulator, and Blaze Revolutions.