Road Rash 3 is in that weird place in the franchise where a lot of “threes” are: the first game is a success, the second expands and improves on it and gets immediately loved by everyone, and the third entry has huge expectations that it cannot quite match (Streets of Rage, anyone?)

Personally, even though I’d prefer they kept the sprite graphics from the second game rather than moving to pre-rendered to look “modern” (a poor decision… pre rendered is just ugly), the gameplay and fun factor in number 3 are just as on point as it’s non red-headed stepchild older brother, Road Rash 2.

The patch does a lot to improve and fix the game in many ways, and it becomes an even more worthwhile experience for it. Now, if only someone redit the bike and biker graphics to match the second game more closely…