all those pile-ups...
but Ultimate Destruction,
where's the destruction?
Additional Comments:
Everything I can possibly say about this game, I pretty much summed up for the original Destruction Derby, even this game's superiority. Well, perhaps I didn't exactly go into detail, or did I in a rather backhanded way against the original title. Hmm...
Then where to begin? I'll go with tracks as I find this particular area of the game to be the most prominent and apparent change for the better. Unlike Destruction Derby's bland, geometric, cookie-cutter snore fests, Destruction Derby offered up a variety of locales that not only feel unique but organic. In some capacity or another, most of the tracks here feel completely plausible whereas those in the original game feel like they were quickly scrawled on a piece of graph paper - 90° corners here followed by more 90° corners there and voilà: a horrible right angled mess overrun with constrictive straights and a serious lack of imagination. But for a first attempt, I can accept it...to a point.
Now, however, the tracks have inherited flowing corners, proper contours, and the ability to hold the entire field without forcing unwanted congestion unless the design specifically calls for it, as is the case with Chalk Canyon. Constriction is completely permissible, and welcomed, in Chalk Canyon's bottleneck because it's an inherent part of the track's design - a clusterfuck of stunts, jumps, and thrill rides to cause as much mayhem as possible. Sadly, Ultimate Destruction attempted to follow suit but failed in every imaginable way.
While I applaud Destruction Derby 2's tracks, I'm left scratching my head over Ultimate Destruction. Every other track is great. Yes, even Pine Hills Raceway despite it being nothing more than a boring old tri-oval where even the slightest mistake draws massive consequences. But that's the breaks when it comes to momentum tracks. Very rarely could I even manage to crack a top 12, and typically I'd just consider it a throwaway race; even when it comes to Wrecking mode, but more on that later. Getting back to Ultimate Destruction, the track is a menace, and not in the inviting smash 'em, crash 'em action we're promised. Despite having a ghastly layout comprised of tight turns, narrow straights, crossovers, and a couple serious jumps, this track is garbage. Never mind it being horrible to drive, especially if you accidentally take the left fork at the first split - good luck getting through those narrow twists unscathed and at speed - the track is remarkably existing under false pretenses. For as many times as I've played this game, both now for Beat All Games, and way back when it first came out and it found its way into my PlayStation possibly more than any other game save perhaps Formula 1 and Sim City 2000, I have never seen more than one, maybe two cars drop out of this race that weren't affected by my own forced ruthlessness. That's equivalent to Pine Hills Raceway, but the small attrition rate is to be expected there - it's a tri-oval. Ultimate Destruction, by namesake alone, is expected to be automobile carnage. I'd expect it to be Red Pike Arena incarnate in racing form, that is, all and all out racing melee. Instead, suddenly everyone becomes recipients of Allstate's safe driver program while I'm left to ricochet from barrier to barrier because the track is so fucking impossible to drive. Of course, I exaggerate. I can make clean laps from Rookie to Pro, but I doubt I'll ever manage a clean race, which I can do anywhere else - yes, even Chalk Canyon.
But it's not racing Ultimate Destruction in Stock Car mode that aggravates me the most. Between Black Sail Valley and Liberty City, it's more than easy enough to pick up the necessary points to just tank Ultimate Destruction if warranted. Ultimate Destruction is the true throwaway race. Congratulations, Pine Hills Raceway, you're actually a better track than what should have been the pinnacle of racing mayhem. In a way, Ultimate Destruction is akin to any of the Rainbow Roads in the various Mario Kart games. They're always overrated layouts that are nothing but a chore to drive yet they're supposed to be the end all beat all climatic joyride of the game. And so it is with Ultimate Destruction in Wrecking mode, or heck, even Death Bowl. What a miserable, asinine layout that thing is. Wrecking mode on Ultimate Destruction - what's the point? Thanks to Wrecking mode's magical, and predictable outcomes and a guarantee that I'll struggle just to skate by with a mere 50 points on this track, it's no wonder I find this track a grave misnomer. Destruction my ass. I'm guaranteed even less points in the final arena because chances are I'm going to be prematurely punted into oblivion. Thank god it's relatively easy to rack up the points in the first three races of the series.
I'm essentially beating a dead horse by this point, so moving on. Since I brought up Wrecking mode's mysterious maths concerning scoring, seems the perfect mechanic to transition to. Much like the first game, I love Stock Car mode, mostly because it's unpredictable. Anyone and everyone has an equal chance of winning any given race except for Learner Driver who is simply a failure at life. Although I vaguely recall years ago whilst playing the game, I actually saw him advance from Division 4 to Division 3. It must have been a result of divine intervention because I swear, given his driving, the programming must have a fail-safe to ensure Learner Driver sucks in every way possible. But that's not the point.
