Although in the last generation of consoles Sony tried to diversify the selection of its exclusives, it turned out to be not so successful for it. Especially offensive for the racing fans who didn’t get the new Gran Turismo, or some “fun” like MotorStorm. And on the PlayStation 5, the car arcade is available almost from the start – Destruction AllStars came out just a couple of months after the start of sales of new consoles. Unfortunately, it is not destined to replace the mentioned MotorStorm and become a hit in the Rocket League style .
The idea is simple and complex at the same time. 16 players converge on a large arena, who, regardless of the mode chosen, must crash into each other in cars and create chaos. There is one innovation – when the car is smashed to smithereens or is close to that, the player jumps out of the cab and can move freely around the arena. There are several options: you can rush and run along the walls, you can jump onto the roofs of other people’s cars and steal them, or you can just find a new car and quickly get into it to continue the match under normal conditions.
Maybe someday it will be as interesting to follow the relationship of these heroes as in Overwatch.
The idea is funny, but it doesn’t make much sense. There is practically nothing to do outside of the car, except to collect crystals that fill the special move meter (more on that later), so in the vast majority of cases, you just run to the new car. Without it, there are very few opportunities for the team to earn points – too little bonus is given for dodging an enemy trying to knock you down.
One could turn a blind eye to this unfinished mechanic if everything else was done well, but Destruction AllStars has significantly more problems. The main one is that the matches are simply boring. It seems that all the necessary ingredients are in place: spectacular collisions, simple controls, understandable and predictable physics of cars (after all, the developers responsible for the Project Gotham Racing series worked on the game), and the graphics are excellent – not the breathtaking Nextgen, but yet. However, the matches do not evoke any emotions.
In the “Tornado” mode, it is important to determine when it is too dangerous to risk and you should put points in the bank
This is partly due to the size of the cards – even for 16 players they are too big. Very often you find yourself in a situation where you are turning around the arena for the third circle, but either you don’t see anyone, or you see, but you can’t get to it. Even more often, you simply cannot catch up with your opponent, and you literally hang on his tail, trying to scratch at least a little and earn that stupid point. There are mixes involving three or four machines, but they are fleeting – after a couple of seconds you start hunting again and yawn with boredom.
The unique skills of the characters are not balanced in the best way – there are both the abilities of the heroes themselves (they are activated outside the cars and, in fact, are useless), and their personal cars with their “chips”. Someone leaves traces of fire on the ground that disappear in a second, while someone has a circular saw that quickly destroys other people’s cars – obviously, who is more fun to play for. In an accident, the car of one of the characters emits a cloud of smoke, because of which the opponent’s radar becomes useless, only no one is looking at it. Already, you can see that some heroes are chosen in matches more often than others.
Vehicle abilities recover fairly quickly
It’s worth mentioning the character design as well. After so many years, you begin to understand that Blizzard artists are real geniuses and almost the leading professionals in the industry. There have been so many similar games with characteristic characters ( Battleborn , LawBreakers, Bleeding Edge and now this), and in all of them they fade against the background of Overwatch . Why is Overwatch – even without any comparisons in Destruction AllStars, the heroes are insanely boring. It seems that the races are different, and the complexion, and there are a lot of eccentrics among them – one she-wolf “cosplays”, the other has a box on his head. But it all looks dull, so don’t expect a wave of fan art.
Personalization is even more shameful: each one has five or six repainted suits, emotions that no one uses (because once and no one will see), some shouts … For completing matches, you get levels and save up currency, but there is nothing to even spend it on – lies with a dead weight. There are avatars and banners, but almost all of them are available for purchase immediately and are very cheap – if you really need to, you buy them in the first hour and never go to the section again.
I wonder if anyone would spend real money on these costumes?
There is another currency, but it can only be obtained through microtransactions, although a little later it is promised to be given for completing daily tasks. For these “points of destruction” you can purchase not only cosmetic items, but also a series of tests – a kind of small story campaigns with the participation of heroes: a short video at the beginning, another one at the end and seven “missions” between them. Fortunately, one such campaign is given free to everyone.
This is where Destruction AllStars gets a little more fun than online. First, more entertainment – from a task in which you need to break all the boxes in a limited time, to a kind of boss fight. Secondly, in addition to winning the match, you can complete several tests: either finish the task with the specified time in stock, or activate the superpower and do something. There is a desire to clear everything, get all the stars and squeeze the maximum out of this mode. But, unfortunately, you have to pay for the rest of the “plots” – they cost 200 points, and the cheapest offer in the store is 500 points for 359 dollars. And they do not reveal the universe better, so the heroes themselves still do not care.
It even has its own D.Va, but the charisma pumped up
This is one of the main drawbacks of the game – too little content. There seem to be four multiplayer modes, but the essence is practically the same; seemingly different arenas, but they are very similar to each other; there seems to be an arcade game with bots, but who will play it if it is online? Well, about the “plots” and characters, everything is said above. Who in their right mind was going to sell it for € 80 is not entirely clear. Although it is still unknown what the price will be after the PlayStation Plus giveaway ends.
In the main text, I did not mention the main thing – in Destruction AllStars there is no music during matches. In principle, this characterizes the whole game – it should be a bright and funny action game with destruction of cars and eternal chaos on the screen, but in reality it is empty and lifeless, and the absence of a soundtrack only emphasizes this. Perhaps the developers will listen to the audience and somehow fix the shortcomings, otherwise, due to the outflow of players, the silence on the servers will be even more deafening.
Advantages:
- great graphics and fast downloads;
- crashing into cars and getting points for it can be fun;
- not a bad challenge mode, for which, unfortunately, you have to pay extra.
Disadvantages:
- boring character designs and their unbalanced abilities;
- the cards are large, which is why you don’t get into vigorous batches as often as you would like;
- the shameful system of individualization;
- running around outside the cars is practically pointless;
- there is little content, and if you want more, you have to pay.
| Graphic arts | When you look at the game, you don’t want to shout out “nextgenische!”, But it looks great, and everything loads quickly. |
| Sound | A fun, colorful arcade racing game with chaotic gameplay … in which there is no music during matches. Conclusions, as they say, do it yourself. |
| Single player game | Alone, you can play with bots in normal modes or evaluate a kind of “plot” – however, only the first part of it, since you have to pay for the rest. The presented free content will be studied in one evening. |
| Collective game | Although the multiplayer offers 4 modes, 16 different heroes and multiple arenas, one match is not much different from the other. And the shortcomings do not disappear anywhere, regardless of the situation in which you find yourself. For a couple of matches a day, Destruction AllStars is enough, but there is no desire to sit in it for a long time. |
| General impression | An arcade game that from the outside seems spectacular and carbon monoxide, but in fact is empty and often dreary. It will be interesting to know how they plan to change it in the future. And do they plan. |