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IGN Review of Death Track: Resurrection
Mix one part Unreal Tournament with one part The Fast and the Furious and get something that resembles Death Track Resurrection, a combination of racing and vehicular combat game that's actually based on an ancient 1989 Activision game, Deathtrack. Dynamix, the defunct design house that gave us Starsiege Tribes and other classic games, made the first game. This new Death Track comes to us from Russian developer Sky Fallen, courtesy of 1C and Aspyr. That brings up some obvious translation issues, but the bigger issue is that this game straddles the line between being solid and completely erratic.
Set in some weird future where big, muscular guys wear clothing that's a blend of street hooker and Village People, Death Track Resurrection is about a popular gladiatorial racing circuit that takes place in the "gutted" cities of the world. It turns out that there was a big war that turned places like London, Tokyo, and San Diego into huge racing venues of all things. Yeah, it's weird and doesn't make much sense, but then again, it's an idea rooted in the original game.
Sky Fallen delivers the game with a strange kind of presentation. There's some full-motion video cutscenes that feature a slender Russian woman, dressed in some retro-futuristic clothes and makeup and serving as a kind of news announcer. However, the badly dubbed voiceover doesn't even come close to matching her mouth movements. Then there's an assortment of CG cutscenes that show a gargantuan mob boss orchestrating "accidents" to happen to various drivers on the circuit. Some of these accidents are downright hilarious, but at the same time, everything seems almost absurd. This isn't a future that you can relate to. It's almost silly, and I imagine that this game is probably much more satirical in its original language.
Once you get past the confusing narrative, you get to single-player racing with different modes. There is no multiplayer component in the game, so you're limited to just racing against the computer. There's a number of race types, such as scenario (which is story driven) and drag race. On top of that, there are several racing modes. The modern race lets you and your opponents respawn back in the action if you're knocked out. The classic race does not let you respawn, so you start a race with a large pool of drivers and watch the numbers whittle down as players are eliminated. A rally mode eliminates weapons altogether. And then there's a custom mode that lets you tweak the settings.
To the game's credit, the basic mechanics are sound. The controls are fairly tight and responsive, and you race around some downright huge maps that are full of all sorts of obstacles and challenges, as well as various power ups. It's sort of like Mario Kart on steroids. The problem is that in some modes, the game is a chaotic mess that's essentially out of your control. Skill has no place here; it's just pure luck that you win at times.
What happens is that while you're busy racing, you'll be getting shot at, shooting back, dodging mines, getting sideswiped, and more. On some tracks, there are even robots flying over the racetrack firing at you. It gets to the point that if you're in the lead, it's almost not worth it because that just means that the back of your vehicle is exposed to everyone behind you, and that makes you a big target. Slow down, and you find yourself still in the middle of a dogfight, where the slightest mistake can send you slamming into a wall. You might not even make a mistake, but suddenly a car will respawn in front of you with no warning, and you smash in to it.
If your car's health hits zero, you explode. This happens quite a bit, but you end up respawning a second or too later. Still, you lose valuable time since it takes a while to get back up to speed. Meanwhile, it almost feels impossible to get any separation between you and the pack, so it's just this nonstop cycle of getting killed, respawning, trying to take out the guys in front of you to regain the lead, then getting killed again.
Ironically, things get easier in the latter parts of the scenario, as the number of drivers drops due to the "accidents" the mob boss is orchestrating. (It's sort of hilarious how all these drivers die under really suspicious circumstances but everyone else shrugs them off as accidents.) This reduces the amount of chaos on the racetrack considerably, so you can focus more on racing. By the later stages, you've also had a chance to upgrade your car with better armor, engines, and weapons, which makes you more survivable. The upgrade system is fairly typical if you've played any kind of racing game before; it's just a matter of accumulating enough cash to outfit your car with better gear, or buy a different car design altogether.
The visuals are a bit of a mixed bag. The game has a colorful look with detailed environments, but the cars have that familiar problem that they don't feel like they're riding on the ground but rather floating over it at times. At least the framerate manages to stay high, even during some of the worst carnage. The audio has a thrumming metal soundtrack in the background, along with a bombastic race announcer who sounds like he's cousins with the guy from Unreal Tournament. The bot drivers each have their own voice as well, and they like to hurl insults at you when they pass. It all feels very Unreal Tournament, really. On the other hand, you don't get much of a sense of engine noise, especially if your opponent is coming up behind you.
