Insulting. The first and only term that comes to mind while playing through “Ride to Hell: Retribution.” The poorly-written and sometimes downright awkward script, the tediously boring gameplay and the repetitive three song soundtrack that loops over and over again creates an experience that is below sub-par.

The setting is the small western town of Dead End, where the main character, Jake, comes back from an unspecified war and immediately witnesses his brothers murder by a local biker gang due to an old biker jacket he was wearing that belonged to their dead father. Jake, of course, immediately swears to get revenge through blood and violence. There is absolutely no context, back-story or reason to care about the characters at all, and this all occurs in the first five minutes of the games story.

Throughout the entire game you are tracking down and killing the members of the rival biker gang. That’s it. There is no other worthwhile story or sub-plot, just thirty-seven missions of killing rival bikers through poorly-paced events.

As for it being a biker game, it is expected that there will be riding on a motorcycle. Which there is, in minute-long segments that are entirely scripted and constantly moving forward. If you even spin around on accident, the level resets and you are sent back to the beginning of the segment. Whatever happens, do not go backwards.

This game is thirty-seven steps backwards for the gaming community as a whole. Thinking that a publisher would even release this unfinished offensive title will tarnish the name of the gaming community as a whole. Save some money, do not give this game a second thought. That being said, I’ll award the game one star, a more than generous rating because I don’t believe in decimal points.

lkenney@mavs.coloradomesa.edu