On paper Road Rash II doesn't seem like it has a ton to offer. Just a couple of courses to ride your motorbike as you combat your fellow racers with your feet, fists, and a handful of weapons. Though it lacks in variety it makes up for it in game play. As you make your way through the courses, vibing with some rough tinny tunes, you start to reach a flow-state not too unlike the so-called 'tetris effect' or that feeling you get after playing guitar hero for hours on end. Bobbing along rolling hills; weaving between vehicles, competitors, cows, and cops; maintaining your poise through oil slicks and the like, the game allows you to reach a point of mental calm. This calm is at odds with the attitude presented in its packaging, so its difficult to discern how much of it was intentional. It itself poses itself as 'edgy' and 'cool,' not in an authentic sense, but instead like a greaser--sleeves rolled up smoking a filter-less cigarette. The game itself is quite more profound. The invisible hand strikes again.