Video Game Vintage Title: Ride To Hell: Retribution

Ride To Hell: Retribution

Ride to Hell: Retribution is an action-adventure game developed by Eutechnyx and published by Deep Silver. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Set in the 1960s biker culture in the Western USA, the game follows Jake Conway, a Vietnam veteran and member of a family of bikers who swears vengeance on a rival gang after the murder of his brother.

The game received overwhelmingly negative reviews, with some reviewers calling it one of the worst games of all-time.

Ride To Hell: Retribution Plot

Ride to Hell: Retribution takes place in 1969, telling the story of Jake Conway, a Vietnam veteran and member of a family of bikers. Having come home to a changed country, Jake attempts to live a peaceful life with his uncle and brother. After the gang-related murder of his brother by a rival biker gang, Jake swears vengeance.

Ride To Hell: Retribution Gameplay

The player controls Jake Conway from a third-person perspective. The game's levels generally begin with a motorcycle driving segment in which only forward movement is allowed and obstacles must be avoided by using ramps and powerslides. Impacts and collisions lead to either a checkpoint reset (the screen fades and the player is sent backwards to the last clear stretch of road) or death. Combat can also occur in these segments, consisting of quick-time event melee attacks, shooting from a sidecar while an AI companion drives, or getting close enough to allow an AI companion to shoot.

Main levels generally consist of a mixture of third-person, cover-based shooter and beat-'em-up gameplay. These levels are linear, usually guarded by several lower level enemies with a high ranking Devil's Hand member serving as the boss enemy at the end. The player can use a variety of guns and melee weapons, as well as thrown blades and dynamite. Unarmed combat actions include guard breaking, countering enemy attacks, context kills with environmental objects, and a quick-time event based instant takedown. Weapons and ammunition can be scavenged from defeated enemies.

Between levels, the player can roam a small section of Dead End to sell drugs and buy weapons, moves, and motorcycle customization. Notably, despite a large amount of the city being modeled and detailed, any attempts to exit the small playable section results in a fade-reset similar to that of the driving segments. Also notable are civilian NPCs which are animated, but cannot be spoken to or killed, despite the game's help menu warning against harming such NPCs.

Reception
Ride to Hell: Retribution was universally panned by critics following its release, with criticisms focused on the repetitive gameplay, technical issues, and the portrayal of women. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the Xbox 360 version 15.00% and 19/100, the PC version 12.00% and 16/100 and the PlayStation 3 version of 10.00% and 13/100.

Eurogamer criticised all aspects of the game and scored it 1/10. Reviewer Cara Ellison also highlighted the game's portrayal of women; "...women are completely, totally, transparently, a resource in this game,". The treatment of women was also raised in Phil Iwaniuk's review for Official PlayStation Magazine (UK), as well as criticising the same gameplay and technical aspects as other reviewers, Iwaniuk called the game "obnoxiously misogynistic".

EGM said "Other games may have offered less content for more money or come up shorter in specific, individual areas, but I don�t think there�s ever been a game that does so many things so universally poorly" and scored it 0.5/10, with the only positive remarks being about the pause menu.

Dan Ryckert of Game Informer said "With the exception of some Kinect and Wii games that flat-out don�t work, this is the worst video game I�ve played this console generation."

Daniel Starkey of GameSpot gave it a 1.0/10, calling it a "hideous, slapped-together action game saturated with poor, nonsensical design choices", making it the second game to receive the lowest score possible on the website after Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing.

In the game's first review, Steve Hannley of Hardcore Gamer gave it a 1/5, calling it an "offensive abomination of a game."

Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw of Zero Punctuation heavily criticized the game but in his review, he recommended purchasing the game, stating that "It's bad. It's explosively, apocalyptically bad, and you should totally buy it". He concluded his review by saying that "This could be our Plan 9". He later placed it below his bottom five games of 2013, saying "I was hesitant to place it even on a worst games list 'cos it's not a game, it's congealed failure. I speak no hyperbole when I say that releasing every box with no disc inside would have been less of a mistake." He instead gave it the "Zero Punctuation Lifetime Achievement Award for Total Abhorrence".

Giant Bomb awarded it the Worst Game of 2013.

Eutechnyx's own website did not list its own game on its product pages, or news pages.