Highway 96, the procedural hitchhiking recreation, was a title with an fascinating presentation and a slew of excellent concepts. Developer DigixArt took that nice basis and spun issues off into Highway 96: Mile 0, a narrative-focused prequel that strips away the procedural parts, changing them with rhythm gameplay.
The world introduced in Highway 96 is an fascinating, albeit depressingly prescient one. Residing below the thumb of President Tyrak, you play the twin function of finest buddies Zoe, a personality from Highway 96, and Kaito, a personality in Misplaced In Concord (additionally from DigixArt) as they fantasise about operating away collectively from the nation of Petria. Coming from wildly totally different upbringings, the chums have a strong bond, and their relationship is much and away the strongest part of the title, although they’ve their share of disagreements.
Gameplay is introduced uniquely, principally functioning like a Telltale recreation, morality system and all. You observe the atmosphere and discuss to individuals, customary stuff. However periodically, the sport interjects some infinite runner rhythm segments. The environmental design on these ranges is inventive, providing some standout visuals, they usually all really feel distinctive whereas making use of some killer licensed music. Nonetheless, it additionally shines a light-weight straight on the largest problem plaguing the sport: tonal incongruity.
Whereas the musical sequences are introduced as a type of escapism from the rigours of existence for Zoe and Kaito, the script does a poor job of inserting a buffer between the enjoyable of those ranges and the extra sobering narrative parts all through the remainder of the story. Whereas it is one factor to debate Zoe witnessing a terrorist assault in her youth, it is one other to current it as a enjoyable musical set-piece.
The script itself does not strike a superb steadiness both, typically transitioning from topics akin to a rumination on class inequality straight right into a slapstick comedy sketch earlier than interjecting a information bulletin about an impending pure catastrophe. It is, to place it mildly, a large number. And this occurs again and again all through the 4-5 hours required to finish the sport. Whereas pitch-black comedy can work, the writing in Mile 0 is awkward sufficient that it feels unintentional fairly than intentionally irreverent. What you are left with is a enjoyable rhythm recreation surrounded by a plethora of questionable writing selections.
