Burning Road (1996) Review

Originally Published on Jan, 1st 2023

Hey there kid, do you like playing Daytona USA at the arcade but your parents bought you a Playstation instead of a Saturn? Then do I have a game for you.

To say Burning Road borrows alot from Daytona would be an understatement. Everything from the menu layout, announcer and even the flashing outline over which options you pick are clearly attempting to ape the style of Sega's arcade classic. However once you start racing you'll find Burning Road is a bit more than a simple clone.

The game features an assortment of 4 vehicles. 2 cars and 2 monster trucks that you can race across 3 tracks that like Daytona are labeled Beginner, Advanced and Expert. Once you get into a race you'll notice that Burning Road has an incredible sense of speed as you zip across the track and go flying off inclines. Unfortunately the games handling is on the loose side, you'll find your bumper almost magnetized to the wall no matter how hard you try to brake. This combined with the games erratic rubberbanding ai can make taking first place difficult, especially in the expert track

The tracks while small in number are all varied and fun to look at. Beginner mixes a windmill forest with the great wall of China. Advanced meshes a volcanic area with a snowy arctic climate and Expert gives us a dark rainy city. Pop in, however is a recurring problem in every track, with level elements coming into existence as you approach.

The sound design and music are fun and fit the arcade vibe perfectly. The opening jingle, the engrish announcer and the lady singing "burning road~" in a few of the tracks add to the games overall charm...if you choose the 'classic music' option in the menu anyway. The NTSC release of Burning Road features a 'US Remix' that replaces the music and announcer done by Tommy Talirico Studios. It is incredibly boring with a tryhard announcer that made me groan whenever he spoke.

Despite the technical issues and general lack of polish I personally find Burning Road to be an incredibly fun arcade racer that deserves more recognition than it gets. I'd definitely recommend checking it out, just make sure you change the music to classic before you start.