1 Player
Memory Card(1 block)
Kids to Adult
Destruction Derby became one of the big hits for the PSX last year. 
Before DD, never did a home console game offer the three R’s of driving 
-- racin’, ‘recking, and road-hogging! The game became an instant hit 
-- players immediately felt in love with the metal-twisting, chaotic 
carnage, full blown crashes of the game, and with link capability, 
the game ensured long lasting gameplay for life.
Jump a year later, and players are treat with DD2: a much improves 
version that in some points of the game, it leaves the original DD in 
the dust. However, not all of DD2 will satisfy fans of the game. For 
one, DD2 is not ‘Linkable’. No longer will you be able to race in a 
duel match with a friend. No team pairs, no tags or seek and destroy 
races with friends. (A mayor bummer!) The original DD offered the 
players several playable views to help you specially play the game in 
wrecking racing. In DD2, you have only two views, greatly reducing the 
options for Wrecking Racing. Furthermore, the contenders you race 
no longer have a personality in DD2: no more one liners from your 
opponents when you smashed against them, for example, "You’ll pay for 
that!" Variations of the tracks in Championship Mode are nonexistent. 
And the last comparison, the 360 degree signs no longer flashes across 
the screen when your opponent totally wipes out and spinning. Oh, and 
one more point, DD2 failed to offer the dangerous cross intersections 
that made the Original a blast to play. DD2 has crossovers, but they're 
not dangerous: still, all these being said, DD2 is baaack! So round up 
your friends, crank it up real loud AND GET WRECKED...
The game that taught you not to drive by the book is back and with a 
vengeance. The new updated version feels totally like a whole new game 
on its own, rarely do we see this happen to a game, there’s so much 
work put into this game I feel awkward calling it a sequel. First, 
let’s bring up front some amenities:
20 contenders
2 views
3 levels of play (Rookie, Amateur, and Professional)
7 tracks(SCA Ultimate Destruction, SCA Motorplex, Caprio County, Pine 
Hills, Liberty City, Black Sail Valley, and Chalk Canyon)
4 Destruction Derby Bowls
TECH TALK:
Full gourad lighting on all cars
3D impact dynamics(spins, rolls, flips)
30 frames per second
Control via standard joypad, Negcon, or Madcats steering wheel.
What this Sequel offers...this game offers in BIG ways. It throws the 
best of the original with new twists that have covered some of the 
original complaints of the first DD. To begin with, the tracks in DD2 
are now wider, with grass on the sides on some tracks to really put 
your foot on the pedal brake. The high performance continues with seven 
tracks that are eight times longer than its predecessor, mix with high 
class jumps (a la Wipeout), hills, and tunnels. To continue the 
madness, now you get 5 bowls of shredded steel and iron with each 
having its particular shape and size. What white-knuckle, red-hot 
madness!!!
The Main Menu:
Once the game loads you will be introduce with the main menu screen.
Race: Allows you to choose between Wrecking, Stock Car Racing and the 
infamous Destruction Derby. 
Car: Here you have three choices, from Rookie, Amateur and Pro.
Track: choose between the first four available tracks. Three additional 
tracks are accessible by choosing the Championship mode.
Memory Card Management: Load and Save.
Information: Accesses the information Menu Screen where you can view a 
selection of statistics.
Configuration: Fine tune the controls to your desire. Here you can 
tinker with the volume and generally make essential adjustments like 
ensuring your screen is centred. If you have an analog controller this 
detects and shows up on the screen when you’re in the "Select 
Controller". CD Audio Player: Use this to play the CD track of your 
choice.
Go: This will take you directly to the game and start the race.
The race Mode Menu: There is 3 styles of race action to choose from, 
each with its own particular rules and tactics. Decide between,
Wrecking Racing: Takes place on a variety of circuits and drivers are 
award points for damaging other vehicles while racing to complete a 
fixed number of laps. Here, coming first does not matter, the more 
points you get, the better high ranking you’ll receive.
Stock Car Racing: Here, it's a flat out race to the finish line with no 
points awarded for smashing other drivers. Destruction Derby is not for 
the faint at heart. A battle of smash wrecking, survive the bowl by 
scoring BIG points when crashing other vehicles, while trying to stay 
alive.
Race Type Menu: These include Championship, Race Practice, time Trials, 
and Multi Player options. In Championship Mode, the tracks will be auto 
selected for you in a full race season. If you qualify, you can open up 
three additional race tracks.
Other extras include: music, sound effects, view results, view league, 
view replay, card options, statistics, save replay, etc.
Graphics!
