Steel Rats boldly asks an unlikely question: ?What if you stuck a circular saw on the front of a motorcycle"?
The second bike-based game that developer Tate Multimedia has released this year takes the motorcycle down an interesting rabbit hole. Or, if you prefer we stick with rats, down an interesting manhole, skittering into a retrofuturist sewer.
Meet the Steel Rats
The titular Rats are a four-person biker gang, speeding around the streets and rooftops of a 1940s-inspired future. The gang spend their days collecting junk in Coastal City, a fictionalized version of Detroit. As the game kicks off, the junk is beginning to fight back, prowling the streets in packs, overwhelming the city. ?Egghead? biker Toshi creatively dubs these robots made out of junk, Junkbots. There?s a glowing core of unknown origin that brought the junk to life and the gang sets out to find it. That may seem like a surprisingly story-focused set-up for a motorbiking game. But Steel Rats is a surprisingly story-focused motorbiking game. Urban Trial Playground happily aped the formula (and name) of Ubisoft?s Trials series, with a focus on stunts and speed. But, Steel Rats is far more ambitious. This time around, the bikes have been outfitted with those circular saws I mentioned previously, creating a weapon that spins up orange light on the front wheel as it cuts through Junkbots. Additionally, the bikers have an overarching goal that goes beyond just reaching the end of the level.

The murky, w...