Genre: Action/Racing
Developer: Global Star
Publisher: Studio 33/SCEE
# of Players: 1-2 offline, 2-20 online
ERSB: Teen
Released On: March 30, 2004
Supports: Vibration, Memory Card, Network Adaptor, USB Headset
MSRP: $39.99
Also On: None
De`struc`tion: The act of destroying.
Destruction has always been an essential part of gaming. In an industry where fantasy is abundant and reality is not an issue, destroying everything you see ranks high on gamers fun-factor charts, right up there with creating your own player in Madden and leading your team to the Super Bowl. Back in January of 1996, Sony combined two popular elements of gaming into one nice package. Racing around tracks with jumps and crossroads is fun enough, and in Destruction Derby, the joy of annihilating your competitors is added in.
The game was a success, and it spawned 2 PSone sequels and one Nintendo 64 appearance. The series has finally made its PS2 debut, but does anyone care anymore? There hasn’t been a real game of this kind since Demolition Racer and Destruction Derby Raw back in 2000. The genre hasn’t changed much, with online play being the only real addition to the series with this game. This game also seems to have a cheap, budget title feel to it, making it seem as if SCEE and developer Global Star didn’t really care much about the game, which is a letdown, because with no competition and a killer app like 20 player online play, this could have been a huge title.
Presentation
Remember that budget title feel I was talking about? It comes across in presentation more than it does in any other area of the game. You’ve got your typical insanely bright, convulsion-inducing menus. The characters are straight out of a ten cent comic book nobody buys. There’s no real setting taking place, or story, or explanation of anything. If you play this game and then pop in Destruction Derby 2 or Raw, it will feel as if the latter is the next gen title and Arenas is the 6 year old PSone title.
Graphics
Sony should be ashamed of themselves. 1st party titles are supposed to be beautiful, standing above everything 3rd party companies can make. Arenas resembles Midways last MK game in the way that the models are too shiny and come off as kids toys. The few special effects in the game are also lackluster and look like they belong on the Sega Saturn.
Once you start a race, it actually gets worse. The framerate is consistent for the most part and so is the camera, but the game just feels sluggish and unlocking the faster cars doesn’t change it. The in-game graphics are offensive. The backgrounds look like they could of been pulled off in Destruction Derby 64, and Global Star has apparently not gotten the memo that anti-aliasing is your friend. Overall, the graphics are nowhere near where they should be. I think if SCEA handled this one it would have definitely been more polished, but SCEE apparently doesn’t care that their game looks like ass. It could be said that the original games all looked like crap too and that would be right, but those games didn’t have sluggish feelings to them and weren’t developed on next-gen consoles.
Sound
Keeping pace with the generic budget-title feel, Arenas doesn’t disappoint in the sound department. Wild, electrifying guitars abound. Can I have some music with my solos please? No? The game also features the most useless sound effects ever heard in any racing game, ever. And this is coming from someone who owned Roadsters on Dreamcast. Just a horrible, horrible offering, topped off with the generic "scream every single word I say" announcer that will eventually just piss you off. This is the one PS2 game I have played where I have literally prayed for Sony to start getting people to add code in to allow you to make custom soundtracks like the XBox.
Gameplay
Amazingly, Arenas gameplay is pretty decent. But then again, it is hard to mess up gameplay that evolves around racing around a track and destroying others cars. It is much like Twisted Metal 3 and 4 on PSone. Were those games anything close to the first two? No. But were they still decent titles? Yes. Driving around and destroying things is just good times.
Arenas features the usual Destruction Derby staples. You’ve got the tracks that include jumps and intersections setup to create fender benders. You’ve got the championship mode, Wreckin’ Racing. This mode is about as straight forward as they come. You’re thrown into a series of races that are not remotely challenging, and they consist of 3 races and one bowl. The bowls themselves are actually pretty good, with numerous twists to the tracks that makes it different each time you play. Some of them feature swinging obstacles that can decimate your car if you take a full hit. Others have collapsing bottoms, or big pads that shoot out of the ground every 5 seconds or so that can launch you all the way across the arena. It certainly beats some of the arenas in earlier games, especially the ones with pits, where in a matter of 3 seconds 20 or more cars were destroyed.
The tracks are also pretty good, and have their own types of "natural hazards" as well. One track for instance is at an airport, and one straightaway is actually a landing strip where planes actually land and come charging at you. Another track takes place in a busy city with civilian cars and train cars going around. On that particular track, once you hit the halfway mark you turn around and go back the way you came, giving you a chance to smash up everyone you pass on your way back.
The main problems with the gameplay are the sluggish feel and the weak collisions. In earlier Derby games, colliding with other cars was massive, shaking your controller and sending you flying. In Arenas though, a head-on collision barely does anything except damage your vehicle. You can still lose wheels, but it’s only at a specific point in your damage meter, not like earlier games where one nice hit on a wheel could send it flying. The entire gameplay feel is just shallow. The only real way to score is to spin your opponents. In the best game of the series, Raw, there were TONS of ways you hit your opponents and score points. Jumps in this game are also weak, because the controls are too floaty to be worth a damn. While you should be trying to line up a nice collision, you are instead struggling to keep your car on the road.
Rounding out the modes are your typical single race and time trials modes, as well as a decent multiplayer. The big mode though is online, but that mode is also lackluster. How can you mess up 20 player online play in a game like this? The answer is simple. Confusing, horrible menus, lack of decent options and no online community. Only one time that I logged on were there more than 30 people online. If you can get through the horrible menus and setup a game and get a good 10 people in an arena, it is quite good. But instances like that are few and far between.
Overall
Destruction Derby Arenas is a $40 title that feels like one of AgeTecs $10 budget games. Hardcore fans of the series with patience might be moderately pleased with the game, but everyone else would be best suited to rent it or wait until the price matches the feel of the game. Perhaps once the game goes down to $10-20 more people will buy it and there will actually be an online game to play. Right now though, you’ll spend most of your time playing through the same championship mode over and over and over getting new cars. And while there are a good amount of cars and tracks to unlock, a couple times through the game is enough when the payoff is so low. Bottom line, a barely above average, disappointing sequel to one of PSone’s greatest franchises. You’d be better off buying DD1-3 for cheaper than you could buy Arenas.
