Scrap Riders is a pixel art side-scrolling adventure game developed by Games for Tutti. Set in a post apocalyptic world, you take the role of Rast, a member of the biker gang known as the Scrap Riders. The Scrap Riders reputation is known throughout the wasteland and they are not to be messed with, but a new faction has risen…..
The story revolves around an item that is stolen from the Scrap Riders by the Black Warriors, a group of degenerates who have taken over Uber city and the territories of the three gangs who reside there. It becomes Rast’s job, along with his robotic sidekick 50nl, to unite these gangs and defeat the Black Warriors, while also recovering their property.
The play style is very Streets of Rage when it comes to combat, simple but fun, with limited combo’s and a touch of frustration when being air juggled by a screen full of enemies. You do have a pistol for ranged attacks, which are mostly one hit kills against lower level opponents, ammunition is limited to single bullets dropped by gun wielding enemies that you defeat. Health pick ups and melee weapons can be found at intervals during combat sections, though the weapons are slow and I found punching my way through the horde to be the more effective way of dispatching enemies. Some levels also come with explosive barrels, which both enemies and yourself can set off, so beware….
The story elements of the game include walking around talking to people and occasionally interacting with objects, some interactions are simply Rast talking to himself, usually refusing to touch a specific item, others gain you an item to be used or combined with another item for an objective, such as needing to find a gardening tool so you make one out of a wrench and a sharp knife. Conversations are actually one of the annoying parts of the game, as there is no audible speech and the speech bubbles are rather small, so sentences carry over into the next bubble which causes the conversations to be fragmented and sometimes difficult to follow. It also makes the conversations seem to last much longer. You have multiple options of things to say in individual conversations but only certain ones advance the story, the rest are mostly meaningless. There are however constant pop culture references throughout the game when talking to people or interacting with the environment, while this breaks immersion, I did enjoy recognizing which film(s) Rast was talking about, though not everyone will understand them (even I didn’t get them all).
Many side quest’s include traveling back and forth between areas, which you can do by getting on your motorcycle, though there are only 6 area’s to travel to. You are unable to control the journey however and once you get on your bike, the next area loads. While each level is quite colourful and well designed, repeated visits do eventually take the shine off of them
