Road 96: Mile 0 Reviews

I'm honestly confused why this game got so many bad reviews. I still didnt played the Road 96, i directly started with this. The story is nice and the bond between zoe and K is awesome. And MINIGAMES are dope af. Really loved it

Honestly, Mile 0 pales in comparison to the first Road 96. It feels like the devs took the main issue with the original game, Road 96, and amped those up without adding much positive to balance it out. The same over-the-top, sometimes bordering on nonsensical, writing appears here in an almost incoherent manner. Some plot points are set up only to be brushed over/sidelined, and even the main story hardly makes any sense. Spall's review spells out the specifics of the latter, if you're interested. Furthermore, the characters all feel rather one-note and boring, except for the protagonists, who have their own issues. Zoe is better written, being largely one-note when you aren't playing as her. That said, because Mile 0's narrative revolves around meaningful choices and multiple endings, you can decide how she will react to events in the story as you control her. The problem is that only one of the options actually feels in-character, and the rest feel forced on to forge the branching narrative the game promises. [spoiler] I'm not sure if most of these character-breaking moments even matter, since all the endings seem to revolve around what you do at the end of the game? Idk tbh. [/spoiler] Kaito suffers from a similar issue, but that's not all. For the first ~2/3rds of the game, he comes off as overbearing and almost creepy, yet neither the narrative nor Zoe seems to react to this in any meaningful way. The narrative then ends with [spoiler] his sudden, seemingly unnecessary betrayal of Zoe that could've been entirely avoided if he'd waited, like, thirty seconds for her to catch up. Maybe a little longer if he wanted to let her read the files before he handed them off to the Black Brigades. Once again, Spall's review also adds some useful context so go check that out.[/spoiler] Thus, not only is Mile 0's branching story built on character-breaking moments, but even when the narrative takes a more linear approach, it still doesn't make much sense. Beyond that, the gameplay's just kinda boring. I actually like walking sim style games, so that wasn't much of a problem for me. The skating sections, however, felt awkward. The camera is locked and sometimes gets put at odd angles that don't let you see what you're doing very well. Additionally, some of the hitboxes seemed a bit jank, leading to me being hit by obstacles I'd clearly dodged. The conversation minigames were one of the more fun aspects of the original game, yet in Mile 0 they're scarcely featured. When they are, they're so simple that it often seems like you'd have to intentionally choose the wrong answer. Failing these minigames just resets you to the last checkpoint, so it's not even like purposefully failing them would cause you to have a different ending or something. I did like how interacting with the world could lead to your character's 'moral meter' shifting, but these also felt like only one option was in-character, and I'm also not even sure if they affect the narrative of the game beyond aesthetic changes. Being able to draw on the walls and tattoo other characters was fun, though.

I know this game gets alot of backlash, but I love it, honestly more than the orignal Road 96. Mile 0 is VERY different than the original, but I like the change, I feel like just the same game again would become a bit stale. This is a nice refreshment while still using the same story and world, but this is more open world and action-focused. You immediately get dropped into the main gimmick of the game; Acts. Acts are Subway Surfers or Temple Run like segments that you skate through and learn more about the lore with absolute bangers playing in the background. It is pretty short but is has a high replay value, especially if you wanna go for 100% completion. If you liked the original Road 96 or games like Firewatch and Killer Frequency, you'll definitely enjoy this.

