Emotigeddon Review

Emotigeddon, developed and published by HeatBeam Software.

The Good: Numerous weapons, speed racing mode adds variety, plentiful checkpoints, fast pace

The Not So Good: Awkward controls, lacks difficulty options, no level editor

What say you? A fast-paced and chaotic side-scrolling action game that lacks tight controls and feature polish: 5/8



MY POORLY WRITTEN INTRODUCTION

With all of the sadness that’s going on in the world, you sometimes just want to take all of those mean people and shoot them in the face. Coincidentally, here comes Emotigeddon, where you play a happy face and must shoot sad faces (in the face). You see, all of those sad emoticons people have been using have taken over Electopia (located adjacent to Hoboken) and it’s up to you to restore the balance by shooting them (in the face). And we all know that violence solves everything (in the face).



GRAPHICS AND SOUND

Emotigeddon has a very basic 2-D presentation. The levels are a series of caverns with drab, repetitive walls and static backgrounds. There is only so much you can do with a happy or sad face, and Emotigeddon obviously features some extremely repetitive enemies. The weapon effects can be decent (especially the plasma and lightning guns), but death only consists of a simple animation. The advantage of having such basic graphics is that the game runs well on even modest systems, and this supports the fast pace and high enemy count of Emotigeddon. The sound design is much like the graphics: some basic (though effective) samples for the weapons and other goings-on. The game lacks background music, something you don’t notice until it’s completely missing. Overall, Emotigeddon screams “indie game,” thanks to its simple 2-D graphics and minimal sound effects.



ET AL.

Emotigeddon features a 30-ish level campaign where you try and restore balance to a digital community in disorder. The game flows between each level in a chapter (four total, plus an introductory tutorial) with no load times and smooth transitions. Perfection is not required except at the end of a level: you can speed past most enemies without even engaging them. You do occasionally have to hit switches, move batteries, or push boxes along to unlock the next area, though, and other obstacles to progress include electric grids and turrets. Your character “grows” over time, although the upgrades are chosen for you and alternate between health, armor, and the swarm ability. You can earn faster upgrades by collecting cash (which makes fighting more enemies have a purpose). After you are finished with the main campaign, Emotigeddon has a speed racing mode where you must reach the end of a level quickly. You may also be required to push a couple of boxes along the way in order to increase the difficulty. This part of the game feels very much like SpringWorld Challenge (this is meant as a complimentary comparison) and it is a welcome change of pace. Unfortunately, Emotigeddon lacks a level editor; while the levels are in XML, so you could theoretically hand-edit them, I would not suggest it. Still, I think Emotigeddon features a decent amount of content for the $13 price tag.



In order to deal with all of the sadness in the world, you are given an assortment of weapons. While your arsenal is fairly typical for your generic first person shooter, having them in a side-scrolling action game is a nice feature. In fact, the weapons are almost an exact carbon copy of those featured in Unreal Tournament: pistol, plasma gun, shotgun (my personal favorite), chaingun (for mindless shooting), grenade launcher (useless against airborne enemies), rocket launcher, railgun, and lightning gun. While originality is certainly not present, this is above what is typically found in this genre. You are given a grappling hook to launch yourself towards walls and ceilings, but it deploys so slowly and you can move in all four directions anyway that its use is suspect. About the only unique “weapon” (if you can call it that) is the swarm: you can call in allies to absorb damage (and cause a small amount themselves) for fifteen seconds every twenty-five seconds (to avoid spamming). The swarm is something you’ll want to make almost constant use of in order to survive your time with Emotigeddon.



Emotigeddon resorts to using item pickups for additional ammunition, health, and armor. These icons are easy to identify and regenerate very quickly, bordering on being cheap. It’s actually a good thing that they regenerate so quickly, though, as the level of difficulty in the game is quite high. You can also acquire quad damage and invincibility (hello, Quake) to more easily defeat your foes. I would like there to be an option to adjust the respawn rates, but there is none. Controlling your character in the game takes some skill, as you use the mouse to aim independently of your character’s movement (using the WASD keys). There is a learning curve associated with effectively moving and shooting, and the fact that Emotigeddon is best played at high speeds doesn’t help. It should be easier to move and shoot simultaneously. Other than the controls themselves, the plentiful enemies make Emotigeddon quite a challenging experience. They are equipped with the same weapons you are (although only one of them), in addition to offering up suicide bombers, respawning enemies, and bacteria. Individually, the enemies are not tough and exhibit only the very basic AI, but in groups they are quite the formidable opponent. This is where a difficulty setting would come in handy, but Emotigeddon lacks this important option. You cannot have a game that lacks difficulty settings: there are too many varied skill levels to simply assume where people will stand. Adding in an easier difficulty level would be as simple as granting more health and/or armor, but Emotigeddon does not have this option.



