
The unique aspect of Destructions AllStars is that you can jump into and out of cars at any time, and run around on foot. You get awarded points for damaging enemies, and even more for wrecking someone – but you have to land the final blow to get the KO, hence again the luck factor comes into play. You can drive head-on into a pileup hoping to score damage points, and crash into a wall instead you can also get some sweet hits from random cross-traffic across the arenas.

Of course, the nature of a derby means there is a lot of luck involved lining up a big hit often goes awry as the enemy decides to make a turn at the last second.

The only action you can perform is a slam, either forward or to the side, by flicking the left controller stick. You don't go overly fast, but the sense of speed is good and smashing into an opponent provides plenty of satisfaction. When inside a car, the game handles like a straightforward arcade racer the controls are decent, you can drift a little and perform sharp u-turns.

When the match begins and you enter the arena, all characters begin on foot and with a few cars in front of them to jump into. Destruction derby undoubtedly involves a lot of luck when it comes to performing well, but picking the right hero can help immensely. Fuego can light nearby cars on fire, but the damage is small and it's not as devastating as someone like Bluefang. Lupita can leave a trail of damaging fire behind her car, but it's brief and very easy to avoid. Xander can mark a target to which he deals increased damage, but Destruction AllStars isn't the type of game where you can effectively target a single opponent. For example, Genesis gets a speed boost which increases her damage, but it's obviously much more difficult to land any sort of hit. Heroes with abilities that provide a direct damage or defensive effect are incredibly more useful than the rest. Area-of-effect focused heroes such as Ratu unleash a blast of damage to all nearby cars Shyft's special ability lets him go invisible and sneak up on opponents for some big hits. Hana also gets a blade that can cut through opponents. For example, Bluefang's car has a devastating set of blades that almost guarantees a takedown on anyone he drives into. The matches have a limit of two/three of the same hero, so you have to be quick in selecting them, and have backup options, as it's already obvious which heroes the community prefers. This sort of design leads to the fact that some hero cars are clearly more powerful than others – even if the abilities themselves are decently well balanced as not to feel overwhelming (they are usually short in duration). You simply pick what works for you, and try to deal as much damage as possible. Everyone just gets the special Breaker attack to use, and there's nothing else to consider other than being in a good position to dish out damage – there are no "counters", or even any pickups in the arena.

Destruction AllStars is very straightforward, in terms of gameplay mechanics - all heroes just have a single ability, and they don't really interact with each other in any way, be that against your opponents or with your teammates. The characters fit the visual style of the game well, and have whacky animations and personalities, though they don't speak much. The character selection determines what special ability, called a Breaker, is available to you while on foot, and in your hero car. For a game already lacking in content and long-term goals, this seems like a poor decision.īefore heading into the arenas, you get to select one of 16 available characters to play as. While the current first adventure is free, the rest must be purchased with Destruction Points – which are only attainable with real money. In the currently available chapter, you get to play through some unique scenarios and challenges, which makes it worthwhile as it's not just a tweaked version of multiplayer.
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There is also a brief Challenge Series solo experience focusing on one hero with a couple of cutscenes, and more such content is planned in the future. You can return to these tutorials at any time to try your hand at the different playable characters and see which one suits you best. However, before heading online, you can complete a set of tutorials against bots to get familiar with the mechanics, and game modes. Destruction AllStars is a multiplayer-focused car action game, where players compete in one of a few arenas in order to dish out the most damage to their opponents.
