The stories of the teenage emigrants of Road 96, between escape and hope, have remained engraved in the hearts of many players. Produced by the French studio digixart, the narrative adventure set in Petria, published in 2021, had conquered the public thanks to a happy mix of roguelike dynamics and procedurality in the structure of the different sections of the game (with a clear inspiration in the "Lego narrative blocks" theorized by Ken Levin). The team once again travels the dusty paths marked by Tyrak's dictatorial regime with a prequel centered on Zoe, well known to Road 96 players, and Kaito, familiar to those who appreciated the Montpellier studio's first production, Lost in Harmony.
In our opinion, it was not a happy marriage: Road 96 Mile 0's plot soon becomes entangled in some forced choices due to its prequel nature to Road 96, and the gameplay, focused on dialogue options and rhythm sections. game, fails to find a clear center of gravity around which to develop clear and coherent playful reasoning. The result is a production that is quite confusing in its intentions and not very successful from the point of view of execution, incapable of catalyzing the emotions and attention of the actors, despite presenting some high impact management decisions of some of his skateboarding and skateboarding to music.
We tell you all these aspects in detail in ours Highway 96 Mile 0 review.
The strange couple
Highway 96 Mile 0 opens with one of Sonya Sánchez's broadcasts, Petria's only journalist. In the GNN Special episode shown at the beginning of the adventure, Sonya finds herself in White Sands, an exclusive residential neighborhood where, among others, you and President Tyrak live, as well as the families of the various ministers. Zoe, daughter of the Minister of Petroleum, also lives in White Sands; Her friend Kaito, however, resides with her parents in Tyrak Square, intended for working class housing that supports the luxurious lives of the area's wealthiest inhabitants.
Both Zoe and Kaito have elements "inherited" from its previous appearances in the video games developed by DigixArt: Zoe never abandons her trusty trombone (the protagonist of one of the most memorable sections of Road 96), while Kaito has not yet come to terms with the loss of his friend Aya, the central character of Lost in Harmony. , who died too soon from cancer caused by the very high air pollution in Petria. Kaito, a rebellious young man, questions the certainties of Zoe, a descendant of one of the most important families in Petria: this aspect becomes important in a special bar, always present in the upper left corner of the screen, which shows the orientation. of the protagonists towards the revolution or incorporation into the totalitarian regime in force in the country.
During the adventure we often find ourselves faced with narrative choices which affect certain events in the game's plot and lead to various endings, encouraging a new game after its completion, in approximately four hours, from the first playthrough of Road 96 Mile 0: unlike what happened in Road 96, however, the narrative branches are very few and remain inscribed in a very specific scheme, intended to put Zoe in a particular condition relevant to the Road 96 plot. .
In general, this prequel fails to present a broad story: the developers' intention to create a more contained and less ambitious product from a narrative point of view is clear, but in Road 96 Mile 0 we find ourselves faced with a plot that does not excite and not surprising. Many of the characters already seen in Road 96 return in sometimes enjoyable cameos, but Zoe and Kaito remain, throughout the entire journey, two fairly stereotypical and rigid characters. doesn't helpLamentable handling of your points of view.: in some moments we find ourselves personifying Zoe, in others Kaito, and if a "silent" protagonist worked very well in Road 96 - where we find ourselves living the adventures, sequentially, of several anonymous emigrants - the same cannot be said in this prequel, in which the alternation between the two characters leads us to the strange sensation of having to abandon, in turn, control (although partial) of their emotions and reactions, returning them to the leadership of the team, in a framework that globally It does not always remain cohesive and coherent. There are also some absolutely surreal narrative tricks, intended to carry out a very difficult mission that the duo will carry out towards the end of the adventure, at the price of seriously endangering the foundations of a plot that would like to maintain a certain suspension of disbelief.
musical careers
As also happened in Road 96, DigixArt presents several mini-games during the adventure: from the construction of a wooden ramp by hammering nails into the boards, to the very violent throwing of propaganda newspapers at passers-by, to the manipulation of power units to sabotage a soporific tai chi lesson. None of these activities reach a complexity that engages the player in depth and, unfortunately, this also applies to rhythm game sections which brings Road 96 Mile 0 closer to Lost in Harmony.
