Road Blaster (ロードブラスター Rōdoburasutā) is a Full-Motion Video (FMV) video game developed by Data East and released in 1985 for arcades. It was ported to the MSX and Sharp X1 by Victor Entertainment in 1986, then to the Sega CD in 1992 by Telenet Japan and to the Pioneer LaserActive in 1995 by Pioneer.
The western versions for the Sega CD and LaserActive were titled Road Avenger (or Road Blaster FX in Japan) and Road Prosecutor respectively. It was also released in 1988 as a VHS tape for Takara's Video Challenger system.
Story[]
After 10 years of service with the elite police force known as S.T.O.P. (Special Task Operations Police), you deserve some time off. You just stopped and jailed a ring of carjackers after a dangerous high-speed chase, so your boss agrees to your request for some rest. You decide to take your fiancée for a ride up the coast.
However, the life of a policeman never ends, even when you're off duty. A group of road terrorists who call themselves S.C.U.M. (Secret Criminal Underground Movement) anxiously watched as you busted their friends. You'd been slowly but surely making it difficult for them to wreak their havoc against people and property, so you were on their list. They watch you and your fiancée get ready to leave, and then they form their plan.
Once out of the city, off the cliff you go... run off the road by the terrorists' van. Laughing all the way back to town, S.C.U.M. thinks you are out of the way. Little do they realize that only your girlfriend perished in the fiery crash off the cliff. You are intact but an uncontrollable rage has welled up inside you. "I must make them pay for Cindy's death", you shout to the canyon walls. S.C.U.M. didn't count on having to face the Road Avenger!
Gameplay[]
Much like other FMV games, Road Blaster plays an interactive video, with the player having to react to quick-time events in order to progress. As the video plays, arrows will appear on the screen to prompt the player to make turns at specific points, while the player also have to press buttons to accelerate, boost and brake the car when prompted. Failing to react in time to a prompt will play a game over scene of the car crashing.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The animation for the game was produced by Toei Animation Co., Ltd., who also did the animated sequences for Cobra Command.
- The game's premise takes inspiration from the Mad Max movies, in addition to a reference to the 1969 James Bond movie, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, with the scene in the attract mode sequence where the protagonist's wife was killed.
- Tochiro Oyama, a character from Gun Frontier by Leiji Matsumoto, makes a brief cameo appearance on a wanted poster in the fourth level of the game.