IN CLOSING

Emotigeddon is another one of those independent games that has a unique take on the genre (thanks to the setting and pace), but trips up in several areas. First, the good news: lots of weapons and a face pace makes Emotigeddon pleasingly hectic. While the campaign isn’t terribly long, the speed racing mode adds variety by placing the emphasis on movement rather than violence. Of course, this would be better is the controls in Emotigeddon were more intuitive; I just could not get a handle on aiming with the mouse and moving using the keyboard to move independently in two dimensions. This becomes an issue since the difficulty of the game is on the high end (caused by copious amounts of enemy units in small spaces) and cannot be adjusted. Maybe you will have an easier time moving your happy face around, but I found the initial learning curve for the controls to be steep. Add in the lack of a level editor and we have a mildly entertaining product that could use several subtle improvements to better the gaming experience. The game is action-packed to be sure, but the inherent difficulty, both in the control scheme and in the level design, will dissuade some potential gamers.

Demigod Review

Demigod, developed by Gas Powered Games and published by Stardock Entertainment.

The Good: User-friendly action-packed gameplay, multiple upgrades paths and cool powers for each demigod beget varied strategies, customizable game settings with several game modes, digestible game lengths, impressive graphics

The Not So Good: No tutorial, no story-driven campaign, only eight maps and demigods, temporary connection issues

What say you? A highly enjoyable multiplayer action strategy game with heavy role-playing elements: 8/8



MY POORLY WRITTEN INTRODUCTION

Where has all the base building gone? It used to be that you knew what to expect in the real time strategy genre: gather resources, construct a base, raise an army, and pwn the enemy. Now with games such as World in Conflict and Dawn of War II, you skip straight to the killing. This more efficient approach certainly has time-related benefits (none of this hour-long-game garbage), but you are removing part of the strategic pie that must be compensated for elsewhere. Enter Demigod, which hopes to fill that void with role-playing elements, namely character upgrades and shiny gear. I like shiny things (they are pretty…and shiny).



GRAPHICS AND SOUND

Demigod is visually remarkable. As people in several PC gaming forums have mentioned, the screenshots are almost enough to make you buy the game based on looks alone. The eight demigods are varied in their appearances and have detailed textures with fluid animations. The eight maps are also varied in their appearances with spectacular backgrounds to accompany their distinctive architectural style. Weapons effects and spells are presented well, although the game can devolve into a mass of humanity (or whatever the creatures are) during large skirmishes. This is a very distinctive game in terms of appearance: one look and you know that’s Demigod. Despite the high-quality nature of the graphics, modest computer systems can still run the game at “low” settings and experience a lot of the visual excellence. This is a step up from the high system requirements of Supreme Commander. The sound is less well off: despite a nice orchestral musical score and satisfactory battle effects, the occasionally humorous voice acting is repetitive and uninspired. Not Men of War bad, mind you, but I grew tired of the voice acting after ten minutes in the game. I have had some issues with the sound: I actually had to turn my sound settings down (through Control Panel rather than in the game) to stereo headphones to get the game to function properly, which is not a big deal since I use headphones anyway. Apparently the on-board sound card I use (a RealTek AC 97) doesn’t like Demigod so much (or vice versa). Still, this was a minor inconvenience in what is otherwise a visual treat.



ET AL.

