Totaled! Preview

Ever since the Destruction Derby series went on a permanent sabbatical, there haven't really been many visceral, vehicular combat games of the same variety on consoles. Sure, we've seen the odd car crash element pop up in occasional games, but it's been a while since that specific aspect has been the main focus of a game. Enter Majesco and developer Rage Software and their upcoming game Totaled!, an ode to joy of mindless vehicular destruction. The game seems to remind gamers of the time when smashing virtual cars around in a ring at high speeds was fun. And guess what--it still is.

As you can imagine, Totaled! isn't a game that requires a whole lot of strategic thought or contemplation. At its core, the game is about as primal as it gets: smash the crap out of everything. In a time when console technology has never been more sophisticated and game designers are eagerly letting their imaginations run wild with some very cool, intricate games, it's nice to see a developer head off into mindless-fun territory.

In Totaled!, you'll find two main modes, arcade and career, as well as a multiplayer mode. Arcade lets you pop onto any available track, pick from the available cars, and play one of three game types--free-for-all, hunter, and a custom game whose parameters you set. Free-for-all is just what it sounds like, a brawl between you and a batch of AI opponents, smacking each other's cars around for points. Hunter forces you to be a bit more discriminating in the punishment you dole out by rewarding you with points only if you hit the designated target. The catch to this game is that the target changes randomly over the course of the game. When you're the designated punching bag, you'll be compensated for inconvenience by earning points as long as you're not hit. Finally, the custom game lets you create your own game type by choosing from five game types, setting a time or score limit, selecting a difficulty, and choosing the number of cars competing.

The career mode in Totaled! isn't quite as free-form as the game's arcade mode. You'll start out with a fraction of the game's 16 tracks and only three cars to choose from, each representing one of the three available classes in the game: hot rods, muscle cars, and performance cars. As you meet the objectives in each track, you'll unlock more new tracks, new challenges for already unlocked tracks and new cars. Finally, the multiplayer mode lets you and up to four friends compete in a variety of game modes using the available cars and tracks.

The gameplay in Totaled! offers quite a few variations on the basic theme of destruction and throws in some changes of pace as well. Along with the various game types you'll have access to in the game's arcade mode, you'll be required to perform stunts, knocks barrels into specific locations, and get in five laps around a winding track before the clock winds down.

Controlling your car is a breeze, thanks to the game's intuitive controls. You'll steer your car with the left analog stick, accelerate with the right trigger, and brake and reverse with the left. The A button serves as your handbrake, and the Y button triggers your car's nitrobursts for extra speed. The right analog stick lets you look around your car during an event to draw a better bead on your opponents. Finally, the white and black face buttons let you cycle through available camera views.

Graphically, Totaled! has a lot going for it. The car models feature a generous polygon budget and sport some nice reflections. While you won't be able to appreciate the car models for too long after a game starts, you'll find that they break apart nicely too. Once all hell breaks loose, all the cars on the tracks will be shedding pieces left and right, as well as smoking and possibly bursting into flames. The tracks and arenas you'll be zipping around sport solid detail and a decent amount of variety. You'll be racing around in everything from your standard desert course to snowy areas that will send you skidding all over the place as you try to slam into your opponents--and even tracks surrounded by skyscrapers. Races take place at various times of the day, and the tracks feature a host of particle effects to reflect snow, dirt, grass, and dust kicked up in your wake.

In terms of sound, Totaled! offers a good assortment of engine noises and metal crunching sound effects to go with the squeal of moving tires. The game's soundtrack is populated with a basic assortment of rock tunes that suit the onscreen insanity quite well. You'll even have some voice work done by an announcer who talks a bit about the moves you pull during a match.

Totaled! is shaping up to be a fun and destructive virtual romp that gamers looking for an action fix should keep their eyes on. Totaled! is slated to ship next week for the Xbox.