Totaled!

"Its vehicular mass destruction on a grand scale. What more can I say?"

Ah, the destruction derby, a couple of nutcases in clapped out bangers trying to kill each other in a vicious melee of twisted metal. Does life get any better? Its also a fantastic idea for a video game which Reflections picked up on 7 years ago for Destruction Derby on the Playstation and also created the after race replay using TV style camera angles. It was improved a two years later in 1997s seminal Destruction Derby 2. Unfortunately Reflections left Pygnosis in 1998 to start work on Driver. In 2000 Destruction Derby RAW was released by SCEE who picked up the licenses after they bought out Pygnosis. Though not a patch on the originals. It’s was good fun none the less. Accolade also tried with the Formula in 2000 with Demolition racer and Demolition Racer: NO EXIT for the Playstaion and DC respectively. It did okay but people felt that the Racing and Demolition didn’t go together. The Genre was almost forgotten until Rage announced its First X-Box line up. Crash was one of those announced. It promised Realistic Damage. Fun game play and a huge variety of events. Could they stand up to their promises?

Graphics 8/10
Fantastic. The cars are beautifully detailed witch realistic damage. Doors fly off. Bonnets flap up and down. Glass shatters convincingly. Cars flip and explode almost acrobatically. And best of all. The debris actually stays on the track instead of mysteriously vanishing into thin air. The levels are nice and detailed without going into extremes. Unfortunately. The textures are a bit simple and there is some bad slowdown at times with the amount of detail they put in (especially on the Kobe Tunnel and Rio Raceway tracks).

Sound 7/10
Uggghhh. Where did Rage get this soundtrack? Mostly British
Pop-punk with hardly any recognizable bands. But you can use your own custom soundtrack. Problem is you have to move all your tracks into one soundtrack and there’s no option to create a play list. Engine sounds are good though. There believable and don’t sound tinny like a lot of other games. The crash noises are nice and Crunchy and sound good.

Gameplay 10/10

This is where crash truly excels. There are over 20 game modes from the obligatory Free for all, last man standing and Race, to the more exotic like Stuntman (Pull maneuvers in the air and jump through flaming hoops). Barrel roll (move the barrels into the marked areas using your car) and car tag (Hit all ten cars in under a minute). The different arenas are nice and varied and include a stunt park (witch resembles a skate park). A bowl in Seranya, Russia. A tunnel in Kobe. And an American football field. The cars handle well with No real problems and the physics are spectacular without going too OTT. Though you’re better off playing with the lighter cars like the Daytona in the arcade mode as the others are to heavy for a spectacular replay. Speaking of Replays. There the best I've ever seen. Beating even Gran turismos. Instead of just following your car the cameras focus the hardest hitting crashes and use some neat special effects like the old spiny camera (OI! DEVELOPERS! THE MATRIX IS 3 YEARS OLD! GET OVER IT! YEESH!). Multiplayer is fun with the option to have CPU cars in 2 player and some small-specialized 4-player levels. No link play unfortunately but well probably get X-Box live support in the eventual sequel

Lastablity 8/10

There’s plenty to unlock here. New cars, new tracks but unfortunately the career mode will last you an afternoon if you’re good. The multiplayer is fun and will definitely last you and the arcade mode is great for a quick 5-minute blast of mass destruction but if your looking for lastabillty and your Billy no mates I suggest you rent it only.

Good Points
+Great Graphics
+Fantastic Gameplay
+Custom soundtrack option
+Its mass vehicular destruction. What more do you want?

Bad points
-Slow down is a bit ridiculous at times.
-Wont last you very long in one player
-Default soundtrack is terrible
-Will make you a bad driver

Overall 8/10
A fun solid racer that will keep you occupied for a few days with its mass destruction and varied game modes. If you’re looking for something deeper though you may want to Try Rallisport Challenge or Project Gotham Racing

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/01/02, Updated 09/01/02