Update: Death Rally hits the AppStore on the 31st. Check out our hands-on video footage of the game in action..
[GDC Hands-on March 8] Remedy Games, who gave us the console games Max Payne and Alan Wake, try their hand at recreating their old PC game Death Rally…and the results are excellent. Death Rally is technically a six man racing game, but it focuses on taking out enemies with power weapons more than just beating the other racers to the finish line, so you can come in first place automatically if you take out the other five racers. With six vehicles, 16 level variants, and seven different types of weapons, Death Rally is going to be a crowd pleaser.
There are five different types of vehicles that can be unlocked; each has its own specific attributes (weapon, speed, handling, armor, and health) that make them better or worse than other vehicles. These attributes can be upgraded using cash gained from winning races, picking up cash in-game, and getting race bonuses such as beating, or taking out the “boss.” Each car has a base weapon, which is pretty much a weak machine gun that auto fires when you are near an enemy vehicle. The other six weapons can be upgraded individually once they have been unlocked. The six weapons are the shotgun, gattling gun, bumpers (which can be equipped with another weapon), sniper rifle, mines, and missiles. Any car can use any of the weapons, but each weapon has a limited amount of ammo that can be replenished by picking up ammo mid race.
The vehicle and map designs look gorgeous in Death Rally. The dust and explosions that comes from blowing up barrels and kicking up dirt looks great. Also, physical damage is shown on the vehicle depending on how beat up it is. For example, there was a time when my doors were dented in, and the spoiler was dangling from the back of my “Baja Bug.” You can fix your vehicle after each race, and forgetting to do so will result in you starting the next race with the damage received from the previous level. So, if you do poorly in a match, you might not have enough money to repair your vehicle and upgrade at the same time. If you have everything upgraded, have full health, and have extra cash, you can use it to show off in Game Center by buying “fame.”
About 6-10 weeks after Death Rally’s release in late March, Remedy is planning to release a free update that will include multiplayer, as well as new vehicles and possibly levels. There are currently four tracks, each with four different difficulty levels, for a total of 16 variants. The multiplayer will most likely be playable over local wifi, as well as via Game Center. Death Rally has an estimated 100% completion time of five hours. However, you can purchase weapons and vehicles from the App store if you are too impatient, or lazy, to unlock them in the single player. The vehicles and weapons you can purchase in the app store are the same that are in the game already, but you can pay to get them earlier. Any new levels and vehicles will be free through game updates via the App store.
So now that you have read a 500+ word hands on article, it’s time for me to sum up by telling you to get Death Rally on release. The game plays perfectly, and it looks terrific. Look for Death Rally in March for a universal price of $2.99.