©2009-04-08, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Set in some weird future where big, muscular guys wear clothing that's a blend of street hooker and Village People, Death Track Resurrection is about a popular gladiatorial racing circuit that takes place in the "gutted" cities of the world. It turns out that there was a big war that turned places like London, Tokyo, and San Diego into huge racing venues of all things. Yeah, it's weird and doesn't make much sense, but then again, it's an idea rooted in the original game.
Sky Fallen delivers the game with a strange kind of presentation. There's some full-motion video cutscenes that feature a slender Russian woman, dressed in some retro-futuristic clothes and makeup and serving as a kind of news announcer. However, the badly dubbed voiceover doesn't even come close to matching her mouth movements. Then there's an assortment of CG cutscenes that show a gargantuan mob boss orchestrating "accidents" to happen to various drivers on the circuit. Some of these accidents are downright hilarious, but at the same time, everything seems almost absurd. This isn't a future that you can relate to. It's almost silly, and I imagine that this game is probably much more satirical in its original language.
Once you get past the confusing narrative, you get to single-player racing with different modes. There is no multiplayer component in the game, so you're limited to just racing against the computer. There's a number of race types, such as scenario (which is story driven) and drag race. On top of that, there are several racing modes. The modern race lets you and your opponents respawn back in the action if you're knocked out. The classic race does not let you respawn, so you start a race with a large pool of drivers and watch the numbers whittle down as players are eliminated. A rally mode eliminates weapons altogether. And then there's a custom mode that lets you tweak the settings.
To the game's credit, the basic mechanics are sound. The controls are fairly tight and responsive, and you race around some downright huge maps that are full of all sorts of obstacles and challenges, as well as various power ups. It's sort of like Mario Kart on steroids. The problem is that in some modes, the game is a chaotic mess that's essentially out of your control. Skill has no place here; it's just pure luck that you win at times.
What happens is that while you're busy racing, you'll be getting shot at, shooting back, dodging mines, getting sideswiped, and more. On some tracks, there are even robots flying over the racetrack firing at you. It gets to the point that if you're in the lead, it's almost not worth it because that just means that the back of your vehicle is exposed to everyone behind you, and that makes you a big target. Slow down, and you find yourself still in the middle of a dogfight, where the slightest mistake can send you slamming into a wall. You might not even make a mistake, but suddenly a car will respawn in front of you with no warning, and you smash in to it.
If your car's health hits zero, you explode. This happens quite a bit, but you end up respawning a second or too later. Still, you lose valuable time since it takes a while to get back up to speed. Meanwhile, it almost feels impossible to get any separation between you and the pack, so it's just this nonstop cycle of getting killed, respawning, trying to take out the guys in front of you to regain the lead, then getting killed again.
Ironically, things get easier in the latter parts of the scenario, as the number of drivers drops due to the "accidents" the mob boss is orchestrating. (It's sort of hilarious how all these drivers die under really suspicious circumstances but everyone else shrugs them off as accidents.) This reduces the amount of chaos on the racetrack considerably, so you can focus more on racing. By the later stages, you've also had a chance to upgrade your car with better armor, engines, and weapons, which makes you more survivable. The upgrade system is fairly typical if you've played any kind of racing game before; it's just a matter of accumulating enough cash to outfit your car with better gear, or buy a different car design altogether.
The visuals are a bit of a mixed bag. The game has a colorful look with detailed environments, but the cars have that familiar problem that they don't feel like they're riding on the ground but rather floating over it at times. At least the framerate manages to stay high, even during some of the worst carnage. The audio has a thrumming metal soundtrack in the background, along with a bombastic race announcer who sounds like he's cousins with the guy from Unreal Tournament. The bot drivers each have their own voice as well, and they like to hurl insults at you when they pass. It all feels very Unreal Tournament, really. On the other hand, you don't get much of a sense of engine noise, especially if your opponent is coming up behind you.
©2009-04-08, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved