Most of us will definitely remember the Destruction Derby games. They didn’t really excell in graphics but surely made up for that with their gameplay.
To cut to the chase; the preview version of Destruction Derby Arena’s is not the game that will change this…

The language screen is already a first indication that the graphics aren’t going to be slick. A bunch of ugly flags which even my grandmother would spontaneously set on fire, combined with a world map on which it’s even hard to find America back. Luckily we can make a quick selection and have to do this only once to be able to play

Destruction Derby Arenas offers four different game modes: Championship, Wrecking Racing, Destruction Bowl and Online. Championship mode wasn’t selectable in my preview-version so not even one braincell in my head is able to come up with an idea of what someone can or has to do there…

All available modes give access to 24 different cars, each with their own good or bad scores in the fields of strength, speed and handle. Wrecking Racing gives us access to 12 different tracks, one more realistic than another… en free fall of 50 meter due to the heigth difference in a lane isn’t really something you see every day.
The level design of these tracks isn’t really something to brag about but you won’t spontaneously feel tears of disappointment coming in your eye corners. Wat bothers me the most is the use of bright shiny colors in the background/side of the tracks… When you’re driving at high speed, everything starts to get a color- and flash combination that I wouldn’t suggest to a person who’s got a tendency for epylepsia. Personally I find that the races miss their target, wrecking cars, a bit… there aren’t enough obstacles to crush your opponent. If I want to play a normal racing game there are enough alternatives on the market. More fun happens of course when you start driving in the wrong direction ;)

The Destruction Bowl is definitely my favorite. Although these levels suffer from the “color problem” aswell, there still lays an incredible charm hidden in thrashing someone else’s car. From great distance seeing a bunch of cars, accelerating to top speed and then pushing just a little harder with your nitro-tanks, to ultimately bounce two cars into the air and giving another car the final grenade-ram… fantastic, not ?
All arena’s are also equipped with the necessary accessories, including a giant hammer that keeps going round and round the field, floors that open, catapulting platforms, turning rocks that have the size of a small gym, and so on…
Some arena’s are also equipped with walls on which you can drive if you’ve got enough speed. While doing such stunts we notice yet another downpoint in this game; the camera positioning during salto’s is annoying as hell… one would become drunk just by looking at his screen…

Last but not least there’s the Online mode, although the term 'not least' really isn’t at its place here. During a short test of the live servers it was clear there aren’t too many players available, although this can be blamed on bad distribution of the preview-cd’s. Next up, with some bad luck, you’ll easily be waiting 5 minutes before even being able to begin an online game… you can’t join an ongoing battle. To make things even worse, there’s no possibility to follow the other cars when you got ditched yourself… and I can tell you that watching the bottom of a well might be fun for 20 seconds… but definitely not for 3 minutes ! There’s definitely some work to be done, although the fun factor gets doubled by knowing you’re effectively playing against other gamers.

Conclusion: DDA will not become a graphical highlight but has enough potential in my opinion to become a great title when it comes to fun. This of course when some work gets done on the online multiplayer problems.