Score: 72
Overall User Average: 7.40 / 10 (72.5%)
Gameplay User Average: 7.30 / 10
Graphics User Average: 8.00 / 10
Sound User Average: 6.90 / 10
Master Gracey
Date reviewed: October 24, 2002.
Overall: I decided to purchase Totalled a couple days ago based on the number of good reviews and the first few levels I played at a friend's house. This was one of the worst game purchases I've ever made. It may be fairly nice to look at, and soundtrack support is a good thing, but there's no substance. None whatsoever. This is nothing but a frustrating game that's needlessly difficult. After only 6 days in my collection, I sold it.
Gameplay: How many times do you see cars drive sideways to avoid your oncoming car? How many times can you line someone up for a hit, turn on your nitros for a speed boost, then have another car take your target away at the last nanosecond? How many times can you be stuck in a pile of cars for up to 30 seconds, unable to move while the lead is taken from you? How many times can you be slaughtered because the computer reacts instantly to the buttons you push, making it impossible to avoid taking a hit? Those are only a few of the questions I was shouting at my TV while playing Totalled. The only reason this game is difficult is because it takes cheap shots at you. Whether it's your car flipping out at an inopportune moment, being pinned in a traffic jam with only seconds left so you can't defend your lead, or being ambushed by 11 other cars in a so-called "free for all," this game cheats. Even the "every man for themselves" events become the destruction derby equivalent of a gang bang on your car. One would hope that playing out a career would give you something special, but it doesn't. There are no hidden cars, no hidden tracks to unlock, no hidden movies... so what do you get for finishing a career? THE CREDITS!!! And that's it! The pathetic excuse for a career mode is only about 30 events long, and most of those are under two minutes (at least three of them are under half a minute.) The load times are unforgiveable in a game of this nature. Some events require delicate driving (almost impossible with the physics in this game) and you'll probably end up doing the first few seconds at least 15 times. Doing five seconds of driving and then 45 seconds of load time is frustrating enough, but do it 20 times and it really tries your patience. Just to retry a level requires it to reload! Didn't the game's programmers know the Xbox has a memory cache? Totalled has absolutely no single-player appeal, and that's a mistake that too many companies are making these days.
Graphics: The destruction is nice, the explosions are nice, and the cars have decent paint jobs to choose from. The actual arenas are a little bland and could have used more work. You would expect fantastic, living levels for the length of the load times, but you get nothing more than a couple cars in an unimaginative setting.
Sound: The game's soundtrack is the typical punk, rap and metal combo that's in every extreme sporting game these days (isn't anyone else getting bored with it?) Believe it or not, it even lifts a few songs from Tony Hawk 2. Yawn!!! But that's why the Xbox has a soundtrack feature, and this game makes use of it. It was really nice to smash up cars to the Clockwork Orange soundtrack, or race to obscure '60s French pop. The only problem is that it didn't randomize songs very well. I have nearly 500 songs in my Xbox (almost 2000 minutes,) and in the course of an hour I'd hear certain songs three or four times. I once heard the same song three events in a row! Not good considering there are almost 500 to choose from. The car sounds and the crashes were pretty standard... boring stuff.
Suggestions: There's a very fine line between being challenging and just ripping the player off, and this game crosses it. Simply making the cars you're trying to hit go the opposite direction of the button you press is NOT AI, it's just cheating. I'd suggest firing the whole team that worked on this project and starting from scratch (it's not unheard of... VR-1 did that with the Nightcaster team.) Fix the load times, fix the soundtrack, and start over with the whole AI system. Add some substance for those of us who aren't big multiplayer fans.
Overall: 30 %
Gameplay: 20 %
Graphics: 60 %
Sound: 60 %
Megaherz *RAGE*
Date reviewed: October 23, 2002.
Overall: This is pretty hard to be a party-breaker but i must do it for everyone who have lost too many money by renting lower-quality games. Hum ! Seem that i will probably be a hero soon. That has a rainy saturday this weekend, so i decide, like always, to go to my retail store to see if Time Splitter 2 has finally been released, but it was not. Then i decide to pick up Hitman 2 : Silent Assasin at blockbuster's store. Totally, the fate has reserved something special for me and it's wasn't this game. At least, i got an another good choice and it's was The Thing but the cashier was so stupid that she put the wrong cd's box behind the real box. Finally, i took Totaled has my weekend rent and i must say that i am not so proud of it. To conclude my introduction, i got something really easy to understand if you want more information and it's called : my review !
