Death Rally

   
Developer: Remedy Entertainment Ltd, Mountain Sheep Inc
Steam Release: Aug 2012
Hours Played: 2.9
Similar To: Blaze Rush / Mantis Burn Racing / Reckless Racing
Rating: 4/5 Parsnips

GAMEPLAY
Death Rally is a top-down racing game that bears such a striking resemblance to the Reckless Racing series that it's almost like the same game only with guns. You compete in races in similar run-down locations like old oil refineries, abandoned warehouses and various dirt-tracks and usually against 5 other AI opponents. In short bursts of three laps and around one minute in length, the action is kept intense and exciting where you jostle for position and watch out for the right opening. You'll pick up useful nitro and ammo boosts from crates on the road as well as extra cash and quick repairs which you'll always seem to need. In all, the balance seems right - it's explosive and satisfying to destroy and to win against opponents but a few minor design and technical faults get in the way of making this one as good as Reckless Racing.
 

BALANCE & PACE
You chose from seven random race-tracks with one of four difficulty settings that you cannot change. Among these could also be a Death Match which is an agonisingly painful demolition derby. With the choice of vehicle and weapon, you're then thrown in at the start line and away you go. A great touch is that there is no countdown but it all begins the moment you hit the acceleration. At the end of a race, you're awarded cash which you must use to repair and upgrade your car or weapons. With parts for better cars, plus cash being dropped on the track, the focus is on unlocking new cars and upgrading weapons. The best-times for the races are not distinguished by difficulty, there is no stats-page or separate screen for them and their importance seems secondary. To me, this places emphasis on the grind rather than on improving skill and getting better.

PRESENTATION & DESIGN
Death Rally is unusual in that it has a driving set-up where acceleration is not activated by use of the right trigger but entirely by use of the left-stick. In other words you always need to be pushing the left-stick in the direction you need to go as you see on screen. It was an idea followed up by BlazeRush later and while it seemed to work well with that game, it definitely takes some getting used to with Death Rally. The environments and the graphics themselves were good and I really liked that the race started on your signal. Unfortunately, I did experience some slowdown and stutter (with graphic settings turned down) on a few occasions which did impair enjoyment. I also had to alt-tab to leave the game as it wouldn't fully exit properly otherwise.
 

PROGRESS SYSTEM
Progress on the stats-page in the campaign is measured by how many vehicles and weapons have been unlocked along with their upgrades. There is also a percentage of how much has been achieved when entering the game. As a combat-racer, it's perhaps unsurprising that the game focuses more on winning and gaining cash to afford those powerful weapons rather than on times. Sure, best-times are shown next to the thumbnails of each of the different tracks but this is always going to increase with the grind and has little to do with skill. A stats-page for best-times at the different difficulty settings for each vehicle might help to measure skill especially as upgrades max out. Despite this, blasting through races and upgrading does give that feeling of progression.
  

CONCLUSION

With very few top-down racers throwing in combat (BlazeRush and Pressure to mention but two), Death Rally faces little competition. Nevertheless, if you're into such a game for excitement with cars getting forever stronger as you unlock more powerful weaponry, then this may be ahead of the pack. However, the process by which you do this - picking a race in isolation out of seven chosen at random - lacks structure and seems almost aimless. For example, if you find that your car is badly damaged and in need of repair, a leisurely drive through any old race will do to earn the cash for a full repair. This you can do with no loss of points, no consequences and no punishment. Although the game is undoubtedly a blast, for some players this can sometimes feel more about going through the motions and less about the passion of competitive racing.