RoadKill is a video game of the action

Action game

Action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes diverse subgenres such as fighting games, shooter games, and platform games, which are widely considered the most important action games, though some...

 genre released in 2003 by Midway Games

Midway Games

Midway Games, Inc. is an American company that was formerly a major video game publisher. Following a bankruptcy filing in 2009, it is no longer active and is in the process of liquidating all of its assets. Midway's titles included Mortal Kombat, Ms.Pac-Man, Spy Hunter, Tron, Rampage, the...

. The game has been described by Midway as “the only mission-based combat driving game set in a post-apocalyptic world.” Indeed, RoadKill’s gameplay features many characteristics of famous automotive combat franchises such as Twisted Metal

Twisted Metal

Twisted Metal is a series of vehicular combat video games published by Sony Computer Entertainment, and developed by various companies during its tenure. The series began on the PlayStation in 1995 and currently features seven games, with an eighth installment currently in production...

with the attitude of Grand Theft Auto

Grand Theft Auto (video game)

Grand Theft Auto is a 1997 action-adventure video game created by British games developer DMA Design and published by BMG Interactive. The game allows the player to take on the role of a criminal who can roam freely around a big city. Various missions are set for completion, such as bank...

; however, despite receiving decent reviews by the gaming community, RoadKill remains a relatively obscure title to find.

Plot

RoadKill is set in an alternate history inspired by classic post-apocalyptic road films like the Mad Max

Mad Max

Mad Max is a 1979 Australian dystopian action film directed by George Miller and revised by Miller and Byron Kennedy over the original script by James McCausland. The film stars Mel Gibson, who was unknown at the time. Its narrative based around the traditional western genre, Mad Max tells a story...

series and Death Race 2000

Death Race 2000

Death Race 2000 is a 1975 cult action film directed by Paul Bartel, and starring David Carradine, Simone Griffeth and Sylvester Stallone. The film takes place in a dystopian American society in the year 2000, where the murderous Transcontinental Road Race has become a form of national entertainment...

.

In the 1980s

1980s

File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...

 a deadly plague known as "The Rot" was released and killed off most of the world's population and brought nearly all the world governments to their knees. In the midst of all the chaos a man named Mason Strong who before the plague has a long employment

Employment

Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as:- Employee :...

 history such as a taxi driver, used car salesman, bouncer, demolition derby

Demolition derby

Demolition derby is a motorsport usually presented at county fairs and festivals. While rules vary from event to event, the typical demolition derby event consists of five or more drivers competing by deliberately ramming their vehicles into one another...

 driver, and even a short-lived tour in the military

Military

A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...

. Today Mason finds himself in a world gone mad, a world without law and order

Law and order (politics)

In politics, law and order refers to demands for a strict criminal justice system, especially in relation to violent and property crime, through harsher criminal penalties...

, where gangs engage in open warfare on the streets 24/7.

Mason must work his way up the ranks of the gangs, surviving as best as he can in the new world, a world without any laws or politics

Politics

Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...

.

Citizens

There are plenty of people walking the streets of these post apocalyptic cities, but generally speaking, there are five distinct types of citizens in Roadkill, all are armed.

Gangs

Apart from the Sentinels, none of the gangs are generally hostile to the player unless they are seen driving around in the opposing gang's cars as designated on the car select screen. Oddly enough, local rivalries do not expand beyond their individual islands with the exception of the Sentinels. For example, Mason can drive a Talon car from Blister Canyon around Lava Falls without repercussion from any of its local gangs.

Lava Falls

• The Daredevils - Headed up by the deranged carnival owner Woody, this clown-themed gang is the first gang that Mason works for. The vehicles they drive are the most diverse in shape and size, ranging from pick-up trucks to bumper cars. Their headquarters is the theme park at the west end of Lava Falls.
• The Gauchos - The archetypical Mexican gunslinger-theme gang. Their leader is unknown but they are the gang you antagonize in the Lava Falls area. Their main hideout is at the Airport on the other side of the city from the Carnival. Being Latin American in origin the vehicles they drive are those associated with the stereotype, mainly large, off-road pickup trucks and those used as lowriders (hydraulics
  Hydraulics
  Hydraulics is a topic in applied science and engineering dealing with the mechanical properties of liquids. Fluid mechanics provides the theoretical foundation for hydraulics, which focuses on the engineering uses of fluid properties. In fluid power, hydraulics is used for the generation, control,...
  
   are not available in-game.)

Blister Canyon

• The Section 8
  Section 8 (military)
  The term Section 8 refers to a category of discharge from the United States military for reason of being mentally unfit for service. It also came to mean any serviceperson given such a discharge or behaving as if deserving such a discharge...
  
  s - A gang that strictly follows military protocol to the point where anybody who makes a noise out of line is shot on the spot. They are also homosexual, and their leader General Warwick takes quite the liking to Mason when assigning his missions.
• The Talons - Known for their use of bodypaint, they occupy the opposite end of Blister Canyon, near the old power plant. They are headed up by Grim, the final boss of the Blister Canyon area. His vehicle has the power to turn invisible and can only then be effectively hit by electric shock attacks, which he also uses against Mason.

Paradise City

• The South League - The game's black gang. They aim to take out the two other gangs in Paradise City, though the final mission is undertaken directly by you. Headed up by a man named Coach Knox, their territory is centered around the stadium at - logically - the south and east end of Paradise City.
• The Dregs - Roadkill's tribe
  Tribe
  A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...
  
   and the tribe most fitting to the game's post-apocalyptic theme, reminiscent of the Mad Max
  Mad Max
  Mad Max is a 1979 Australian dystopian action film directed by George Miller and revised by Miller and Byron Kennedy over the original script by James McCausland. The film stars Mel Gibson, who was unknown at the time. Its narrative based around the traditional western genre, Mad Max tells a story...
  
   films. Named after the phrase "dregs of society" and headed up by a man known only as Sage. They occupy the shopping mall at the west end of the Paradise City area.
• The Sentinels - Axl's gang. They are not so much a gang as the city's police department, hated by all the other gangs. They can be encountered across the city as the player builds up their "RIOT" level, but the main Paradise City area is where they make their headquarters. Their vehicles are post-apocalyptic versions of those normally deployed by law enforcement. Axl's vehicle is, of course, the most ominous and powerful in the game.

Radio

There are six radio stations available in-game, each with their own theme. There are three music stations and three talk stations.