Destruction Derby 2 Review

There goes your hood!

Destruction Derby 2 is the most awkward racing game on the market. Instead of awarding the most points for coming in first place, you can obtain more points by blowin' the other racers' wheels off! But the more contact you have with other cars, the more likely your car is to blow up, blow a wheel off, blow your trunk off, your hood, or just about anything else!

There are three types of play in Destruction Derby 2: Wreckin' Racing, Stock Car Racing, and Destruction Derby. Destruction Derby, by far the most fun, now has 4 different arenas to battle in, each with added features, such as jumps, to keep the gameplay varied. Contrary to the original, your car can flip over, fly into the air, loose all kinds of parts, scrape against the ground, and blow up. All of this put together makes a Derby that's not only fun, it's funny.

Wreckin' Racing pits you against 19 other cars looking to destroy each other, and get 1st place. The tracks are much more open than the originals, and they are gorgeous in comparison. No longer constrained to a small track, there are tunnels, huge jumps, massive turns, and everything else under the sun. There is even a pit stop feature to repair your car - much needed after a couple of laps. But Wreckin' Racing has a massive flaw, there is no point to the race. If you land 1st place, you get 50 points, but you can easily rack-up 300 points by smashing into other cars. It's just like a Destruction Derby, but on the track - it just doesn't make sense.

On the other hand, Stock Car racing is the exact opposite. The most points are awarded for 1st place, and no points are awarded for crashing. Hard-core racing fans will probably enjoy this the most, while racing in Destruction Derby 2 's 7 tracks, all extremely cool. Stock Car was almost perfect, except for a little problem in the artificial intelligence - the computers still think they are playing Wreckin' Racing. The computer players relentlessly try to smash you on the curves, and try to rear-end you on the straight-aways. Other than that, Stock Car is great.

The controls have a major flaw: the sensitivity of the steering can't be tweaked. You'll find this a problem when you first start racing and notice your car slippin' and slidin' all around the track. Other than that, you've got stop and go - and that's about all you need to cause some death-dealin' damage.

The music and sound are awesome, cept' for that annoying announcer. Game companies should have learned by now that announcers that have 10-20 things to say are automatically repetitive and annoying. Sadly, Destruction Derby 2 's got one of those announcers. For example, every time you're in first place and cross the starting line, it says 'He's way out in front', even if the guy in 2nd is bumper to bumper with you. The smashes, crashes, and bashes all sound great, as does the heavy metal music. No matter what your taste in music, you'll agree that heavy metal fits well in this game.

This game is alot of fun, and if you've ever had the urge to just smash into that idiot who cut you off, this is the perfect game for you.