Gameplay: Before i begin this part of the review, i must say that the game is based on the destruction derby race. To summarize it in a brief paragraph, i can say that the only thing you should do to win is to crash on other's car and even if with a lot of choice for the gaming style ( Elimination, Free for all, Hunters, Point limit, Special events, Last man standing, Stunt and Team match ), their only ten cars that must give up to win. Personnally, i played Destruction Derby on Nintendo 64 but it's was a lot better on Playstation 1 and i got more cars with more realistic damage in a simple race or derby. Finally i was disapointed by the lasting appeal ( 4 hours ) and the multiplayer that reduce the number of car in a match but the worst thing is that you didn't even know what car you are taking because they didn't give the name of it ( probably they took their model in their imagination ). The control is also bad because it seem that your car is running at 30 km/h and you didn't have infinite turbo to do an amazing melee crash.
Graphics: The visual is just fine. I must admit that seeying some part of the car falling on the road is pretty cool, also the levels are quite small but it's give the feeling of a reel arena. In fact their texture are too crispy but it's not for that that i gave a so bad score. Check the loading for two sec, it took like 35 sec and the game is always loading. If you start the game, restart a race or quit, the game is loading. This kind of loading was been seen on playstation 1 but for the xbox, does it's a joke or what ?
Sound: I really appreciate the song from the entrance video but the real soundtrack is just dumb. So after this, i decide to put my own soundtrack has the background music but it look that trying to hear it was hard. Also the announcer have no sentence to say, he was only able to presented the style of gaming.
Suggestions: It was a small step backward for the mankind !
Overall: 50 %
Gameplay: 60 %
Graphics: 50 %
Sound: 70 %
Halo Evolved
Date reviewed: September 22, 2002.
Overall: Demolition car games are always a huge hit with a very large percentile of gamers merely because the game revolves around mass destruction and the crippling of automobiles. Rage did a fantastic job in making this game and although left out some key aspects still prevailed and delivered a solid wreck and drive game.
Gameplay: The gameplay is mediocre, they made it so that you have the use of 3 things in the game: Drive, Reverse, and the NOS feature....pretty simplistic and that does not mean it is bad. The controls are simple and the objectives for each game are acceptable and not impossible to accomplish on any difficulty. The cars don't handle like I would have wanted and seem to be exaggerated a bit but other than that the game offers alot of fun and some really extensive damage that are shown off in this title.
Graphics: The car models are crisp and very shiny....something that as any demolition car fan knows is not the case......demolition cars are real junkers to begin with. But putting that aside the models for the cars are well done and the damage each incurs is pleasing to the eye.
Sound: you hear it all in this game, the breaking glass.....the twisting and mutilation of the car bodies. The game also features the custom soundtracks so you are not forced to listen to the same songs over and over again that the game features so that is always a strong plus in a car title.
Suggestions: Need to work on damage and how it effects the car. Make it a bit more like Destruction Derby in terms of protecting a cars radiator and so forth.
Overall: 80 %
Gameplay: 90 %
Graphics: 80 %
Sound: 80 %
coolaj2007
Date reviewed: September 14, 2002.
Overall: This is the best car crashing game ever. it is awsome.....it is the best destruction derby game out right now so get it
Gameplay: This game has tons of cars and levels. the career mode is the best in the game but multi player is awsome too
Graphics: The graphics rock in this game are awsome because of all of the dammage of the car
Sound: This game has awsome music and the bone crushing hits sound so real and cool
Overall: 100 %
Gameplay: 100 %
Graphics: 100 %
Sound: 100 %
jon_rules_69
Date reviewed: September 3, 2002.
Overall: This game is truely a blast to play once you look past a few of its faults. The feeling of smashing every other car to pieces is just amazing, and it never gets boring. With the $29.99 price tag, its also an added motivation to go out and buy this game. When you get a couple of friends over, the game's fun increases, as you find yourselves cracking up constantly over the breath-taking stunts and crashes you can perform on each other! A must buy for any smash-em-up, crash-em-up fanatic!
Gameplay: The number of gameplay options in this game are also a bonus, as their is about every different kind of destruction-type game you can think of! The car's handle very well, almost as you suspect them to, so this makes the game extremely easy to get into! The number of tracks is also decent as their is a great variety among them! The amount of cars is also benefitial as their is basically a car for whatever attributes you are looking for! The number of paint sceams is also pretty cool! If only they could of decreased the load times!
