#DESTRUCTION ALLSTARS WEBSITE DRIVER#
“In particular, my favourites so far have been the wolf-themed Lupita, whose sleek car leaves a trail of flames in her wake to damage any driver that runs through them, and Bluefang, who has a burly ride with giant rotating saws on the front that shred anything in its path. Rescue’s smoke bombs that trail him in his wake, hindering opponents’ vision. They range from the hedgehog-like metal spikes that can jut out of Jian’s car and defend them stoutly to Sgt. These cars’ abilities can be used to devastating effect, and doing so well can often be the difference between winning and losing. After filling up the hero meter over time and boosting that process by collecting shards littered around the arena you can summon your signature vehicle, at which point a lot of fun can be had. As is the case throughout Destruction AllStars, abilities get a lot more interesting once you’re back behind the wheel. But across the roster, I felt very little impact when using a Breaker, and found their biggest value was the speed boost and double-jump you get when triggering them because those actually make it easier to reach a new vehicle and become relevant to the match again. This can range from Shyft’s invisibility to dropping parcels for opponents to trip over as Boxtop. The on-foot powers, called Breakers, are triggered by hitting R1 and are often echoes of the hero vehicle abilities but on a much smaller scale, making them largely ineffective. More important than their personalities are the abilities that accompany each AllStar: one when they’re on foot and one when they’re in command of their hero vehicle.
#DESTRUCTION ALLSTARS WEBSITE FULL#
They’re flavorful enough to not be generic and inconsequential, but put them in a room full of characters from Bleeding Edge, LawBreakers, and Rogue Company and you’d be hard pressed to pick them out of the crowd without the aid of nametags. But there aren’t really distinctive personalities, just a lot of arguably stereotypical representations: imagine if someone clicked 16 times on a random Overwatch character creator and repainted them using a Fortnite art style and you wouldn’t be far off. There’s the catchily named Tw!NkleR10t with her cutesy kitty car Mr Sparkles, and Fuego who, you guessed it, loves fire. Hey Now, You’re An AllStarBeing on foot gives you a close-up look at AllStars’ diverse cast of 16 playable characters who, while they may not have the depth of similar hero-based games, do have their own abilities and summonable hero cars, and are charming enough in their own way to bring a welcome dose of personality to the proceedings. It’s just one example of where AllStars seems a bit confused as to what it wants to be. With all of that available you just expect to have more opportunities to use your powers in fun ways, but you can’t really. It makes sense that a human (albeit one with semi-superhuman capabilities) can’t stand toe-to-toe with a hulking piece of 100mph metal, but AllStars sets the wrong expectation by giving you the ability to barge opponents with melee attacks and summon glowing Wolverine-like blades from your hands if you’re Bluefang that sure look like they should do more than scratch the paint.
““Of course you shouldn’t be as powerful as a car when on foot,” I hear you shouting, and you’re not wrong. It’s just how utterly powerless you feel in comparison to when you’re in a car that’s the problem.
The light parkour platforming itself isn’t unenjoyable, thanks in part to wall-running that’s smooth and nimble. At its worst, however, you’re left running and jumping around in search of a new vehicle while all of the fun is had around you far faster than you can keep up with. At its best, this means ejecting yourself from a car before it explodes, flying into the air, and then landing straight into another vehicle, which feels sensational – reminiscent of launching yourself out of the Batmobile in Batman: Arkham Knight. This is what separates AllStars from most car combat games: the ability to bail out and move around the arena on foot. And that doesn’t only apply to when you’re behind the wheel, but when you’re outside of your car, too.
The trick in Destruction AllStars is to always be on the move, both so you have the momentum to get higher-scoring hits and so you aren’t a sitting duck for others trying to do the same to you. Shamelessly arcadey in its handling, the driving itself is slick and responsive, with different sizes of vehicle feeling appropriately different to maneuver and a tap of the handbrake letting you effortlessly drift around corners to evade chasing cars.