Demigod is meant to be a multiplayer game, but you can play against the AI in offline skirmish modes or a tournament (a series of four-on-four matches in a competition for favor points). Like Sins of a Solar Empire, Demigod lacks a story-driven campaign that could have been quite neat, introducing each of the game’s eight demigods and serving as a tutorial to each ability (I smell expansion pack). There are extensive tool-tips, but it’s hard to process all of the information while playing. It takes about two or three games to get a handle on each demigod since the manual does not give any information on their powers and abilities (it would have been nice for the poster that came with the Collector’s Edition to provide this information). Demigod is not complicated compared to pretty much any strategy game, but you still need to teach the game in an interactive sense, especially if you are trying to sell your game to novices. Demigod features four game types, centering on the destruction of your opponent’s citadel (the only goal in conquest mode). In addition, you can have alternative victory conditions: dominate lets you win by holding flags, slaughter lets you kill other demigods, and fortress allows for just eliminating fortresses. The strategy is still the same in every mode, so the additional victory conditions don’t change the gameplay much other than generally making games shorter. The game gives you a wide range of options to tweak settings, as long as you are playing a custom game online or against the AI: fog of war, flag capture times, favor items use, gold income, defense strength, and more can be changed to produce longer or shorter contests or ones with a different focus. Online options include automatically matches skirmish games, custom games, or the online pantheon tournament that pits the forces of light against the forces of darkness with persistent stats. If there aren’t enough players to fully populate a map, AI players will inhabit the extra slots. It’s odd that, considering all of the game options available for custom games (both single and multiplayer), that you are not allowed to disable AI players for skirmish and pantheon games. Of course, if you did that, you might be waiting for a while for a game to start. Then again, there are plenty of custom games with more than two human players.



There’s been some complaining by inferior review sites about the matchmaking in Demigod, and a week or so after release, it has been improved. While finding players in skirmish and pantheon games is usually no problem, trying to get a custom game going is more difficult because of the increased numbers of players involved. Demigod features a peer-to-peer system that takes a while (a minute, usually) to initially connect to everyone, but once (or if) you do, the latency is halved (since you are directly connected to everyone, instead of having to pass through a host first), producing a smoother gaming experience. In theory, anyway: I have still experienced a noticeable amount of constant lag when playing a majority of online games, on top of the occasional disconnect. A common problem is all of the other players dropping before the game loads, producing a contest against all AI players: not the kind of multiplayer experience I was expecting. People manually joining and dropping from custom games (and the auto-match modes) may explain this and it can really make for some headaches. I don't think peer-to-peer is a great system to use for a game such as this, considering the wide range of routers, firewalls, and quality of bandwidth around the globe. It is a lot easier to use Impulse’s game browser: information on game status (waiting for players, starting, full) and password protection is missing in the woefully inadequate browser inside Demigod. The matchmaking system does work much better in skirmish and pantheon tournaments than in custom games, with wait times usually less than a minute at peak times, but then you are playing with and against AI players on a random map with standard rules and an unknown objective. It's luck of the draw whether you are matched with players overseas, and if you are, you can expect some connection issues until the development team straightens out the problems with the addition of additional servers.



Demigod contains eight (with plans to add at least two more for free in future patches) demigods, each with their own special abilities and attributes. They are divided into two groups: assassins that play more like a role-playing character and generals that control subordinate units (like in a real-time strategy game). You only control your one demigod and their minions if you are a general, as other troops on the field of battle are completely automated. While this sounds quite limiting, it actually works quite well and since the reinforcements follow a set path, their behavior can be predicted and taken advantage of. Plus, this automation cuts down significantly on micromanagement, and I know I would have just box-selected everyone and attacked a single target anyway. Demigods are given the usual RPG attributes: hit points, mana, armor, damage, attack speed, movement, range. These can be upgraded over time by spending experience points or by purchasing new clothing using the gold earned from killing things. Demigods can also attain new talents through the skill tree by selecting one upgrade every time they level up. Upgrade trees are nicely varied between the characters but still intuitive to use, as new skills are able to be unlocked at set experience levels. Despite only featuring eight characters, Demigod features a pleasant assortment of roles: melee, ranged, slow moving but powerful, battle mage, healer, spells, and an undead army. Some of the spells are quite impressive in their destruction, and coordinating with other and complimenting each other’s skill sets is the path to victory. There’s no demigod that is useless or underpowered if used correctly. Death carries a time penalty before respawning and gold awarded to the enemy, so it should be avoided by using health potions or a teleportation scroll.



