Demolition Racer: No Exit

"Vastly Underrated Arcade Racing Mayhem"

After a 6 hour session of Metropolis Street Racer, where I wasn't so much as allowed to graze another vehicle, I needed a little release. Luckily, I scoped Demolition Racer: No Exit in the used bin, a game that actually rewards you for cheap shots.

Demolition Racer is a vastly overlooked title, most major magazines didn't even grant it a review. Perhaps, it was overshadowed by it's terrible PSX predecessor, or maybe the wave of ''vehicle assault'' titles (Twisted Metal, Vigilante 8) offered more firepower, and made this close contact title seem a bit tame. But, if you ask me, smashing up a car with a rocket launcher is tame, busting one up courtesy of your own car's hood emblem, is not.

The game is split into two major categories, ''Arena'' and ''Racer''. Arena takes place in domes around America where you'd be likely to see real demo derbies taking place. But, Demolition Racer doesn't place much of an emphasis on realism. Instead of driving in reverse in order to protect your own engine while doing maximum damage to the opponents, Demolition Racer uses the ''head butt'' rule. If you're doing the hitting, you're opponent is going to feel the sting, vise versa, and you could be a smoking, flaming wreak in no time. This mode doesn't posses a whole lot of challenge, but is great to get in a quick high impact fix.

The bulk of the game is dedicated to ''Racer'' mode, which is a turismo style race, where beating the snot out of your opponents is equally important to beating them to the finish line. Winners are rated on score, which is the amount of damage points you've caused, multiplied by the place in which you came in. This leads to some pretty interesting game play, because it's not just about winning the race by place (which really isn't that hard), it's more about placing well, and doing a lot of damage to your opponents. So amidst all the smashing, crushing, and crunching, some strategy is need to get ahead. In short, getting ahead of the pack leads you nowhere, the trick is, staying with the pack, giving them a sufficient beating, and then get ahead (if you can...)

Scattered throughout the well designed courses are various power ups (or downs) that can save your hide (or drive nails in your coffin). Knowing when to hit these, ups the strategy factor, also knowing when to drive your opponents into the hurtful ones, can give you a major score boost. Most tracks must be raced time and time again until you learn these advantages and drawbacks, and figure out how to make them work for you.

Graphically, Demolition Racer doesn't attempt to knock your socks off, but the graphics are very solid and do their job. The frame rate is smooth and sports very little slowdown even when serious mayhem is strewn across the screen. The sound effects are simple and effective, and the metal/hard techno soundtrack has yet to be muted in favor of my own tunes(that says a lot, actually). Most importantly, the control is awesome. Most ''serious'' driving games don't handle this well. I switched from the analog stick to the d-pad and never thought about the controls again. Sharp, responsive, and intuitive, just the way I like 'em.

All in all, I do have a few quips about the game (hence the 8/10). Real cars would have been a nice touch. I'd rather be doing damage with actual Plymouth Fury than a funny named facsimile of one. The game could be a little more generous with it's unlockables. You have to complete a 8 track series in order to unlock all 8 tracks in two player mode. Dolling them out one at a time as you beat them, would have been a little more fair. The computer gets a little cheap in the upper levels, seeing how it would be impossible to rack up the points that they somehow racked up, without completely destroying themselves. And finally, the game could stand a little more depth. Be it, more options to tweak your ride, more diverse game modes (goofy mini-games, aside), whatever. The game fails to grant any cool surprises or customizations as it rolls on.

But despite the above, If you're looking for speed, action, rubbernecking wreaks, and perhaps the chance to use that gray blob in between your ears every now and again. You should probably seek out Demolition Racer: No Exit. It's waiting patiently in a used bin somewhere near you.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/14/02, Updated 10/14/02