Destruction AllStars: The PS5 crash spectacle put to the test

Destruction AllStars was supposed to appear completely normal for the launch of the PS5, but shortly before that the exclusive title was postponed and announced as a free game for PS Plus subscribers, which is to be regularly supplied with new content via live service. Now the mixture of Fortnite and Destruction Derby is finally there and turns out to be a nice spectacle for in between, which is (still) lacking in scope and which is already annoying with microtransactions.

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Table of contents

1 Motorized arena fights 2 Accessible fun 3 And the air is out

Motorized arena fights

After a short tutorial that shows us the few but completely sufficient actions of the very precise, arcade control teaches, we are allowed to throw ourselves into the fray. You can choose from the four game modes Mayhem, Gridfall, Carnado and Stockpile, which of course focus on ramming, crashing and scrapping everywhere. Mayhem is really all about that, too. 16 players compete against each other and we get points for every successful ramming attack or the destruction of enemy vehicles. Anyone who is scrapped is allowed to respawn. At the end of the round, of course, the player with the most points wins.

In the (few) colorful arenas there is always a wonderful chaos. Source: PC Games In Gridfall, on the other hand, you fight for survival, because you have to earn respawns through successful ramming attacks and parts of the arena floor break away. So you have to be careful not to fall down, but it's also a lot of fun to push opponents into the holes. Whoever is last in the arena will be crowned the winner of the round.

In Carnado, however, a hurricane is raging in the middle of the arena. Here, too, we get points for crashing and smashing enemy vehicles, but we only get them credited when we race our car into the storm. As a result, we also lose our vehicle and have to look for a new one first. Carnado is actually the most exciting game mode, as it usually only decides at the last second who wins the round.

Stockpile is the most boring game mode in Destruction AllStars (buy now 79.99 €), although it is part of the team Eight against eight is played. When a car is wrecked, it leaves gears behind. To collect these, you jump out of the car and then finally deliver them to one of three platforms. Whoever delivers the most points there, holds the platform and the team that owns all platforms or holds most of the platforms after the time limit has expired wins. Unfortunately, there is seldom a flow of the game in the game mode, as some players do not want to deliver points. Although you can play all modes in arcade mode against bots, Stockpile stinks against the other modes here too.

Accessible fun

It is always incredibly satisfying to crush opponents . Source: PC Games Of course, crashing the different cars, which can be divided into the categories fast, agile and robust, is the focus of Destruction AllStars, but you are not in cars all the time. Before your battered vehicle breaks down, you can jump out of the car, and in some cases it is even necessary to be on foot in the colorful arenas. With Stockpile you have to deliver points. But it is also worth getting out of the car every now and then. Crystals can be collected on platforms, which fill the bar for special abilities considerably. This also happens through crashes, but with the crystals it goes faster.

First, a special ability is unlocked for the character himself, which allows you to run faster and perform double jumps. However, it is far more action-packed when you have filled the car bar and can call up the special vehicle of the selected character. For example, if you have chosen the Luchador Ultimo Barricado, you can activate the bonus of being invulnerable from the front and being able to ram harder in the figure's car. Metal drummer Fuego, on the other hand, can set his vehicle on fire and burn the competition with it.

Whoever collects crystals on foot quickly loads up his special ad. Source: PC Games For example, other characters' cars can camouflage themselves or become super fast. You don't have to like the comic style with the total of 16 totally over-the-top figures, but it has the advantage that you can easily integrate the crazy special maneuvers into the game. Since each character has different skills, it is also quite fun to try out all drivers and see which special maneuvers suit their own playing style. However, it must also be said that some of them are more useful than others. The Boost-Special-Move may work quite well in theory, but in practice it unfortunately looks like that due to the acceleration you no longer have the vehicle under control and therefore you cannot ram it so precisely.

That is a real shame, because otherwise the arcade handling of the vehicles will almost immediately become second nature. Accelerate with R2, brake with L2, the handbrake is released with circle and with X you jump out of the car. In addition, you can use the right analog stick for more powerful ramming attacks. If we push the stick forward, a huge speed boost is triggered. If, on the other hand, we push it to the left or right, we perform a proper bump in the respective direction. However, both actions cannot be used permanently, as they each have a short cooldown. It's simple, catchy and ensures even matches. In any case, we didn't notice any exploits. The balance of Destruction AllStars makes a very good impression at the moment. We hope that this won't change with future updates.

In Carnado we have to drive into a hurricane to be sure of the points we have earned. Source: PC Games

And the air is out

Updates is also a good keyword here, because Destruction AllStars urgently needs more content as soon as possible. Don't get it wrong: The crash derbies in the colorful arenas are really good fun, but only for an hour. Then you feel like you've seen everything the game has to offer. With Las Vegas, Barcelona, ​​London, Tokyo and New York there are only five places where the crash competitions take place and they are all relatively similar. We urgently need new arenas that have a few gimmicks such as junk presses or other obstacles.

The few customization options are pretty lame and far too expensive. Source: PC Games New game modes would also be good for the PS5 title, because if only three out of four are really fun, that doesn't exactly speak for long-term motivation. Especially when some game modes are blocked and require you to spend money on yourself. There is also a challenge mode that tells short stories about the characters and even offers special solo tasks. For example, you should destroy a certain number of boxes within a time limit.

However, you are only allowed to play the series of challenges for one character at the moment, provided you don't spend real money for in-game currency via PSN, for two more challenges to unlock. Sure, the game has to be financed somehow, but hiding that little extra content behind a payment barrier, where the scope is already poor, is a somewhat stupid solution.

Speaking of poor: This also applies to the customization options of the Pawns too. There are no more than a few other colors and emotes. You can at least afford it with the money you earn in the game, if you want to grind for the few optical adjustments. The unnecessary stuff is really expensive.

So what's the conclusion about the PS5 exclusive? On the one hand, the title is a nicely presented, fun and accessible spectacle that is even included for free with the PS Plus subscription. On the other hand, the game should rather be called Under-Construction-AllStars, because you notice that a lot of content is still missing before you could call the title a complete game. Should Sony and developer Lucid Games provide regular supplies, Destruction AllStars could become a nice splash of color in the PS5 portfolio. This is of course a lot of subjunctive, but the Playstation 5 title is now nothing more than a small, tasty snack for in between.

My opinion

By Christian Dörre

Editor

[email protected] "A brisk, colorful spectacle that lacks content." When I announced Destruction Allstars, I didn't care about the title. Sure, as an old destruction derby and burnout veteran, I am thrilled by dented metal and smashed cars, but the comic look with the extremely over-the-top characters rather put me off. "Meh, that's not for me." I thought. Yeah, you thought wrong, because the PS5 title grabbed me on the first round. It's incredibly fun to push the opponents into the abyss or to turn them into scrap metal. So much so that I wanted more of it very quickly, but didn't get it. At the moment, Destruction AllStars doesn't have enough to offer that you spend long periods of time in the arenas. This makes the challenges behind the payment barrier look even more stupid. So I have no choice but to wait for new content. Until then, AllStars is just a snack for me in between. Destruction AllStars (PS5) 6/10

Graphics - Sound - Multiplayer - Pros & Cons Nice comic graphics Nice presentation Accessible gameplay No match like the other Partly cool special abilities Very small scope Few customization options Microtransactions Stockpile mode is okay dreary More pros & cons ... Conclusion Quite nice for a while, but no longer.