There are only eight maps (again, with plans to add more later), but thankfully they are well designed. There are usually multiple paths to the enemy base, each with their own benefits. Maps can handle two-on-two up to five-on-five matches, with about two maps per battle size. There are a number of objects along the way to the enemy citadel (the object of your destruction). First, at your base you have your own citadel where you can spend gold to upgrade buildings and reinforcements and the item shop to purchase items. Towers are located on each half of the map to serve as a deterrent early in the game: they are a formidable opponent until about level 10. Flags scattered around the map give a range of extras, from controlling neutral structures (that can spawn more reinforcements or sell expensive but powerful items) to mana, experience, hit point, and reinforcement bonuses. Gold earned by killing enemies and controlling mines (tied to flags) can be spent a number of ways. Citadel improvements include better building heath and more powerful reinforcements; creeps can become quite a problem if improved. Items and artifacts are divided up into groups according to their use: potions, armor, helmets (for mana), shoes (for speed), gloves (for attacks), rings, and minions for generals. There are a lot of items to choose from and it’s overwhelming at first; I would like a filter to show all items that grant specific bonuses, such as mana and attack speed. In an unrealistic twist, Demigod allows you to equip more than one item of the same type (up to the five-item limit), so you can trot around the map sporting five gloves. You also get three slots of potions and scrolls and one slot for a favor item, purchased with points earned in previous games.



The much celebrated strategic zoom from Supreme Commander makes a return in Demigod, although it’s much less useful here (especially since the minimap is much more helpful in gauging what exactly is going on). Since you are only controlling one character (and his or her minions), activating spells and using items is quite straightforward, either with the mouse or keyboard. Demigod features easy access to all of your equipment and lots of tool-tips to help with on-the-fly questions (of which there will be initially very many). Strategy veterans will want to play against the “hard” AI where they are on even terms with you, and generally the AI plays well. There are instances of indecisive movement that results in their death, but the AI does a good job using abilities at the right time and purchasing upgrades. They are obviously not as good as human competition, but they are a fine substitute. Games in Demigod are fast affairs with action from the first twenty seconds onward. That’s not to say that games are overwhelming, they are just paced well to keep the gameplay interesting: an entire game takes around 20-30 minutes. The strategy of Demigod involves choosing and using your upgrades to counter others and promote your demigod’s advantages. Since you only have four spells (more if your demigod has different modes), on-the-field tactics is less important than correctly using your spells and coordinating with others: Demigod plays more like an action RPG than a classic strategy game in this sense. The game allows for multiple strategies, even with the same demigod. There is always more than one way to upgrade a single character, taking advantage of each demigod’s skill set. For example, the vampire Lord Erebus can be skilled at draining health for his own use, command a large army of fallen soldiers, or stun enemies while sending their health to allies. Or all of the above, if you desire. Thus, the same demigod can be played completely different ways depending on your desired strategy. You can also choose upgrades and items on the fly to counter enemy strategies. It’s difficult for new players to do this since the upgrades are made in real time, though (this is where the lack of a tutorial is missed). Demigod features a lot of back and forth with almost constant action. You are never defeated in the first five minutes if you happen to lose your first encounter with enemy forces. In fact, I’ve had games that have swung dramatically between the two sides as demigods died and waited to respawn. The map design is fantastic, eliminating the control point bouncing seen in Dawn of War II and offering all straight-forward action. Demigod is easier to handle for beginners since you only have to worry about a handful of units (or only one if you choose an assassin), yet deep enough to use a multitude of strategies for each character. Despite only controlling a single unit, the action is intense and the game is a great marriage of role-playing and strategy.



IN CLOSING

Demigod is a wonderful mixture of constant action, strategy, and role-playing. The game is approachable yet provides strategic depth thanks to the numerous upgrades and equipment you can outfit your character with. The eight demigods offer an option (or three) for every play style: melee, support, ranged, magic, or army commander. In addition, each individual demigod can be developed down several paths, further extending the strategic variety; they are well designed and distinct in their approach. The game’s outstanding, yet well performing, graphics don’t hurt the overall product: the chaos of battle is beautifully illustrated. Games are quick and don’t feature stalemates, and the numerous customization options let you tweak the rules as you would like. There are still some hiccups regarding multiplayer lag and the proliferation of AI opponents in online games, but I am fairly confident that, given Stardock’s track record, that these issues will be solved in due time. Demigod will inevitably get compared with another action strategy game, Dawn of War II, mainly because I am going to compare them now. I like both games a lot, as they both offer up quick, action-packed gaming, but still reserve the place for strategy. Whereas Dawn of War II puts more of the strategy in troop placement, Demigod injects its strategic element in building your character, so it depends on whether you prefer tactical gaming or role-playing as to which game is “better.” Of course, you could (and probably should) just end up playing both and make everyone happy. Despite the lack of a tutorial and dearth of out-of-game documentation of demigod abilities, the learning curve of Demigod only takes a couple of games to learn a new character, and that’s the point of the single player game since it lacks a story-driven mode. We could use more maps, although the ones that are included are very well designed and keep the action moving forward (unlike the aforementioned Dawn of War II, where troops can be scattered across the large maps). Still, all of the issues with Demigod are quite minor when compared against the awesomeness of the entertaining gameplay contained herein: this is how you make an accessible game that combines genres effectively.