Graphics: The cars look great, the damage is realistic, and the graphics are very solid along with the different tracks!
Sound: The sound is excellent! I love the punk rock soundtrack! And the ability to use your own is also a well added bonus!
Suggestions: PLEASE make a sequel, i mean this game is so addictive, I want MORE! If a sequel is made, maybe think about adding more tracks, cars, paint scemes, and try to cut down on the loading times!
Overall: 100 %
Gameplay: 90 %
Graphics: 90 %
Sound: 90 %
The Beastmaster
Date reviewed: August 26, 2002.
Overall: It's a demolition derby game, gotta love it.
I know that my rating on the whole is higher than the sections, but since there hasn't been a decent game like this since the first Destruction Derby game on the PSone and computer, it gets extra credit in my book.
It's been a long wait for a decent game like this, and at $29.99, it's well worth it.
Gameplay: The controls for the vechiles are very good. The cars handle as would be expected on the given track surfaces.
I must admit that I've not played the career type mode, but then again, most people I know don't play demolition race games for that type of gameplay... if you like automobilie destruction games and want to play for say 15 to 20 minutes at a shot and run a few races in that amount of time, it's a blast to play.
You can pick through several tracks and set up several types of games, such as tagteam, solo, a sort of timed everyone beat up on one person type of game, etc. and more modes, it has a lot to offer. You can choose up 8 opponents or 3 partners, etc.
Graphics: It's very good, but not perfect... the gripe I would have would be in the reload times for games (this is obviously where it reloads the graphics for the match) and while I normally don't complain about reload times, it should not take a half minute to reload the graphics for a track/bowl that I just played on.
Sound: All in all, it's not bad, it's just not as much fun to listen to as was the original Destruction Derby game.
There is only one announcer... and the drivers don't yell at each other or anything fun like the origial D.D. game had. While this is not really a bad thing, it's just missing in the feeling any form of attachment to the driver that you are playing as. ie. the game is missing a little in the character department that made D.D. so much fun.
Suggestions: Add an option for setting damage that the cars can take so that the matches can last longer if we want... for example:
Car damage per hit: Low, Normal, High.
Overall: 100 %
Gameplay: 90 %
Graphics: 90 %
Sound: 70 %
BillyDKid
Date reviewed: August 26, 2002.
Overall: What's not to like about demolition derby? Bright shiny cars, realistic damge, lots of unlockables, varied gameplay elements, some mini-game style objectives all add up to pretty fun experience. Bizarrely long load times and relatively short single-player experience bring the game down a bit, but not as much as other reviewers have stated IMO. A good gamer can beat this game in a weekend though, so this is a buy for hardcore fans or multi-player gamers only.
Gameplay: The gameplay is solid with more elements than in any previous game of this type. Objectives vary from amassing a set points, the most points in a time limit, being the last survivor, straight-out racing, busting tricks.. there's a lot of game here folks, it just wasn't implemented great. Load times are not as ridiculously long and annoying as reviewers have made them out to be, but they are strange and do spoil the pace if you're the impatient type. Another complaint I've read is that cars and the environment are rather "sticky". I think Rage was going for a more realistic feel here, blending arcade with some sim aspects, which rarely translates in a universally popular gameplay style. Bottom line, if I crash a car at 60 MPH into a wall, I'm not going to bounce off and keep going very often. Most of the time you have to back up and pull yourself out of the mess. This isn't Mario Kart people!
Graphics: Very good graphics, not as sharp as preview pics on the internet made it seem it would be, but good nonetheless.
Sound: I don't pay much attention to sound in games. Nothing noteworthy here, but nothing horrible either.
Suggestions: More cars and longer racing tracks like in the Destruction Derby series. Fix the load times!!!!! Looking forward to a sequel!
Overall: 80 %
Gameplay: 90 %
Graphics: 80 %
Sound: 70 %
swampthyng
Date reviewed: August 23, 2002.
Overall: Game is a very arcadey very strangely done demo derbyish type game. The crash em up mode of play just isn't fun for some reason.
Gameplay: Gameplay is odd. The cars control very awkwardly and there isn't a whole lot of fun in driving them. They feel kinda like they are on rails or are RC cars.
Graphics: Graphics are decent overall, though all the cars look like they are made of pop cans and not a realistic car finish. The paint jobs are unique and interesting.
Sound: Sounds is below average for a car game. The wrecks don't really sound beleivable or even interesting.
Overall: 30 %
Gameplay: 30 %
Graphics: 60 %
Sound: 30 %
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