The Making Of: Ride To Hell, The Open-World Epic That Became One Of The Worst Games Of All Time

“I believe the potential was definitely there”.

You’ve probably heard of Ride to Hell: Retribution, released on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows back in 2013. It’s regarded as one of the worst games ever. On our sister site, Push Square, it has a user rating of less than 3. Metacritic aggregates a critic rating of 19 out of 100 and a user score of 1.3. There’s also a plethora of YouTubers with comedic videos pointing out its flaws (TehSnakerer nicely covers the entire game in 30 minutes). Some reviewers joke that the 1% on the cover actually represents the game’s true score. But we’re not really here to talk about Ride to Hell: Retribution, since it’s actually sort of a remake; we’re here to mourn the cancellation of the original Ride to Hell, which looked phenomenal. Despite sharing a name, the two are completely different games!

Your author first came across the original thanks to Dave Halverson’s multiformat Play magazine, which made it the cover feature for issue 85, arriving December 2008 via subscription. Brady Fiechter’s exclusive preview described the Big Sur in California and the landscapes of Nevada, mentioned Hunter S Thomson’s seminal Hell’s Angels book, and examined an open-world biker gang simulator which promised authenticity and freedom. As far as previews go, it was captivating. Your author had travelled those open highways, read Thomson’s books, and even owned the requisite denim jacket (though only two of the three airman’s wings). The freedom touted by Ride to Hell was intoxicating. For context, that same issue, they previewed Heavy Rain and reviewed Left 4 Dead; it was an optimistic time.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

“I believe the potential was definitely there”.

You’ve probably heard of Ride to Hell: Retribution, released on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows back in 2013. It’s regarded as one of the worst games ever. On our sister site, Push Square, it has a user rating of less than 3. Metacritic aggregates a critic rating of 19 out of 100 and a user score of 1.3. There’s also a plethora of YouTubers with comedic videos pointing out its flaws (TehSnakerer nicely covers the entire game in 30 minutes). Some reviewers joke that the 1% on the cover actually represents the game’s true score. But we’re not really here to talk about Ride to Hell: Retribution, since it’s actually sort of a remake; we’re here to mourn the cancellation of the original Ride to Hell, which looked phenomenal. Despite sharing a name, the two are completely different games!

Your author first came across the original thanks to Dave Halverson’s multiformat Play magazine, which made it the cover feature for issue 85, arriving December 2008 via subscription. Brady Fiechter’s exclusive preview described the Big Sur in California and the landscapes of Nevada, mentioned Hunter S Thomson’s seminal Hell’s Angels book, and examined an open-world biker gang simulator which promised authenticity and freedom. As far as previews go, it was captivating. Your author had travelled those open highways, read Thomson’s books, and even owned the requisite denim jacket (though only two of the three airman’s wings). The freedom touted by Ride to Hell was intoxicating. For context, that same issue, they previewed Heavy Rain and reviewed Left 4 Dead; it was an optimistic time.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

 

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