Concept Destruction

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Fast Facts

Concept Destruction

Developer: Thinice Games
Publisher: Ratalaika Games SL
Website: https://www.ratalaikagames.com/games/conceptdestruction.php
Genre: Racing, Simulation, Arcade
Platform: Playstation 4
Age Rating: Pegi 3
Release Date: 20/5/2020
Price: £3.99

A code was provided for review purposes.

I dream of making a car, but I want to see how it drives, how it looks, and how will it fair against other vehicles. This is the ethos of Concept Destruction.  The game’s introduction gives you this and shows you what the concept of car creation is like.  Concept destruction is developed by Thinice Games and is on Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4, Xbox One, and PC.  I played the Playstation 4 version.

Concept Destruction is about driving a mini prototype version of cars made from cardboard. You drive around an arena, and the goal is to earn points crashing them into other vehicles. Seeing as it has part of it in its title, there’s no getting away from comparing it to the legendary Destruction derby series.  This game reminded me of it quite a lot of it and made me wish for a current-gen version.

Gameplay

The game plays relatively decent, and you can feel the differences between the car types. The Zip JX is weightier but harder to take down and is almost like a battering ram while the Raffi 215S is quite fast and can’t take too many hits. At the start of the game, you only have one car, but you unlock more by spending the points you earn from playing in the arenas.

The arena looks like a designers table you see all types of items on the course from pencils and rubbers to scissors and rulers adding to the theme that is a car makers concept of a car. You can see the damage of the vehicles, and how it builds up. I do like how rather than seeing scratchings and cuts the cardboard crumbles and wheels pop off. I especially love that when the back of the car is exposed, you can see the battery pop out.  The way the game looks makes me believe I can do a little craft project and create a real-life version of this.

Game Modes

For the singleplayer there are three modes, they are School, Single Event, and Championship.  School is a tutorial that gives you the basics of how to play the game.  Single event is divided into free roam where your car is like the hulk and indestructible, Survival where every other vehicle is gunning to put you to an end, and normal is a single staged event. The Championship is where you go through all arenas.  The Championship mode felt like an afterthought as it seemed like I was destined to finish at the top. 

Usually, this would be an excellent problem to have; however, it’s not. If I didn’t finish the event in first place, it would be because I was wiped out and the game restarts that arena. What adds to this frustration is that generally when you survive, usually the other drivers don’t and are eliminated meaning you have the most points by default (even if you barely destroyed the others), so this doesn’t feel like a competitive championship at, more like it’s handed to you.

Local Multiplayer

Multiplayer is there; although, it is only local multiplayer (of 2), so no you can’t go online to crash and bash into people’s cars from all over the world.  Also, it mirrors a single event but with one extra person.  This is why I feel there isn’t much replayability as with Championship its one and done. If you look at other games and even real events, there are usually different tiers of championships.  These give you a sense of accomplishment, overall disguise difficulty, and show how much you have progressed.  In this, it just plops you into one Championship of 8 arenas, and that is it.

Even though there is a lack of game modes, it is easy to pick up and play.   Controls are pretty straight forward, and I’d also say it makes the school mode redundant.  You can count the controls on one hand, Steering with the analog sticks, boost button (X on PS4), Accelerate (R shoulder buttons on PS4), Brake (L shoulder buttons on PS4), and Handbrake (Square on PS4).  All feel good except for the handbrake, as the game is arcadey, I expected the car to turn sideways like I’m in a fast and furious movie; however, that was not the case.

Final Thoughts

Overall the game is OK, and I would recommend if you want the closest thing to a modern-day Destruction Derby.  I would raise caution and lower expectations as it seems stuck in the past, with there being only a few modes and no online.

Rapid Reviews Rating

You can buy Concept Destruction at the following stores.
Playstation Store eshop Microsoft Store