Death Track: Resurrection Review

Death Track: Resurrection, developed by SkyFallen Entertainment and published by 1C Company and Aspyr Media on GameAgent.

The Good: Action packed racing, multiple game options and rules, almost intelligent auto-targeting, capable AI drivers, nice graphics

The Not So Good: No multiplayer, limited strategic options with abbreviated arsenal, defensive weapons stink, normal races are about a minute too long

What say you? This shoot-em-up racing game delivers mostly solid arcade action at a budget price: 6/8



MY POORLY WRITTEN INTRODUCTION

In the future, criminals will drive weapon-enhanced vehicles to fight for freedom. And by “criminals” I mean Jason Statham (he's in everything). Despite the seemingly obvious rip-off factor, Death Track: Resurrection is actually a remake of a game from 1989, if Wikipedia is to be believed (and when has it ever lead us wrong?). I like cars, and I like shooting things (just ask my lawyer), so combining the two must be pure brilliance. Another thing Death Track: Resurrection has going for it is its Eastern European heritage, as 1C has a notoriety for delivering some very solid games. Enough of my link-heavy introduction: let's get on with the killing!



GRAPHICS AND SOUND

Don't let the price tag fool you: Death Track: Resurrection delivers some very nice visuals. The game compares favorably with any visuals-heavy racing game: very detailed cities with plenty of track-side objects, pleasing weapons, momentous explosions, and . I would like the car damage to be more fragmented: cars explode into a charred fraction of their former selves, but even more flying parts could be possible. Weather can also be a factor, and snow and rain are pleasing effects. Performance is acceptable, although I did experience some slow-downs starting with the snow-induced Moscow map; I disabled a lot of the more advanced options and experienced smooth but still striking visuals afterwards. The sound design, like a lot of foreign games, lags behind the visuals in terms of quality. The cars and weapons are fine enough if a bit repetitive. You can tell this is a Russian-first game, as the audio for the movies are not synced, but since I skip all of the cut-scenes anyway, I don't find this to be a bother. The voice acting (consisting of quips from other drivers) becomes quite annoying very quickly, especially the stereotypical Asian guy (yes, I know I ran into a wall...leave me alone!). The music selection I find to be very appropriate for the game: heavy metal to keep you PUMPED for the intense driving. While the audio isn't the best, the graphics of Death Track: Resurrection do not disappoint.



ET AL.

Death Track: Resurrection features death on tracks (with a dash of resurrection). Your primary mission, like all racing games, is to finish first, although Death Track: Resurrection features guns to help you overcome your opposition. Most of the game is unlocked in the scenario mode that follows a Death Track season as it travels to ten cities around the world. There are cut-scenes between each race that explain the off-track story (and why there is one less car each race), but they are easily skipped with a simple press of the “escape” key. Each of the cities have one defining factor (Moscow has snow, Tokyo has neon lights, San Diego is apparently a jungle) that makes their specific setting stand out, although none of the tracks are especially memorable. There are other game modes beyond the ten-race season. Tournaments take place on each of the game’s three continents, featuring each city on said continent; this mode isn’t terribly different from the scenario mode. The challenge mode adds in varied, interesting objectives that must be completed in addition to finishing strong. There is a large variety of things to accomplish that makes this aspect of Death Track: Resurrection intriguing, from blowing up a specific number of cars on one lap to collecting bonuses and using power-ups. The additional objectives make the racing much more interesting than simply passing everyone. Lastly, you can participate in drag races, short events that take place on a mostly linear track (although u-turns are common) with high speeds and weapons enabled. The drag races are another nice distraction that, while not as appealing as the challenge mode, do offer something different. You can also customize the rules of each race: modern, classic (no respawns and no bonuses), rally (no weapons), or a custom setting. Races have a different approach when certain aspects of the game are disabled, so offering these options is certainly a nice feature. For a game that would be perfect for a multiplayer competitive setting, it is quite surprising that Death Track: Resurrection lacks any sort of multiplayer, either online or on the same computer. Despite the disappointing lack of multiplayer, the numerous game modes and options make Death Track: Resurrection a feature-filled racing game, especially for a budget price tag.



