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Damn, I always have problems
with writing the beginning of any text. And it's no
different this time. That's why I'm writing this
paragraph at the very end... But what? Ahh, the game, of
course... Well, Destruction Derby is a converted from
PSX, car-combat game which evolved into a whole series
with the DD Arenas for PS2 being the latest entry but
only the first one made it's way to the Saturn.
The gameplay is simple; you race with 19 other cars and
your main task is to (depending on the game mode) wreck
other cars and get points for it trying to get on the
top position at the same time (wrecking racing), race
for the highest position (stock car racing) or just mess
with other cars (demolition derby). However, you don't
get points for causing damage but for making rival cars
spin out.
If you make them do a 90
degree spin you'll get 2 points but for a 360 you'll
achieve 10 points, same amount for destroying the car.
And that's quite everything
you can say about gameplay. But before writing about
other aspects such as game modes and "Is this game any
fun?" I'd like to talk about the bad points of DD. The
problem is that there are many of them!
The PSX version wasn't that pretty already but the
Saturn conversion makes the game look even worse. On
static screens it may look identical on both consoles
but if you start playing it you'll see the differences
from the first second.
Firstly the framerate is far
worse, if the PSX version had 30 fps for arguments sake,
then on Saturn it runs on 15 fps and it still chokes
when the track is too crowded with cars.
Second thing is the pop-up
which you'll notice after the very first lap when the
crowd will appear from nowhere just before you which is
very common phenomenon on "The Bowl" arena, the same
goes for about half objects that surround every track
(of which there are 7 in total).
Really, there's no excuse
for why the game looks so bad on Saturn.
When it comes to other
things that suck in DD there is unpolished collision
detection, cars sometimes go through each other or crash
even though there's still a noticeable space between
them.
DD also suffers from rather
slow-paced gameplay, a commentator that sounds like a
drunken redneck and repeats the same 4 lines constantly,
and when you end the race before time because you
wrecked your car you'll have to wait for the game to
'simulate' the remaining laps in real time, this can
sometimes take a minute or more during which time all
you can do is sit and watch the list of drivers and the
'please wait' sign!
DD has no multiplayer
split-screen action either, suffers from rather large
game saves (113 blocks each and you'll need at least 2
of them) and few other minor cons including some things
that exist only in the manual, such as the "pit
compound" option in the championship mode menu, there's
no such thing in the game itself!
Few words about music; nothing special, all the tracks
fit in generic techno/electronic genre tracks, you'll
probably won't remember any tune after playing DD, plain
averageness.
So is Destruction Derby any good?
Well, it's a car combat game
so it should be despite all the flaws. Wrecking other
cars is always fun, 'nuff said.
I like how damage affects
your car's performance (for example it turns left all
the time when you have a broken wheel) and that you have
to be careful not to wreck your car before the end of
the race which is sometimes a more of a challenge in
itself.
The championship mode is
simple, you race on 6 tracks per season trying to get
the 1st place in your division (starting from 5th) and
finally struggling for the championship which awards you
with the bonus track.
Time trial, well it's
obvious just trying to beat the best time, no that much
fun, the tracks are average and this game isn't about
best laps.
The one mode that kinda
saves this title is 'Total Destruction' or in other
words survival mode. Trying to keep yourself alive as
long as possible on a track with 19 mad drivers is
enjoyable and I'm sure you'll spend most time with DD
playing this mode, trying to beat the record.
There's also a replay mode
where you can change camera angles as you like and then
save it. Nice addition but nothing else.
To sum up, Destruction Derby is only an average title
that you can hate or... no, not love but maybe like at
least.
The good thing is that DD is
really cheap so you can always give it chance, but only
if you already own all the cheap must-have titles like
Daytona USA and Sega Rally, besides there's no other
game like DD for Saturn anyway...
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