Destruction Derby Raw (PlayStation)

As crazy as it may sound, Destruction Derby stands alone as the premier demolition racing series on the PlayStation. Twisted Metal has its warfare motif, and Infogrames' Demolition Racer made a good attempt, but no company has been able to achieve the same level of quality that Psygnosis has with Destruction Derby. When Psygnosis disappeared from the US gaming scene this past year, fans feared they would be taking the next installment in the series, Destruction Derby 3, with them. Thankfully, these fears turned out to be unfounded, as thanks to Midway's recent publishing deal with Psygnosis, Destruction Derby Raw, the third installment in the Destruction Derby series, is finally here.

The first improvement you'll notice with Destruction Derby Raw appears on the title screen: There are many more gameplay options. There's a season-style wreckin' racing mode, where you earn points for completing tracks and thrashing your opponents. You can't upgrade your car in this mode, but you do get to choose the order in which you complete the 25 courses. The next menu option, smash4$ (that's "smash for cash," in case you aren't into reading license plates), takes the wreckin' racing formula and twists it, in that you lose the choice of which course to race, but you earn money with which to upgrade your vehicle. These single-player modes also give you the ability to unlock eight bonus cars, such as a delivery truck or a police car. As for initial vehicles, the game gives you access to eight, but this stock set climbs to 17 once you complete a few tracks or purchase them. Should you tire of the single-player experience, Destruction Derby Raw also contains four multiplayer battle games, all of which support up to four human players and 16 CPU onscreen opponents. There's the stadium-based destruction derby, the team-based capture the flag game called assault, the skyscraper battle mode, and the remake of schoolyard tag titled pass da bomb. Adding to the Destruction Derby Raw's overwhelming variety, each of these multiplayer modes has a number of additional gameplay settings, such as vampire and suicide options, that further increase the game's replay value.

Once you actually take these features out for a test drive, you'll notice that Destruction Derby Raw isn't fundamentally different from its predecessors. You still need to attempt to disrupt opponent vehicles while trying to finish a race, and you still must do so while keeping track of your own damage meter. Although you don't have to finish first to proceed to the next race, doing so won't hurt your point totals. To aid this effort, the turbo meter makes its triumphant return, giving you a much needed boost of speed with a tap of the L2 button.