Parents' Guide to Road 96

It's a little rough around the edges, but this adventure is a thought-provoking tale of teens caught in a country ravaged by political forces over which they feel they have no control. Of course, that's the clever twist in Road 96. Every action these teens take -- whether it's stealing from a business owner or helping another kid escape custody from brutal border control officers -- is an act of political will, and their choices have rippling effects that impact the lives of other people they come into contact with. Players get a good sense of the consequences of their actions via the game's clever use of multiple protagonists. Not only does this allow for a sense of real peril -- any of these kids can die, and the game will simply move on to the next one -- but players also get to see how a handful of important non-player characters are gradually influenced by their encounters with the teen runaways. The message is clear: Kids are potent agents of personal and political change, and they wield more power than they might think.

But this bold narrative ambition would have been better served by a slightly bigger budget. Road 96 isn't ugly, but it does suffer dull textures and has plenty of reused assets (you'll see the same gas cans, spoiled hamburgers, and rusted-out cars over and over again throughout your adventure). And most of the puzzles and mini-games are pretty basic, including a Pong-clone, an air hockey table, and a shell game with plastic cups. These simplistic distractions do little to enhance the experience and at times even serve to break the player's sense of immersion, detracting from the tension and danger that slowly builds through each teen's story. Get past these minor disruptions, though, and you're bound to grow close to Road 96's cast of desperate characters as you follow their worrisome tales to conclusions both uplifting and tragic.