I finally got the chance tonight to rent Destruction Derby 2 and 
if Playstation players complained about the lack of substance and long 
term play value of the original crop of games, let me tell you that Sony 
has made great strides to change all that.

	I have to tell you that the game is nothing short of a holy act 
of God.  Never mind seeing Psygnosis port this over to Saturn.  This game 
take Playstation's specialized effects and employs them to such a degree 
that you won't believe you're still playing 32 bit.  I'll break it down;

Framerate; BLAZING.  If you played the original, you'll remember a 
merdium framerate with occassional slow down.  NOT HERE.  I don't know 
how they did it, but Psygnosis did such an incredible job in this area, 
and it's value is compounded when you consider that the cars aren't 
confined to the road surface.  

Playability;  Basically, the game has a wreck racing, stock car racing, 
and destruction derby.  You can pretty much infer what the difference is 
between the three, but what makes DD2 shine show much is it's different 
aproach.  In most racing games, when you fall to far behind the race is 
basically over no moatter how hard you try.  Here, if you're last you'll 
want to make the guy in first place pay by sabbotaging him.  It's a whole 
new reason to stay in the race.  Of course, your car DOES take damage so 
you have to look out for yourself.  This element is especially emphasized 
in the destruction derby.  Same as in the original only with enjoyable 
game play.  After three of them, I was able to last a good two minutes 
(don't laugh, it's not so easy).

Production Values; They really polished this game.  I already mentioned 
the framerate and lack of slow down, but other effects are the 
transparent smoke and steam that come from your car's hood when you get 
smashed, and my personal favorite the lense flare.  Lense flare happens 
when your camera catches the sun but its especially dramatic when the 
scenery is dark and the sun looks as if it's getting ready to set.  The 
game's inteface is very no-nonsense and gets you racing in no time.  
There's some nice video at the begining, but nothing to start a Jihad over.
There's also a commentary done by an announcer and it adds to the realism.

	However, all these things came at a certain price.  It's almost 
impossible for a racing game like this to happen without something giving.  
The seams found on tracks in Ridge Racer appear in this game.  It's the 
only weakness I found and I never minded it.  The only reason I'm even 
mentioning it is because I thing every review needs at least one negative 
point since no game is perfect.  The seams are NOT a big deal and they're 
unnoticed during the actual game, but they're there.  Make of it what you 
will.  Personally, you're not likely to find a better racing game this 
season, Cruisin' USA included.  My own personal advise, if you like car 
games and destruction is part of your entertainment regimen don't bother 
renting this before buying, just go buy it.  It's incredible and has 
achieved classic status with Wipeout XL, Tekken2, and Resident Evil.  
It's THAT good.

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			-Net Surfer Chris
New Ultra-Streamlined .sig!  Now if only I could get Win95 to work*()@#&*(&*(

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