No Straight Roads

No Straight Roads asks you to fight back against inequality with the power of rock in an evocative musical experience.

An engaging presentation and some cool ideas can't help elevate No Straight Road's hollow loop.

An energy infused concoction of style, action, and music that will give you one heck of a musical hangover.

With genre music battles and stylish design, this should be great – but it can't decide whether it's a third-person fighter or a rhythm-action game

No Straight Roads feels like a less good version of Sayonara Wild Hearts, and if you want a rhythm action game I can’t really recommend the former over the latter.

Ultimately the result is a fun world, with fun characters that absolutely nails its boss fights, but settles for adequacy on all other fronts. As the first game from a new team, it’s not bad, though.

No Straight Roads isn't a bad game at all, but it's one that consistently falls short of the tremendous potential that it often hints at. The world, characters, music, and overall idea of its gameplay are ripe for a groundbreaking beat 'em up game, but this, unfortunately, is just a so-so one. Performance problems, camera issues, and repetitive gameplay are all factors that hold this one back from greatness, but these issues are often balanced out by the spectacular boss fights, excellent soundtrack, and charming writing. We'd recommend this one to beat 'em up fans looking for an interesting new entry in the genre, but with the big caveat that you consider this release's flaws before taking the plunge. It's certainly a worthwhile experience, but one that will likely disappoint if you come into it with the wrong expectations.

No Straight Roads needs to retire from touring, rest its vocal cords, and make a comeback tour when it's found itself as an artist. Right now, it can't carry a tune.

For such a short game with so many issues, it seems crazy to recommend No Straight Roads. The story is overly drawn out, almost feeling like it was intended for a longer game, the levels are to be endured and the underlying systems meant to bring depth are just kind of there, staring at you, begging you to yell "Freebird" so it can go on a long tirade about jerks in the audience.

No Straight Roads has fantastic visuals, a phenomenal soundtrack, and lovable characters. It's a shame that the rest of the game doesn't hold up as well but I didn't regret my time with the game and will be replaying the boss fights many more times thanks to the fantastic music.