While gamers are likely to recognize and associate
Remedy Entertainment with titles like Max
Payne and Alan Wake, those who were lucky
enough to be a PC gamer in the 90's might
remember the original Death Rally and its
top-down Death Race 2000 inspired mayhem.
While not as fully featured as some racers,
the arcade-style classic has been reborn on
the App Store and players can get back to
what's truly important in a race - blowing
people up.
However, before you can start causing some
real chaos you'll need to go through the process
of unlocking, and upgrading new cars and weapons
by earning cash through races. Earning cash
places less emphasis on winning (although
you do get a healthy bonus for doing so) and
more on a host of varied objectives such as
fast laps; how many people you've eliminated;
and whether or not you've defeated the 'boss'
for the level. Much like the original game
there are several unique characters for each
vehicle and in a neat touch you can race against
Duke Nukem - a nod to the original game's
connection to Apogee.
In what seems like an odd decision, the controls
are limited to a virtual stick system that
requires no braking or acceleration as your
car turns in the direction you move your thumb.
While this does make aiming your weapons a
lot easier, it will take some time to mentally
adjust to steering efficiently.
Visually the game is superb and while there
are only a handful of levels the game attempts
to mix things up with varied perspectives
and mirrored/reversed directions to bulk up
the handful of unique tracks. This does limit
the appeal of constantly racing to grind out
cash, but players are given a choice of six
levels that change after each race along with
unique challenge levels with gameplay twists
such as limiting the weaponry and forcing
players to use a specific car.
The real driving force behind Death Rally
comes from watching bars fill up after each
match and constantly picking up pieces of
scrap that go towards new cars and weapons
- it's shallow, but strangely appealing despite
the repetitive gameplay. If you loved games
like Rock n' Roll Racing and Carmageddon you'll
get a kick out of this racer as well.