6.8/10 I would give this game a neutral rating if possible. Mile 0 is a prequel to Road 96 that instead of focusing on the physical journey of escaping across the border focuses on setting up Zoe as a primary character in the prior game. Mile 0 allows to explore a developing town in the middle of the desert with relative freedom, though don't expect total interactivity with the world, though there are some objects to interact with and many posters to deface and areas of wall to graffiti on. The core gameplay mechanics of Mile 0 revolves around three features: Races/Runner segments set to music that communicate themes and events happening throughout the game alongside the protagonists' understanding of said events known as "rides", Quick time events which feature within said rides and as parts of actions in the story, and finally graffiti and dialogue options that correspond to a 'certainty' gauge in the top left of the screen. Whilst performance in the ride segments are not needed for perfect endings, the endings of the game revolve around moving the indicator on the certainty gauge to the left or right to correspond to two paths synonymous to radical beliefs and moderate beliefs that effect the story's finale. While the tracks are excellently set and selected, the ride sections are overall fairly frustrating to complete without at least a few failures, which heavily restrict the score and rating given for them upon completion, movements usually need to be inputted at exact times to avoid obstacles with little margin of error. Story spoilers below [spoiler] The endings however, make no sense, the story feels either rushed or as if it is missing massive amounts of context, in the endings, Zoe and Kaito can either leave as friends or enemies, which is where the issue arises. Zoe's entire motivation for going after Kaito after him and his parents left her behind was to get her hands on an important file and/or make Kaito apologize for lying to her and destroying her dreams of leaving the country, which Kaito can either dodge or agree to help her with at the start of the game, though no option has any effect on the story.[/spoiler] [spoiler] However, this all falls apart because Zoe, for whatever reason decides to take the file when her intention is made clear to Kaito and the player that she only wants to read the file and learn the truth about the incident at the border wall in 1986, which is a key theme of both games. Kaito and his parents made a deal however to exchange the file with the Black Brigades for passports to leave the country. Zoe for whatever reason decides that because her best friend and his parents left her behind that she is now entitled to doom them to whatever fate the Black Brigades have for them for failing to deliver the file.[/spoiler] [spoiler] Zoe instead chooses to take the file and leave regardless of what happens, even though at that time it is made clear she never had a deal with the Brigades herself, Meaning that only she has access to concrete proof about the government actions in the incident in 1986. It is never made clear if the Brigades contact her after learning from Kaito and his parents that Zoe took the file and that leads her to join them, or if she chooses to do so herself after becoming disenfranchised with the government. It also doesn't make sense that she escapes her home and goes on the road and nobody is dispatched to find her and bring her home.[/spoiler] The story ultimately falls apart at the end leading to the game feeling incredibly lackluster, however it is fun exploring White Sands and playing the few minigames that are around and revisiting previous areas to see what chaos the actions of Kaito and Zoe have caused. I would recommend the game, but only on sale, it doesn't really feel complete enough to warrant a purchase at RP, wait for a discount.

It s a great game - no regrets by buying it. Yet - it s going to stand in the shadow of Road 96. In comparison, the game ran worse on my PC than Road 96 - it didnt cover most settings - that was kinda "sad" The minigames were fun but didnt add much to the story. I assume it was about to make the game appear longer - which is disappointing (I played for 6 hours - but one third of the time was for the "Try harder" achievement). The gameplay was flat and linear - foreshadowing was not necessary because the plot was in plain sight and not shocking at all. Despite flat and linear gameplay and storylines - I liked the design of its characters - especially the reappearing of all characters from Road 96. It kept the Road 96 Vibes up and there was the urge to find more connections/ stories of the other characters - even tho they just appear in a single scene doing nothing special. But that might be only special to me. The music was as great as always and was refreshing and fitting to its content. Summed up - system settings got worse and the plot is as flat as a pancake but the music and reappearing characters from the main game kept the vibes up and made it possible to have insights of what happened before the main game.

Road 96: Mile 0 is a solid prequel. The story is engaging, the music fits well, and the visuals are great. It’s a fun, immersive experience that expands on the world of Road 96. Worth checking out if you’re into narrative-driven games.

This one did not let me use my controller but other than that the story was good and i got 100% story done in 7 hours if i wanted to go back and do the mini game for the achievements i could but im not going to. This game is not as replayable as Road 96 was but it was a good story to play

its connects with road 96 story pretty good but not with the gameplay, its more temple run mini game than road 96 if youre invested in the road 96 storyline its worth it though

The game is good....well not as good as the first one NOW THE ONLY THING THAT WAS UNNECESSARY WAS THE SUBWAY SURFERS LIKE MODE THAT HAD DOGSHOT CONTROLLS AND DIFFICULTY but yeah good game :D

its not as good as road 96 but its still amazing. the best thing for me about the game is the feeling. its really unique and kind of nostalgic. really great work. amazing music and sound design story was good but disappointed a little bit towards the end.