No Straight Roads review: Save with the Power of Rock

With a lighthearted game needed more than ever, No Straight Roads gives you music, mayhem and sticking it to the man with the power of good music.

Title: No Straight Roads
Developer: Metronomik
Publishers: Sold-Out Software
Platforms: PS4 (version reviewed), Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Windows
Release Date: August 25th, 2020

I have never understood why someone can say that they don’t like music. Music is everywhere and in almost everything. My body can’t help but move when I hear music and I find, much like Jess from New Girl, that I sing about what I’m doing. “Get to the point!” you shout. Music can make everything better (and we all need a break), including video games and No Straight Roads knows that. Strap on your guitar and grab your drumsticks for this game.

No Straight Roads follows Mayday and Zuke, the two members of Bunk Bed Junction. They live in Vinyl City, a city run by NSR (No Straight Roads). NSR powers Vinyl City with something called Qwasa, energy created through music. They run a show called Lights Up Auditions which works to find musicians that create a lot of Qwasa to help run the city. As a rock band, Mayday and Zuke think they killed it and they created a ton of Qwasa but Tatiana (the CEO of NSR) and all of the top artists for the company disagree and kick them out. They don’t want rock, they want EDM and EDM only.

After a blackout, Zuke and Mayday see that NSR hoards all of the energy and they think it is time to take the Qwasa back to the people of Vinyl City and defeat the NSR dictators with the power of rock. Make your way through the lively streets of the city and its neighborhoods to take down the top artists one by one and finally get the power to the people with music that would make Dynasty Warriors proud.

No Straight Roads may be one of the most colorful games that I have ever played. I will be honest and say that it took a little bit for me to connect with the game but once you take down your first EDM concert, it becomes a lot more fun. Once I got past hijacking the first concert and began to experience some of the districts, it became a lot more fun.

This game has some intense JRPG feels with some of the most fun character introduction animations I have ever seen. It’s almost like it’s trying to capture the over-the-top feeling of Persona 5 but without the difficulty, none of the grind and a lot more silliness. Even the voice acting is entertaining with Zuke being the strong quiet type and Mayday as the brassy lead. Side characters and NPCs that pop up give up the same gusto and entertainment value, making it worth talking to every possible person in the game.

The music is a fantastic blend of EDM and rock that makes even just patrolling the streets a relaxing endeavor. As you roam the districts, you can collect Qwasa to give power to different parts of the city, which in turn gives you more fans. Having fans will allow you to upgrade your skills to melt faces with your tasty riffs and you can collect stickers to add to your instruments for temporary buffs.

Hijacking concerts is a blast because each top artist is very different from the other which keeps the experience fresh. Not to mention the mini bosses (like Zuke’s rap-tastic brother) that will keep you on your toes and slam you to the mat harder than the main bosses.

No Straight Roads is a colorful and fun take on the underdogs taking down the man and a story like that seems more apt than ever. This is a great way to cleanse your mind, listen to some sweet tunes and kick some butt with the power of rock.

A copy of this game was provided to App Trigger for the purpose of this review. All scores are ranked out of 10, with .5 increments. Click here to learn more about our Review Policy.