By far, the graphics are second-generation with double the polygon 
count. The nicely rendered tracks this time are more colorful and eve 
inspiring than the original -- they're breath-taking! The light 
sourcing in the background is mind boggling to say the least. A 
nice touch is the sun’s reflection beaming on the screen. A very cool 
reflection effect the original lacks. The first 1-6 tracks are nicely 
detail. The stadiums are great looking, with people standing near the 
side of the road, they too well animated. Also the buildings and 
billboards' scale smoothly into the foreground like butter, with the 
terrain littered with shrubs, trees, etc. The vehicles have a high 
resolution-rate, no longer do they look like a blob in the very far 
distance. Incredible! Also, you can often see white smoke when 
vehicles skid in front of you while turning corners, a nice touch. What 
further separates this racer from others is the clear, vibrant colours 
it displays at the same time. The colours shine and come to life with a 
remarkable self-portrait, free of graininess that plagued most first 
generation titles. Liberty City is really a joy to watch, with neon 
billboards, and sprinkling lights of various colours flashing their 
commercial status. Here, you can even see the building rooms lit, with 
shadows of what’s lurking inside. It is remarkable how much power the 
PSX continues to display. But what I found more amazing, with the PSX 
pulling all this power, is the absence of mayor pop-up, if there’ any 
is hardly noticeable, or takes place outside the track, far away. And 
while the game speed is much faster than the original, there’s no trace 
of slow-down. Incredible! None! Nada! Even when the screen is fill with 
crashes, and vehicles smacking, there is none, a well job done by 
Psygnosis. Unlike the original, the cars now show more body damage, 
with cars losing wheels, hoods, trunks and fender dents. Note: lose 
parts don’t stay long on the road, after a few seconds they disappear. 
When vehicles collide, there’s more polygon break-up to simulate parts 
flying out, and the crash effects sparkle with explosions, catching 
fire while they swing to and fro as you watch them gaining their 
composure. Orange sparks dazzled as you hit the side rails now, and 
serious damaged cars explode in real-time. Graphically; the game looks 
great, everything is realistic and so ‘smoooooth’, DD2 receives my 
Crown of achievement for excellent on the fly special effects. Notice I 
referred to tracks' 1-6, which leaves to track 7. Unfortunately, t
he 7th track suffers a bit from pop-up. There’s a scene where the whole 
stadium on the left side suddenly appears into view. Is very noticeable 
when you pass by it! But the biggest glitch of DD2, is the odd, white 
jagged lines appearing on the surface of the road. This little forsaken 
gremlin is visible on most racers, on all 32-bit platforms, and quite 
frankly, gets annoying at times. DD2 is no exception. But these jagged 
lines don’t happen frequently, and are thin and small. Thank God! So 
this, IMO, doesn’t really bother me. The scenes of the tracks are so 
beautiful you often don’t mind the break up, which is minute.
Control! Let it fly...
Immediately when I picked this game up, I was hoping the controls would 
be identical to the original DD. But lo and behold, the controls have 
change. Why? I have no idea? The original controls in DD were just 
right. The control was tight enough to really master any vehicle; even 
the most complicated and toughest to control, the PROFESSIONAL. With 
DD2, the vehicles feel somewhat on air, the controls are looser, but 
quite manageable. In fact, the only really vehicle I’m comfortable 
racing is the Rookie vehicle because of its fine grip on the road. The 
four-wheel suspension of the Rookie vehicle is much more balance. 
Still, if you get hit on the right place, at the right speed, you lose 
control and the game’s mechanics take over the steering. The Amateur 
vehicle ranges in the medium difficulty, while the Professional ranks 
Hard. The professional vehicle is the fastest of the three. But also 
the lightest and has less grip, meaning smaller hits will incur 
wipe-outs. Learning to ride this vehicle will take guts and a strong 
sense of will, is that hard to master -- the more damage your vehicle 
takes, the much harder it is to master. Over all, the three vehicles 
give you a nice selection depending on how difficult you want to set 
the game. Naturally choosing the Rookie vehicle will let you survive 
crashes more frequently and stay on the road way, with the 
Professional....Higher skilled drivers need only apply.
Gameplay! Let’s get ready to RUMMMMMBBBBLEEEE...
Although DD2 lacks linkability, the game still stands on its own with 
extraordinary Stock Car Racing. One of the Hard knocks of the original 
DD was the fact you could come in first place in Stock Car racing every 
time. It was not hard at all, actually it was easy to beat any of the 
short courses. But due to Psygnosis and having listened to gamers 
critique, the game has mended the short-comings. Now the speed of the 
game is 2-3 times faster with 19 contenders challenging you for every 
lap you race. The contenders are aggressive, natural-born speedsters 
who will try anything, including dirty shots, to knock you off the 
race. Contenders as Skum always seem to play the dirtiest, so watch out 
for him. For these reasons, Stock Car Racing has now become a frantic 
race to the finish. Not only do you have to contend with 19 other 
racers, but also jumps, banked corners, hills, small bumps on the road 
that will often cause car flips, and grass on the side of the roads -
- we’re talking total motorized mayhem.
New to DD2, pit stops enable you to repair your car before it’s too 
late. You only have five seconds to contend with by pounding the X 
button and with the d-cursor choosing which part to repair. I found 
this feature totally useless in Stock Car Racing since coming first is 
all that counts. You lose precious time, and if you do decide to stop, 
you will lose your place in the race. However, in wrecking racing it’s 
highly useful, and you will find yourself often cruising through the 
pit stops to continue the mayhem. Last word, the Stock Car Racing is 
probably the main reason to buy this game, is very intense, and due to 
the crashes and number of racers on the road, you don’t always come 
first. So in this point, DD2 has improved by giant leaps.