The controls of Death Track: Resurrection are a bit more sophisticated than your typical racing game because of the addition of weapons. Putting every single control on a gamepad is an impossible task, and since I like to use my analogue gamepad for steering (who uses the keyboard?), you’ll have to rely on some automation by the computer. This will probably come in the form of targeting, and generally the game does a good job choosing appropriate victims for you. It does have the tendency to focus on buildings over cars (even if you have the setting to prefer cars on), but having the game worry about who to target lets you focus on driving and shooting. The on-screen HUD does a decent job delivering useful information to you, such as health and ammunition levels. The driving in Death Track: Resurrection is certainly on the “arcade” side of things, and I have absolutely no problem with that: the fast speeds and high grip goes well with the overall pace and intense nature of the racing.



The weapons aren’t as varied or as effective as I would have liked. You get a primary weapon (machine gun, laser, or plasma gun), a secondary weapon (rockets or a terminator that disables control for a short period of time), and one in the rear (mines and spikes). There is really no difference between all of the primary weapons and there is certainly no strategy involved in choosing which weapons to fire: just hold down the button and let ‘er rip. Defensive weapons are also ineffective, putting the car in front at a great disadvantage, since you can’t aim either of your weapons backwards, it’s better to let a car pass you so that you can blow them up. This becomes more of an issue in the “classic” mode where respawning is disabled, resulting in some very conservative racing where you don’t want to be directly ahead of someone. This is no Unreal Tournament in terms of depth and range of your arsenal. For a game that emphasizes vehicular combat, the weapon selection and strategy is below par.



Strategy is involved when you talk about the on-track pick-ups and bonuses. These icons usually move around the track, requiring some skill to collect them. You can gain temporary boosts in armor, speed, ammunition, damage, or points, and this can mean the difference between life and death. Speaking of points, you can earn cash for blowing up other cars or performing tasks like high speeds or not hitting anything. Money is then used between races to upgrade your car (or purchase a new one, although they are quite expensive); upgrades range from engine and armor improvements to more effective weapons. Money is earned in any of the game’s modes, so you can switch to another type if the difficulty is insurmountable. Once you get enough upgrades, it’s pretty easy to win on medium difficulty and plow through the competition. The AI drivers put up a good fight, though, although they seem to have slightly less health and worse weapons than the human player. The game can be difficult because the AI cars tend to race in packs, so you can quickly go from 1st to 5th in a matter of seconds. Still, I feel that Death Track: Resurrection strikes a good balance in terms of difficulty.



IN CLOSING

Death Track: Resurrection accomplishes what it set out to do: provide fast-paced, intense racing...with guns. The game is mindless fun, but fun nonetheless. The varied game modes and rules options are nice but all center on racing; however, the objectives-based challenge mode introduces some advanced goals beyond simply killing the competition. The graphics are also quite nice to look at, comparing favorably with any other recent racing game. The controls are more complicated than your typical racing game or your typical first person shooter, as it must combine the elements of both. Mapping all of the appropriate keys to a gamepad will always leave something unbound, but driving with the keyboard just feels wrong. None of the tracks are terribly difficult to drive, offering up only the occasional instance of actually having to use the brakes or pay attention to where you are going. I think that's the goal, actually: the cities are meant to be more of a playground than a test of skill. More precise driving is awarded with pickups, so there is at least some incentive to varying your racing line. The challenge comes from dealing with all of the AI drivers shooting things at you constantly. The offensive weaponry is pleasing, although it's limited in scope: is there really a difference between a machine gun and a laser? Defensively is where Death Track: Resurrection disappoints: both mines and spikes are woefully inadequate, and violently dealing with pesky drivers behind you is essentially an impossibility. Death Track: Resurrection also lacks multiplayer, but the shortcomings are not noticed as you race around San Diego blowing up skyscrapers. The game might have limited replay value due to the lack of online competition, but there are enough game modes to keep arcade racers busy for a while, at least long enough to justify the budget-level price tag. Death Track: Resurrection is a fine update to the series that delivers exactly what you would expect.