[MIDI music plays]
[typing]
Sometimes, a guy just wants to engage in some good old vehicular combat.
I know, I know.
There are plenty of nice current games that let you do this,
from Twisted Metal to Gas Guzzlers.
But what if you're a DOS geek like me
and want to use a car to shoot the crap out of other cars?
May I present to you Deathtrack,
developed by Dynamix and published by Activision in 1989.
I own Deathtrack as part of this Activision Powerhits Sci-Fi compilation pack from 1994.
I don't have an original boxed copy because
I've actually never once seen one for sale anywhere.
I mean, this version is cool and all,
and it at least has the documentation
crammed into this deliciously beefy manual,
but I'd love to have the original box
with its awesome artwork and vintage cardboard boxiness.
As you might guess, Deathtrack is an arcade combat racing game
that uses a similar game engine to other Dynamix titles of the time,
like MechWarrior and Abrams Battle Tank.
Mmm, yes, wonderful primitive 3D
with filled polygons that you can count!
I love you, simplistic 3D.
I'd hug you but your edges look sharp enough to cut,
and I'm fond of keeping my blood inside my body.
No hugs for you.
Deathtrack starts with some artwork and logos,
as well as an ambiguously ominous and constantly looping MIDI tune.
[MIDI music plays]
Deathtrack wants you!
Apparently.
So, let Deathtrack know that you want it back,
so badly, by signing into the game
and...going for it.
You're then given the choice of three different cars to start out with,
loosely based on real-life sports cars.
The speedy Hellcat,
the powerfully-weaponized Crusher,
and the heavily-armored Pitbull.
Essentially, you're choosing your beginning power-ups for your car,
although you can upgrade these stats later on if you get the cash.
From the main menu, you interact with a menu, mainly,
race different races, shop for parts and weapons,
check the scores and opponents stats,
change some difficulty and sound options,
and even quit the game if you need to get back to real life.
But you don't,
so I'd recommend checking out the opponents stats.
These are mostly your typical late-'80s, early-'90s-style opponents
with cheesy mugshots and cocky attitudes.
It's not only amusing, but it's worth checking out
what each vehicle looks like because it'll become important
to quickly be able to recognize them during races.
And definitely check out the difficulty, too,
as you can not only change the lap amount
but the game can be pretty brutal,
and starting out on Warrior or Mega Destroyer
will only cause unnecessary anxiety and depression
and possibly plantar warts.
Those things are a pain to get rid of.
The next step is to do some shopping.
Even though the future is grim and violent,
you're still given $10,000 out of nowhere,
automatically, to spend however you wish.
Isn't that nice of the post-apocalypse?
You'll be able to upgrade car parts like engines, brakes,
transmissions, tires, airfoils and armor.
I'd personally go with engine, tire and armor upgrades early on,
especially if you feel like winning.
Winning is nice.
And in the weapons shop, you can choose from machine guns,
missiles, lasers, particle beams, mines,
caltrops, wheel spikes, ram spikes,
and a bomb on wheels called a Terminator.
I almost always go with maxed-out ram spikes first
because they're extremely overpowered
[chuckles] and kind of like cheating.
And some extra Terminators, mines and missiles
are always good if you can afford them.
But make sure to save a little cash after this, if you can,
because chances are you're going to need it pretty soon.
Now one can just race a single race
on a single track
of your choosing, singly, to get a feel for the game.
But you'll probably be fine with jumping right into
the career Full Circuit Run.
In this, you're given a random track to race
from a selection of ten tracks
located in one of ten cities.
Probably a good idea to save your game here, too,
just in case things go really badly.
The race loads up
and you can either wait for the light to turn green
or just launch early and smash stuff up instantly,
putting those fancy new ram spikes to good use.
It's pretty easy to get a kill or two right off the bat doing this,
which is kind of ridiculous, but hey, it sure is fun.
Otherwise, you'll have to wait a little ways into the lap
before anyone's other weapons are useable.
Once the pack passes this point,
all hell breaks loose.
Lasers will fly. Missiles will launch.
Terminators will ram you from behind,
and it's every goofy-looking, big-haired man
and/or woman for themselves.
Though oddly, even with all this carnage,
you only get some chintzy PC speaker noise for weapons,
and some obnoxious music.
You don't even get any engine noise,
which is kind of disconcerting.
Maybe these are hybrids.
Th-they're not, though.
Oh, well. The controls are pretty straightforward.
You just move...straight forward,
choose a weapon and shoot crap when the chance arises.
Seriously, there isn't even much driving involved here.
It honestly doesn't even feel like you're driving a car.
It's more like you're on a roller coaster
with the possibility of slight deviations left and right.
It's possible to run off the road if you're going stupidly fast,
but most of the time you're just steering a little bit
here and there to get a better aim on your target.
There's even an autopilot option,
which isn't as fast as normal,
but it's good enough for a short break.
The opponent intelligence is also kind of dumb,
so it's not really a big deal to maneuver around these guys,
especially if you have a decent engine and tire setup.
It's also important to keep an eye on the damage meter in the top-left,
'cause dodging things like missiles and mines can be quite the hassle,
and it doesn't take much to die.
You die and you're out of the race
with a blown-up car and no cash awarded.
And this is probably the biggest problem I have with the game
because it's quite easy to end up with no money
and no way to repair your car.
It's a catch-22: you need money for weapons and repairs,
but you need weapons and repairs to stand a chance of getting money.
This is why it's important that you save before each race
because you may end up screwed.
Still, there are opportunities to win money besides winning a race
or being the last man standing.
Captain Shady McDubious here will often approach you,
offering a cash reward if you destroy a certain opponent during that race.
A great way to earn an extra chunk of change,
even if you place last in the race.
And lastly, there are a couple of other things to worry about during races,
especially the longer ones with higher lap counts.
The first is fuel, shown at the top of your dashboard.
You'll start with a fair amount each race,
and it will refill on its own after a race is finished,
but during a race, you may run out.
So you'll need to make a pit stop,
indicated by a yellow X on the track map.
Just pull over into Pit Lane
and you'll be able to refuel, repair and reload,
provided you have money, at least,
which is a good reason why it's important to leave some before a race.
And that's Deathtrack.
It's a pretty freakin' fantastic game, if you ask me,
especially for 1989 on MS-DOS.
It's got awesome filled polygonal graphics,
an enjoyable upgrade system,
a variety of tracks and opponents,
and some brutal destruction.
Yes, the gameplay and music is repetitive,
the dinky PC speaker sound effects suck,
the opponent AI is a bit lacking,
and the potential to totally screw yourself
by being awful at the game
is arguably too easy to do.
But the game has an undeniable charm about it that I just love.
It's a shame Deathtrack is so freakin' hard to find nowadays,
but, still, if you do run across a copy somehow,
I'd say it's totally worth it.
It's actually one of my favorites from Dynamix,
and that's saying a lot.
[MIDI music plays]