However, we want to point out that, in our opinion, the team's main source of inspiration was the stunning Sayonara Wild Hearts, undoubtedly one of the most phenomenal rhythm games in recent years. Compared to the Swedish production, the title developed by DigixArt stands out more varied sounds, and the soundtrack is partly licensed ("No Brakes" by The Offspring is one of the pieces present) and partly produced specifically for Road 96 Mile 0. We are not, therefore, facing an "interactive album", but rather before pieces intended to express, as the case may be, the emotions of Zoe and Kaito - both alternately controlled by the player - at particular moments of the plot, without a common thread that connects all the pieces. There are also crossroads that have repercussions from a narrative point of view, influencing the beliefs of the protagonists that we talked about before; There is the possibility to review your choices by repeating the levels as many times as you want, selecting them directly from the main menu, also - if you wish - improve your final rating, based on the number of deaths and gems collected.
Overall, we were disappointed with the team's musical work: it lacks the immediately recognizable whistle-like sounds of Road 96, and The amalgam here is confused and without a clear direction.. The main problem with the musical levels performed by the two teenagers (Zoe uses skates, Kaito a skateboard) lies in the frequent interruptions of the game with predefined sequences showing particular events on stage. It may be the collapse of a Tyrak statue, or the actions of our secondary character who is not controlled at the moment, but in any case a caesura occurs that prevents the player from reaching that rhythm that is central to any rhythm worth its salt. game. In this sense, Sayonara Wild Hearts is a virtuous example, not followed, however, by DigixArt in its Road 96 Mile 0.
Some good aesthetic intuitions and direction solutions, and also a good idea to introduce, in addition to the mechanics of collecting gems by moving along the path, also jumps, small quick-time events and other tricks to invite full interaction with the various elements from the stage, but execution remains excessively fragmented and, in some cases, plagued by important failures: in two sections we were unable to make the jump (essential, in those situations, to avoid obstacles on the course) and we were forced to make use of the option of skipping those sections completely. of the level, a possibility that is presented to the player after a few deaths (which have an impact on the final score). In other words, you never get there. Adrenaline and synesthetic power. which is typical of the most successful rhythm games on the market.
An aesthetic in continuity with Road 96
From a graphic point of view, DigixArt's production takes what was done in Road 96 and aims to rough it up and clean it up, with a final effect that can be said to be very successful in general. Beyond some small graphical errors, the improvement is perceptible, but despite this we are faced with some truly incomprehensible artistic choices: On several occasions, even the most intense dialogues are carried out with impassive facial expressions and a visible sense of detachment, eliminating the emotional impact of conversations even related to very sensitive topics.
Furthermore, the technical sector prepared by the team is certainly not one that would put the hardware of new generation consoles to the test, but despite this we find ourselves facing loading times that were not negligible even on PlayStation 5, although procedural generation elements have been removed . the narrative segments seen in Road 96. Finally, we highlight a discreet dubbing into English and theexcellent translation into spanish.
Conclusions
Holygamerz.com 5.5 Readers (2) 5.2 your voteRoad 96 Mile 0 is not the prequel we expected: having abandoned the procedural structure and roguelike dynamics to introduce decidedly unfocused rhythmic gameplay sections, the work done by DigixArt lacks the political, emotional and playful incisiveness that had characterized Road 96, and Replayability margins are drastically reduced. The team's desire to change direction and embark on new paths is completely understandable, but the work carried out by the Montpellier developers lacks concentration and the ability to involve the player in the different souls of the adventure. A rather flat overall soundtrack does not help, far from the peaks reached by the nineties sounds of Road 90. There are some convincing segments left on a narrative and playable level, but we know that DigixArt has much more potential, as amply demonstrated by A very successful adventure on the road that had brought so much luck to the team in '96.
PRO
- Some interesting setting and directing solutions.
- The idea of musical paths is good.
AGAINST
- Flat and wrinkle-free texture.
- Soundtrack far from the excellence of Road 96
- Constant cinematic interruptions break the player's attention.
- Few plot branches.
