Traffic Jam
Rae games tend to do one thing, and they do that one thing very well. HEXA is Tetris levels of immediate. Rowboat Rally has one unique mechanic and goal. Bona Fido is a modern Mario Bros. This latest one, Traffic Jam, seems to feel most like First in… Line?, where it starts off simply before escalating quickly. Traffic Jam, though, feels a little more slight than other games in the rae catalog.
The goal of Traffic Jam is simply to guide cars to the left or right so they don’t crash. An icon on one side of the screen and a sound effect will alert you to which side the car is coming from, and it’s your job to crank to the right or left to adjust your sign and guide them through the intersection safely. Each vehicle has its own sound effect so you can tell if it’ll come in fast or slow (race cars have a sharp, fast honk and big trucks are slower/deeper, for example), and the whole game moves to an ever-increasing rhythm as you advance through the levels. Miss one vehicle by having your sign point the wrong way when the car drives by, and you take a point of damage. Three points lost and it’s game over! There’s also a Hardcore Mode, where you only have one bubble of health. Both modes have their own scoreboard.
Each new round of gameplay starts at the very beginning with the slow cars, and there’s no way to hop quickly into a tougher level. This keeps the leaderboards consistent, sure, but I’d love a way to start at round 15 or so, when the game really starts to kick. The description and title screen point out that headphones are recommended, but it’s also not really a “rhythm game” in the way that PaRappa or FreQuency or Rock Band are rhythm games. It’s more of a rhythm game in the way Thumper is a rhythm game: things happen to the beat, and missing out on the music and sound effects gives you a diminished experience, but the icons for incoming cars and that fact that you don’t have to actually do actions on beat means you can do very well when the speakers are muted so you don’t wake the cat. You just need to have your sign pointed in the right direction at the moment a car passes the middle of the screen to earn a point and see another car.
The sign waving with the crank is fun and feels precise, and playing with headphones adds a lot. I’d just like a little more going on! HEXA drops you right in and is immediately engaging. Even First in… Line? works your memory muscles right off the bat, and the accessibility options mean that there are tons of possible button/crank/shake combinations to make it more difficult and engaging from the start. Traffic Jam is polished, and looks/sounds great, but it’s small in the way a jam game is small, and those games are free. But maybe that’s exactly what you’re looking for?
(Releasing April 8, 2025, on Catalog. Copy provided by developer.)