In Wrecking Racing (crashing vehicles to earn points and win) I had mix 
feelings. Due to the new pit stops, the suspense of dying during the 
race no longer causes you to squirm in fear. When your vehicle is 
somewhat damage beyond repair, stopping at the pit stop and fixing the 
dents and bruises solves all your dilemma. Of course this helps the 
race to lengthen in time, earning more points and destroying more 
vehicles along the way. (A favorable feature) One short coming, 
however, is the lack of views. With the original DD, the numerous 
camera angles let you step back, in order to see more of the track and 
who, if any, were coming behind you. This greatly helped in Wrecking 
Racing, allowing you time to bang your vehicle against a contender as 
soon he/she tried passing you. In DD2, you no longer have the freedom 
with only two view angles. No longer, can you set back the cam
era to view further behind you. And due to the speed of the game, most
contenders just fly pass you. Because of these two problems I found it 
more difficult scoring-wise. Also the missing voice liners from your 
competition I sorely miss. These added depth and spice to the game, as 
well the missing 360 degree sign twisting across the screen when you 
wipeout drivers. All said and done, Wrecking Racing is the weakest 
point in DD2 -- one main reason to keep the Original. Note: You can 
attempt unconventional driving by racing the track backwards, watch 
your score triple, quadruple as you meet the competition head-on. Bang 
Bang Bang, thank you Man! Vehicles will fly into the sky high. Life is 
great!
The Destruction Derby Mode, this time packs a punch with five (count 
‘em) five bowls to battle for supremacy. Here the drivers are lunatics; 
madmen who’s only goal is seeing your windshield rip and blows the seat 
off your (__|__). Everybody seems to be haunting you for every which 
way you go, ramming and bashing themselves against you like Japanese 
Kamikaze pilots. It's relentless, and if you like this type of action, 
you’re in heaven. Contenders will be aiming at you at great speeds, 
while the aim of the game is surviving as long as possible, scoring 
points in the process for the biggest maniacal Bowl seeker. The 
contender with the highest points wins. Say, do you have nine lives? 
One more point, in order to proceed to the next bowl, you must beat and 
win the first bowl.
Sounds, FX!
Here’s another weak point in DD2, everything about the music tracks 
smells average. This time, the music has a heavy metal edge (A complete 
turn around from the original DD), with crunching lead & elec. guitars 
pulsing its riffs with indiscriminate distortion. The riffs have a cool 
resonating sound, but they all sound familiar for every track. The 
tunes themselves lack originality with over the top self-indulgent 
guitar riffs ripping away uninspired short tunes. The tracks are short, 
and therefore constantly are looping. Also even though the game plays 
three times faster, the only fast audio track is call, "pushed Away", 
found in SCA Motorplex. But several other faster tunes are found only 
in the DD Bowl Mode. The guitar riffs solos over a weak non-existent 
beat are basically the same instrument, there’s some variation in tone, 
but that same crunch sound you will hear all throughout the various 
races. Only one track has a nice combination of a heavy drum beat 
and guitar fills that really gets you pumped up, and has a nice groove. 
Over all, the music is average, and the mellow flow is not fast enough 
when compare to the speed of the game. In fact, I think the music of 
the original DD would have match and mesh perfectly with DD2. Well, if 
you like Heavy Metal (few of us do) you might just like this new style 
in DD2. I personally loved the synthesizer/pop music from DD, it was 
very original, and each track offered a distinctive groove with great 
phrases. Sad to say, but DD2’s music is a major low-down. One more 
note, the theme music of the title screen suffers from some bad 
samples, I detected some noise and hiss that is very noticeable to the 
ear.
The FX comes in a mix bag. Psygnosis used DAT recorders to record some 
of the sound FX inside a real race car, which explains the grating 
crunching sound when cars collide. The motor sounds are still good, and 
the extra sound of a motor can be pick up by the ear as it will let you 
know a vehicle is up-close behind you. The crowd noise will pop up when 
you pass the stadiums, and the car bumps are all recorded nicely. This 
time around, Psygnosis used the official Indy 500 commentator Paul 
Page, and several of his lines are pretty good, but nowhere does he 
beat the original commentator from DD for his unique style. Paul’s 
voice sounds mediocre; it lacks flair. Furthermore, there’s hiss in his
recording.
Bottom Line: DD2 would have been the perfect racer if it had included 
linkability and a few more camera views. But still, DD2 packs a punch 
with seven frantic race tracks for any racing fanatic, including five 
bowls. With its own short-comings, the original DD still warrants a 
purchase with linkability, great outstanding music, and better wrecking 
racing. DD2 packs its own punch with better Stock Car Racing, and 
Bowls. Either way you look at it, if you have these two games for your 
library, you’ll have the best of the two. 89%
Graphics     9---> Would have scored higher, but track 7 suffers from   
                   pop-up. Jagged odd lines appear in every track.
Music Fx     7---> Music is inferior to DD. Lacks originality!
Control      8---> Would have scored higher, but the Ameteur and        
                   Proffessional vehicles lose grip easily on track.
Funfactor    8
ReplayValue  8---> Would have scored higher, but lacks link option.