Demolition Racer
If you like to end the day with a bang why not do it in style with several 
bangs? In fact you can add to that a great assortment of crashes, bumps, 
explosions and collisions if you get hold of a copy of DEMOLITION RACER from 
Infogrames. 

It’s an absolutely wicked game where being first past the post is really not 
all that important. What is more vital is causing as much damage as possible to
 the 15 other guys on the track while still managing to finish the race
 yourself. It doesn’t matter what position you come in at – if you’ve racked up
 enough points against the other drivers you could still end up on top. 

Points are awarded for a variety of hit types such as 5 for pushing another car
 into a wall, 25 for spinning it 360 degrees, 20 for starting a fire and 50 for
 finishing a car off completely. There are lots of other awards in between 
going right up to ‘Death from above’, which scores a massive 500 points. To 
accomplish this though you have to make a leap and land directly on another car 
so timing is all-important.  

All this carnage can also take its toll on your car and once the damage
 indicator turns completely red it’s ‘goodnight sweetheart’. You might, 
however, be fortunate enough to bump into one of the very infrequent (and I 
mean Infrequent) bonus crates that are around and these could contain an 
instant repair kit to put your car back in shape. They could also hold a few 
extra points to add to your total so they’re worth looking out for. 

There are around a dozen different tracks that wind through areas such as the 
scrap yard, industrial areas, parking lots, an abandoned quarry and a 
construction site. These kick up a diversity of surfaces to race across with 
appropriate blockades and on-track hazards to avoid. Most of the scenery is 
destructible too and can add some interesting impacts if you slam someone 
against them. The cars also show some realistic damage with bits flying off and
 bonnets flapping in the breeze and the smoke and fire effects are pretty good 
too. 

You get 8 vehicles to choose from and they each carry different specifications 
of handling and durability. Some will be very fast on track but hard to handle 
and easily damaged. Others will be tough and rugged but maybe a little slower 
than the rest. It all depends on how you prefer to race and your level of
 competence. In the paint shop you can customise how your car looks by fiddling 
with the colour settings and adding a logo but how long it keeps its features 
is anybody’s guess. 

Quite a few race types are on offer for you to try and survive; some ask you to 
drive defensively such as ‘the chase’ but mainly they are all about aggression. 
In ‘Chicken’ you race on a circuit where ‘this way round’ doesn’t apply. It’s 
all about ramming and battering the other cars but still being able to finish 
the race yourself. ‘Last Man Standing’ is self-explanatory and is fought out in
 a bowl arena while ‘Suicide’ gets you to smash yourself up as quickly as 
possible. Here the first car to fall apart is the winner…! 

As well as single race options you could also try your hand in the leagues. 
Start easy in the Rookie League, through semi-pro, pro and endurance leagues.
 There’s also an arena league where you compete in three demolition events and
 try to survive as long as possible. 2-player options offer six race events
 where you can either team up against all comers or go head to head against 
each other and work off some of your aggressions but it’s great fun to play 
even on your own.