Straddling the thin line between competent and insane.
Mix one part Unreal Tournament with a portion of the fast and furious and get something like Death Track Resurrection, a mix of racing and driving routes fighting game is actually based on an old 1989 Activision game, Death Track. Dynamix, the deceased design house that gave us Star Siege Tribes and other classic games, made it the first game. This new Death Track comes to us from Russian developer Sky Fallen, courtesy of 1C and Aspyr. That brings some obvious translation issues, but the big question is that this game allow for the line between being firm and completely unpredictable.
In some strange future where big, muscular guys wear clothes that are a mixture of street whore and the Village People, Death Track Resurrection is about a popular gladiatorial racing circuit, which takes place in the "purified" cities in the world. It turns out that there was a great war, turning places such as London, Tokyo and San Diego in major racing venues of all things. Yes, it is strange and does not give much sense, but then again, it is an idea with roots in the original game.
Sky Fallen provide the game with a strange kind of presentation. There are some full-motion video cutscenes that feature a slim Russian woman dressed in some retro-futuristic clothes and makeup and serves as a sort of news ads. But the poorly dubbed voice over does not even come close to matching her mouth movements. Then there are a range of CG cutscenes, which show a gargantuan orchestra mob boss things "accidents" to happen at different drivers on the circuit. Some of these accidents are directly hilarious, but at the same time, it all seems almost absurd. This is not a future that you can relate to. It is almost silly, and I imagine that this game is probably far more satirical in its original language.
Once you get past the confusing narrative, you are single-player races with different modes. There is no multiplayer component in the game, so you are limited to just racing against the computer. There are a number of race types, such as scenario (which is story-driven) and drag race. In addition, there are several racing modes. The modern breed, you and your opponents respawn back in action if you are knocked out. The classic race does not allow you to respawn so you start a race with a large pool of drivers and see the numbers, cutting down as players are eliminated. A rally mode eliminates weapons altogether. And then there is a special mode where you can adjust the settings.
To the game's credit, the basic mechanics are sound. The controls are pretty tight and responsive, and you race around even large maps, which is full of all sorts of obstacles and challenges, and different power ups. It is kind of like Mario Kart on steroids. The problem is that in some modes, the game is a chaotic mess that is essentially out of your control. Skill has no place here, it's just pure luck that you win at times.
What happens is that while you're busy racing, you'll be getting shot at, shoot back, dodging mines, get sideswiped and much more. On some tracks that are even robots flying over the racetrack firing at you. It will be to the point that if you're headed, it's almost not worth it because it just means that the back of your vehicle is exposed to all behind you and makes you a big goals. Slow down and you're still the middle of a dogfight in which the slightest mistake can send you slamming into a wall. You can not even make a mistake, but suddenly a car will respawn in front of you without warning, and you smash into it.
If your car health reaches zero, you explode. This happens quite a bit, but you end up respawning a second or later. Still, you lose precious time because it takes time to get back up to speed. In the meantime, it feels almost impossible to get any separation between you and the pack, so it is precisely this Nonstop cycle to get killed, respawning, trying to take the guys in front of you to regain the lead, then killed again.
Ironically, things become easier in the last parts of the scenario as the number of drivers drops due to "accidents" the mob boss is the orchestra thing. (It's kind of hilarious how all these drivers are really dying in suspicious circumstances, but all other Shrug them as accidents.) This reduces the amount of chaos at the racetrack significantly, so you can focus more on racing. In the later stages, you also had a chance to upgrade your car with better armor, engines and weapons, which makes you more respected. The upgrade system is fairly typical if you've played any kind of racing game before, it's just a matter of accumulating enough cash to equip your car with better tools, or buy a second car design completely.
The visual is a bit of a mixed bag. The game has a colorful look with detailed environments, but the cars is that well-known problem that they do not feel like they're riding on the ground, but floating above it at times. Minimum frame rate manages to remain high, even in some of the worst carnage. The sound has a thrumming metal soundtrack in the background, along with a bombastic race ads that sounds like he is cousins with the guy from Unreal Tournament. The bot masters have their own voice so well and they like to hurl insults at you when they pass. It all feels very Unreal Tournament, really. On the other hand, you do not get much of a sensation of engine noise, especially if your opponent comes up behind you.
Concluding remarks
Parts of Death Track Resurrection feel intense and challenging as you would expect from any racing game. With the race to the line error is so small that if you manage to win, it is exciting, but if you lose, you can point out the mistake you made at a critical time. But other parts of this game will feel so crazy and random that you wonder what all this is that it does not matter how good a driver or a Combatant vessels you are, if events are almost completely out of your hands. As a result, this is a game that has a real Jekyll and Hyde personality who does not make it a horrible game, but it does not make it a great one, either.
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