No Straight Roads is a mischievous celebration of creativity that is rarely seen these days. Full of breathtaking energy and fabulous personality, it travels back into time when games were wild, bold, and ingenious, and revives inventive madness to the next level. No Straight Roads feels like a fresh new song that crops up in a radio’s playlist that’s usually full of commercial crud. It may be a one-hit-wonder but the game fully deserves its platinum disc and five-star review. To quote Bunk Bed Junction’s catchphrase, bunka, junka, shakalaka!

No Straight Roads is an absolutely stunning game, featuring tremendous art direction, rock solid storytelling, phenomenal visual style and an incredible soundtrack.

A colourful sonic wave of imagination and joy with possibly the best soundtrack of any videogame this year, No Straight Roads is sure to pluck your strings in the best possible way. [Issue#180, p.70]

Impeccable in its soundtrack, offering some inspired boss fights and really enjoyable to play, No Straight Roads is therefore convincing in its core proposition, except for a few readability concerns during more heavy clashes visually and soundly.

Not bad, especially as far as the story is concerned. A good concept, but it isn't enough on its own and No Straight Roads falters a bit in its execution. Dumb AI is the main culprit, but the fact that the actions on screen aren't always synchronized well with your input certainly doesn't help matters.

While I appreciated the stylish, neon-soaked city and the fantastic soundtrack, No Straight Roads switches between brawler, platformer, and rhythm concepts, but fails to deliver a memorable experience overall.

The idea of a literal battle of the bands is a good one, and I was always keen to see what the next encounter would look like. But the lack of substance to the actual fights was invariably disappointing. Despite some impressive sights and sounds, in the end No Straight Roads has too many potholes to make its musical journey worth recommending.