Teamxbox: Ride to Hell Preview

Teamxbox: Fans of sandbox style games, tired of the countless Grand Theft Auto clones looking to score a piece of the open-world popularity pie, may want to check out Ride to Hell, developer Deep Silver’s-comprised of former Rockstar Vienna employees-crack at the ambitious genre. Unlike other such titles, Ride to Hell doesn’t immediately steal your attention because of its screen-filling explosions, violence-fueled rampages, or colorful cast of characters; oh sure, it’s got all that, but what grabs you first is its setting, both in time and state of mind. The title tackles late 60’s biker culture, back when it was all sex, drugs, and Easy Rider-it’s no surprise Steppenwolf’s Born to be Wild plays over the game’s trailer.

Much of the reason Ride to Hell’s style and story make such an impact is because they’re the title’s most prominent features at this point. The game’s still got plenty of time on its development schedule (Deep Silver’s aiming for a late 2009 release), and my hands-off demo only offered a brief glimpse of what’s to come in terms of actual gameplay mechanics. What I have seen, though, has more than piqued my interest and invigorated my enthusiasm for a genre that’s seen more me-too titles than original takes in the last few years. It’s absolutely a testament to the game’s ambition and fresh focus that it’s gone from completely under my radar to the top of my must-play list in such a short time.