DESTRUCTION ALLSTARS
What’s carnage without a car?
Cononsidering one of the bibiggest games of the yeyear has been a chaotic raracer where you bundle colourful bean-shaped characters into one another in a scramble for the finish line, Lucid Games’ lurid PS5 debut could be the console’s surprise hit at launch.
Like Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout, the aim of Destruction AllStars is to win at all costs. Unlike Mediatonic’s bean-bunblebrawler, the way you do it in this destruction derby is closer to the vehicular combat of PlayStation classic Twisted Metal. This is last-person-standing car chaos that riffs on Overwatch’s hero mechanics as you choose from 16 characters and get behind the wheels of vehicles that all handle in different ways.
Simple in comparison to Sony’s usual story-driven adventures, this game impresses where it matters: in the arena. In action Destruction AllStars is pure eye-candy; a literal explosion of flying metal debris and ray-traced reflections. Staying alive takes skill and courage, but also a grasp of each vehicle’s handling – ramming cars will nibble away at rivals, but using special slam attacks can wreck them. To counter you can dodge and boost from danger.
If you’re unlucky enough to see your wheels explode from under you, the game’s not over. Each colourful driver character has a mix of melee attacks to make the fight personal. A last-chance mode of sorts, you can chase fallen drivers around the arena to deal a fatal blow, parkour above the circuits to avoid the remaining racers, and even lure rival cars into one of a track’s many traps – just don’t become roadkill in your pursuit of revenge.
ALL-STAR CHAOS
When they’re vehicle-free, each driver has their own ways of moving about the arenas. Some can make use of gadgets such as jet boots to make giant leaps out of danger, while others can parkour to deliver killing blows.
Play aggressively and you’ll power up hero and vehicle ultimate skills. These offensive and defensive buffs can give you the edge, and include characterspecific abilities such as cloaking shields or the option to lay down fiery trails to burn chasing cars. Vehicles have specific specials too, including Mr Sparkles’ Rampage mode and Sabre’s move releasing a spinning saw blade that runs the length of the car – attack this one at your peril.
Destruction AllStars feels perfect for a launch game. Reminiscent of PS1’s Destruction Derby, the game manages to deliver the eye-popping thrills we’re promised in the next gen matched by gameplay that just wants to put a wide grin on your face. And then smash your teeth in. And then buy you a drink.
“A LITERAL EXPLOSION OF FLYING METAL DEBRIS AND RAY-TRACED REFLECTIONS.”