Not a horrible play but there are better
Written: Mar 25 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Excellent graphics and physics, good multiplayer
Cons: Idiotic AI, horrid scoring system, redundant single-player play
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| godking's Full Review: Destruction Derby for Nintendo 64 |
Destruction Derby 64 fills the car-smash-em-up game niche that was previously lacking for the N64, this I must admit. Let's be honest: there's just something wonderfully whole about driving cars into one another and making them go boom. Yeah, rockets and machineguns and all that are good too, but the old-fashioned battering-ram approach will always have a certain appeal to it that these newfangled contraptions will never reach.
That having been said, DD64 is not a superb smash derby game, I'm afraid. It's got the basics nailed, but the trimmings come up lacking in a big way.
The physics model for the game is fantastic. Indeed, it's the best part of the game: apart from the necessary-for-gameplay balance of always having your car flip back onto its wheels when you spin out and over, everything in this game from a physics standpoint is wonderfully accurate. Flying through the air and knowing you are completely out of control is somehow very liberating after eons of Twisted Metal-style mid-air course correction.
The graphics are also well done. The cars themselves are somewhat blocky, but this is made up for by the excellent tracks, which are both detailed and not boring at the same time -- quite rare in this age of game design where "detail" frequently equals "repeating patterns".
The track variety is nice -- the "junkyard" courses are more or less repetitive, of course, but the racing tracks are varied (my favorite is the figure-eight, which makes for massive carnage). The ice and snow and mud tracks are all excellent and a nice break from the paved tracks (which are good as well.)
So, with that base -- a good game engine and graphics worth playing with, and even good levels -- what could be wrong with the game?
Most glaring from a gameplay standpoint is the very arbitrary system of scoring points for hits. It seems like a very simple theory: the harder you hit, the more points you get -- but DD64 tosses that idea right out the window. I've received eight points for a full-frontal slam that sent both cars flying and thirty for a bare touch. Furthermore, if you hit with anything less than your front -- say, a sliding brake-turn to sideswipe somebody -- you'll automatically get less points. Where's the fun in that?
The AI in the single-player game is horrendous. I finished all four World Championship levels (from "novice" to "legend") in just under two hours. I didn't have to replay a level *once*. After the first track, I finished first practically every time. That's too easy for anybody. The only difference between "novice" and "legend" is the number of tracks in the season. Lame.
Painfully stupid: the "beginner" cars -- twelve choices -- are all the same. Seriously. As if to shove this generic-ness in your face, they are named "Car #2", "Car #91" and the like. This just means that the hidden bonus cars, which actually have differing stats and abilities, are all better than the basic cars. It also means that the first few races are dead boring. Worse yet, unless you want to start getting scoring records on every level -- difficult, even for an experienced player, and monotonous to manage -- you'll only ever unlock four of the sixteen hidden cars.
Destruction Derby 64, like I said, has all the basics nailed down. This is a great game engine. Unfortunately, the game designers didn't do anything with their great engine. The result is a subpar game. It's still relatively good in multiplayer despite the retarded scoring system, but to get the full experience you have to unlock all the cars, which means you need to spend far more time than anybody would ever want playing single-player.
Thumbs down.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
godking
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Member: Christopher Bird
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
Reviews written: 84
Trusted by: 50 members
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