Destruction Derby

Overview

Since it's release in 1995 the game has been known for it's rather huge success and Reflections has later released several instalments based on the the original Destruction Derby. The point of the game is to wreck your opponents car to score points. The goal players have to achieve in the game is fairly simple, but the popularity of the game grew by the minute, which then resulted in Reflections releasing Destruction Derby 2, the second instalment in the successful franchise.  Several other Destruction Derby games have been released over the years, but the most memorable and successful is unfortunately only Destruction Derby 2.
 

Gameplay

The game was unlike most other racing-games at the time of release, since the point of the game is to wreck your opponents car to score points - a gameplay concept which was new to the racing-game industry at the time. The basic idea of Destruction Derby is based on a real-life sport which involves, again, wrecking the opponents car. The winner of the “race” is the man who is left-standing with his car still intact - “Last Man Standing” kind of deal. In the game, when a round is finished the winner is decided by having the most points or by being the only car still intact, just like the real-life sport. This is what makes Destruction Derby unique and so popular, but there are other modes in the game where different rules apply.
 

Modes

Destruction Derby includes four basic modes which players can choose from.

Wreckin' Racing

In this mode there is a standard racing track involved where the player races against the opponents, fighting over the the best position (just like most racing-games) as well as gaining the most points by smashing up and wrecking the opponents car.

Stock Car Racing

Here, the only goal is to make first place or at least get into the best position possible. The key element when playing this mode is to avoid inflicting damage to the car so possibility broken parts wont slow the player down when fighting for a place at the podium. This is the only mode in the game which breaks of from the main concept where wrecking cars and inflicting damage is awarded. Simply put, this mode works like any other standard racing game. If the player comes first, he wins. 

Time Attack

Standard time attack/time trail mode.
 

Destruction Derby

This is the mode which got most attention upon it's release and is the most popular mode in the game. The mode takes place on a track called The Bowl which is a large open track. The only goal here is to inflict as much damage to the opponents car and at best, completely destroy them.
 

Cars

There are three sets of car classes to choose from in the game – Rookie, Amateur and Pro. These three different classes represents three different difficulty levels. Rookie is the easiest, Amateur being the normal difficulty and Pro is the hard difficulty setting. The main difference between the classes can be noticed as you go up through the cars they get faster and have better handling. But the car will also be able to handle less damage and is basically weaker as the difficulty level is higher.
 

Tracks

• Cactus Creek
• City Heat
• Crossover
• Ocean Drive
• Speedway
• The Bowl
• Ruined Monastery  

Damage Engine

In Destruction Derby when the players car takes a heavy hit and the car gets severely damaged, the damage engine makes sure the handling of the car decreases. For example, when the player gets hit at either side of the car and takes massive damage, the car will pull slightly to the side the car got hit. There are many ways the players and the opponents car can be slowed down. In some cases the players car can become almost impossible to drive because of the heavy damage it as taken. This is all being realised with the damage engine Reflections built for the game. There is no pit lane in the game, so repairing the car is not possible. Reflections did however include such a functionality with later instalments.
The player can monitor the cars “health” by looking at the damage indicator at the bottom right of the screen. The indicator shows ten locations the car can take damage. How serious the damage to the car is, is shown by colour. Green means there is no damage taken at all, yellow means the location is slightly damaged, orange indicates a pretty rough hit has taken place and finally red means there is severe damage to the location.

Other

• The game is playable as single-player and multi-player.

• The game is currently available on Playstation Network for download for both the PSP and the PS3.

Trivia   

• The game was originally called Demolish 'em Derby, but the name was changed only months before release.