"I know I'm going to revive, when I hide, on the road..." So says the incomprehensible intro song to Road Avenger, originally an arcade game by Data East, and one of many full motion video-based games released for the Mega-CD. Essentially a movie where you determine the outcome, it's sad to think that FMV games were once considered the 'future' of gaming- most of them feel like watching a grainy TV show while hitting random buttons on your remote control, and more 'ambitious' games within the genre, like Night Trap, are nearly unplayable.Fortunately for my sanity, I'm looking at Road Avenger rather than Night Trap (which is wonderful, because Night Trap is horrible) and it's one of the better games in the genre. The intro to the game- complete with aforementioned terrible vocal song- serves as a bizarre preview for the game itself, because you're going to be watching a lot of animation footage here. Road Avenger is like those 'quick, press the button!' segments from Shenmue/Resident Evil 4 turned into a stand-alone game. Commands flash up every few seconds, press the required button in time to see your car do something and keep 'playing', mess up and you see your car crash, and try again.

Discerning gamers should know that the game is akin to watching a video, basically, yet it's oddly fun- the button commands flash up constantly, requiring lightning-quick reactions which keeps things intense, and even if you're not really 'playing' as such, the actual footage you see is pretty exciting, as your car ends up driving through a hotel, on the beach, and other ridiculous situations. The video quality isn't the best, naturally, but it does the job admirably enough, and mercifully spares you from the terrible acting from other FMV games- the game's animated by the famous Toei animation studio.Road Avenger isn't one of the best games on the console, but it's cheap, fun, and it'll certainly kill an afternoon. Alongside Time Gal, it's one of the few FMV games on the console worth bothering with.