Destruction Derby

Destruction Derby is a 1995 video game developed by Reflections and published by Psygnosis, the former of which would later develop the successful Driver series. It was released for PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and MS-DOS (PC). Based around the real-life sport of demolition derby driving, the game involves wrecking other cars for points, or driving a simple stock car race around one of five tracks. Though simplistic in its aims, the game achieved popularity and was one of the first games to achieve platinum sales on the PlayStation console.

The popularity of the game resulted in a 1997 follow-up, Destruction Derby 2, released for PlayStation and MS-DOS, 1999's Destruction Derby 64 for Nintendo 64, 2000's Destruction Derby Raw for PlayStation, and 2004's Destruction Derby Arenas for PlayStation 2. The games in the Destruction Derby series have led to several attempts by other companies to recreate their success, such as Midway Studios Newcastle's (then known as "The Pitbull Syndicate Limited") Demolition Racer.

Gameplay

Unlike other racing games, the aim in Destruction Derby is not just to be the first to cross the finishline, but rather to accumulate the most amount of points. Points are gained by wrecking your opponents' cars. In every race there are 19 opponents of differering ability who race against you. There are several game modes in the game, including:

Wreckin' racing

Points are awarded based on two factors: the player's position in the race and the amount of damage inflicted on the opponents.

Stock car racing

Points are awarded mainly on the player's position in the race. It is important here to sustain minimal damage and try and get first place.

Destruction Derby

This takes place on a track known as The Bowl. It is not a circuit but a large open space where the only aim is to get as many points as possible by performing the best crashes into the opponents.

Time Trial

This time attack playmode can mainly be used to gain familiarity with the tracks.

Points System

Each championship mode race uses a points system. The Destruction Derby mode awards points only on the basis of wrecking other players' cars, and Stock Car only on race position, with Wreckin' Racing a hybrid of the two (albeit with less points for positions than Stock Car). The maximum number of points available per race in the wrecking modes is 99, whereas Stock Car has a maximum of 50 (the points for first place). The points system for wrecking is as follows:

In Wreckin' Racing mode, the race position 1st gets ten points, 2nd gets six and 3rd gets four
In Destruction Derby mode, the last car not "gripped" gets ten points
Gripping a car gets ten points
Spinning a car 360 degrees gets ten points, with 180 degrees getting four points and 90 degrees getting two points

In Stock Car mode, points are awarded for 1st to 20th place in the following order: 50, 40, 35, 30, 25, 20, 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0.

Cars

There are three cars found in the game, the Rookie (Psygnosis), the Amateur (Grim Reaper), and the Pro (Smoothie). The rookie is the easiest to handle but it has the least power and speed of all the cars. The Amateur and Pro are more difficult to handle but have more power, are able to turn more effectively, and have greater speed.

Engine

The game features an engine that simulates what effect collisions have on the vehicles. If a car has been severely damaged its handling will become worse, with the level of damage indicated by a car diagram on the right of the screen. Severe damage to one of the sides of the car will make it pull significantly to that side, and severe damage to both will make it almost impossible to turn at all. Severe damage to the back will cause a grinding effect that slows the car, whereas damage to the front will give the car a "blown radiator". If more damage is received by the front, the driver may become "gripped", which results in the driver not moving anymore (if the car gripped is the player, the "Race Over" screen appears as cars gripped can no longer compete).

Unlike in sequels, damage could not be repaired during a race, as there is no pit lane functionality in Destruction Derby. The game engine was complex at the time, and gave the game an arcade feel, but would nowadays be considered simple and predictable (for example, eventually players would realise attacking the front of cars with blown radiators would eventually result in them becoming "gripped").

Competitors

In each race, there are nineteen CPU drivers who compete along with the main player. Each driver is of differing ability, and each one has a (slightly) different driving style, which initially creates variation for the player but can easily be predicted after playing the game for a while. Some CPU drivers perform better in different modes, with some weak at stock car racing but strong in wrecking-for-points environments.

The fastest raw stock car driver in the game is clearly The Skum in every race, whereas there are several competitors who are better in the "Destruction Derby" mode. Competitors such as Psycho, Undertaker, Barmy Army and The Taxman are amongst the best drivers in all modes, whereas drivers such as Suicide Squad are good in wrecking modes, but very slow in stock car modes.

In each Championship, the drivers start out in a system of five divisions, with the goal for the player being to climb to and win Division 1. The drivers that are in each division remain constant for every new game, but are not ordered by ability (clear by the fact that L. Driver is in Division 2, despite being the weakest competitor in all game modes). There is, however, an obvious pattern to who climbs to the top divisions and who doesn't; in stock car modes, only deliberate player intervention would stop The Skum from rising meteorically from his starting Division 3 to the top division.

Most of the drivers also have their own voice clip for when points are taken from them by the player in wrecking modes, or for when the player "grips" them in all modes. Some drivers share their clip, however, whereas others don't have one at all. Also, each driver has their own car design, and a cartoon picture of the character displayed on the race and championship standings screens. The division of each driver can be seen during races by the colour of the roof of their car - Division One is black, Division Two is red, Division Three is cyan, Division Four is yellow and Division Five is white.

The competitors in each starting division, along with their car number are as follows:

Division One

Barmy Army (#53)
Suicide Squad (#82)
The Taxman (#95)
The Doctor (#99)

Division Two

Crunch Bunch (#22)
L. Driver (#37)
Psycho (#40)
Heavy Metal Hero (#52)

Division Three

The Skum (#13)
The Goddess (#35)
Pyromaniac (#64)
Undertaker (#77)

Division Four

The Idol (#23)
The Optician (#47)
The Beast (#66)
Passion Wagon (#69)

Division Five

Human Player (#01)
Trashman (#07)
The General (#50)
The Bouncer (#88)

One criticism of the game was that, in the "Duel" mode of the game, the driver who the player faces is always Trashman (who is an average competitor in wrecking modes, and above average in stock car modes). Most of the characters were retained for the second Destruction Derby series game, Destruction Derby 2, with new additions The Master, The Chief, The Pro and Rivit to replace The Taxman, The Doctor, Crunch Bunch and The Idol.

Screenshots

Image:Destructionderby.jpg Image:Destructionderby2.jpg Image:Destructionderby3.jpg

Trivia

The game was given a name change just two months prior to its release on October, 1995. It was originally called Demolish 'em Derby (source: Edge Magazine, issues 21, 22 and 23)

External links

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