Point is, Stock Car racing is so much more enjoyable to play through because Wrecking mode's easily calculable from the get go. Points appear to be magically pulled from thin air and awarded based on Division as opposed to actual bumping and grinding out on the track. I can only figure this to be a necessary evil because the game can't correctly process all twenty cars at any given notice. Problem is, even if Psycho or The Skum is flipped in the first turn on the first lap with minimal interaction with anybody to cause such an accident, they're still going to miraculously rack up on average 225 points. On the other end of the spectrum, given Learner Driver's inability to steer, brake, or anything remotely driving related, should be bagging all sorts of points because he's doing nothing but running into everything that moves. Instead, he'll be lucky to score 35 points. The system is so broken and as such forces you to play the mode in a rather undesired way. For Division 3 and Division 4, it's easy to just circle the track and with a few easy grazes to outscore the competition, but in Division 1 and Division 2, you need to rethink your approach to the game, especially in Division 1 where you need to average 250 to 300 points in order to outclass everyone. Any sense of racing flies out the window at this point which is, frankly, depressing. Where exactly is the fun in parking the car; hopefully causing a twenty car pileup while the rest of the field gets to race the track knowing full well they're going to be awarded automatic points by race end? There's a definite imbalance in gameplay here. Maybe I'm just missing the point.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy performing head-on collisions, purposefully T-boning my rivals or simply imitating Learner Driver's stupidity but I feel like I'm missing out on the real fun as I watch everyone else zip by, spinning each other out at speed. That's the way Wrecking mode should function if the resulting accolades weren't so predetermined and were more factual to the racing that just occurred. Still, Wrecking mode is a blast to play since it instills a bit more madness in the AI over Stock Car mode. I think one reason the predictable outcomes infuriate me so is that there's a certain increased enjoyment in outpacing the other crumbums when the fight to stay on track becomes a serious point of contention. Too bad I only get a measly 50 point for a win. Might as well stick to my original plan and just park the car either on a sweeping apex or after a nefarious jump - essentially anywhere the AI may unfortunately break loose, tag my car and spin into a furious 720°.
What of the other improvements though? Somehow, I've found myself well off track disparaging an otherwise magnificent game. Besides the much loved and needed track upgrades, another welcome addition is modifying the division count from five to four. This is a massive, and in my opinion, vital change. Five divisions was not only unnecessary overkill, but slightly stripped a heightened sense of competition that becomes very apparent in Destruction Derby 2's increased division pools, even if that increase is only a single driver. Still, racing against four drivers as opposed to three feels far more nerve-wracking. Those podium positions are all the more important if the art of probability comes into play. Not only that, but it cuts down on the tedium of play tenfold. Four seasons, give or take a few seasons depending on promotion or rather, lack thereof, is perfect for a single spurt of gameplay. Destruction Derby's minimum of five seasons, however, dragged the game down - akin to slogging through thick, viscous mud in heavy denim. The misery.
Another welcome change - well, welcome may not be the best may to describe it. Expected? I'd call it questionable considering its replacement, but nonetheless gracious at least some sort of change was enacted. The pointless Destruction Derby mode from the first game has been replaced with the more heart-attack inducing Total Destruction. The obvious benefit: no longer do I have to sit through an entire season of single arena devastation. Instead, I can suffer through thirty seconds of all-out warfare upon the player. Holy shit! The AI have been reprogrammed with seek and destroy directives against me, and only me. What's the fun in that? I get that it's pure survivalist mode in all its glory, but it emphasizes survival over destruction. I find that it discredits the intent of the game. A better alternative, now that four arenas exist, that is if you choose to call Death Bowl worthy of the name, arena, they could have kept the original Destruction Derby mode model. Key difference is this time it would have worked because there's a quality of individuality among each arena instead of using the same boring circle over and over.
All in all, Destruction Derby 2 is a fantastic game and one of my favorite titles from the original PlayStation era. The graphics are well outdated, as is anything from that era, but I think they hold up for what they are. The physics and mechanics for the most part are flawless, save the aforementioned black magic math, and every now and then you're subject to some faulty collisions. Consider it a saving grace, but a number of times when collisions mysteriously turned off was ok by me. And then, the soundtrack: a direct followup to the original's adrenalin pumping thrash metal goodness. I find it strange to say "thrash metal" and "goodness" in the same sentence, as I'm not the biggest fan of the genre, but the music's so fitting for the car crunching action of Destruction Derby 2. However, take the game away, and I have a sneaky suspicion I'd rather detest the songs of Jug and Tuscan. Let's experiment: Dead Happy, How Do You Know, Pushed Away, Joyrider, Direction, and one of the greatest victory songs ever, Jade. Respect! Jug can really bring it and they proved me wrong. Even without the game, the soundtrack is killer.
Rating: 4.5 overzealous announcers out of 5
No comments:
Post a Comment