Destruction Derby
Released: October 1995
Published by: Psygnosis
Developed by: Reflections Interactive
Author(s): Russell Lazari, Michael Troughton, William Musson, Robert Troughton, Phil Baxter, Martin Edmonson, Elliott Sumner, Tim Swan
Introduction
Destruction Derby was released by Psygnosis in October 1995. As the name implies you take control of a destruction derby car with the aim of being the last car running. A number of track types are present, including circuit races that comprise six tracks, and the derby itself which takes place in a bowl. Within the derby are also some game modes such as team play, 'tag' and 'seek & destroy' that give the whole game more variety. If you're into multiplayer gaming this is included too with up to 16 human drivers able to join over a network or modem connection.
The game was a good step forward in 3D textured graphics. The standard game runs in a resolution of 320 x 200 which does appear blocky by today's standards. A special version of DD was bundled with the Diamond Stealth 3D 2000 graphics card in April 1996 - this used the card's hardware acceleration, ran at an upscaled resolution of 512 x 384 with more object texturing. This version will also probably work with other S3 ViRGE-based graphics cards.
Destruction Derby introduction
System Requirements
| System Requirements | 486DX CPU, 8 MB of RAM Graphics Support: VGA only Audio Support: Sound Blaster/Pro/16/AWE32, ESS ES688, Gravis UltraSound, Pro Audio Spectrum, Roland RAP-10, New Media WaveJammer, or Ensoniq SoundScape. Peripherals: Analogue joystick/gamepad, mouse |
|---|---|
| Original Media | 1 x CD-ROM |
| Installed Size (MB) | 15.3 MB on hard disk (audio is played directory from the CD) |
From where can it be run?
Destruction Derby must be installed to your hard disk (see How to Setup), but also requires the game's CD-ROM to be present when playing the game (it plays its music audio files off the CD). If you fail to insert the game CD into the drive you will receive this error:
The game requires XMS memory, so ideally don't use an Expanded Memory Manager, e.g. EMM386, or make sure you are running it with the '/noems' argument.
Copy Protection
The game has no copy protection, aside from requiring the original CD-ROM to play the game.
How to Setup
Insert the game CD-ROM in the drive. From Windows, open the icon for your CD-ROM drive, select 'INSTALL' and press enter:
If the sound card setup doesn't automatically start, run SETSOUND.EXE from the game directory:
The digital audio configuration is stored in a text-readable file in the game directory called DD.INI.
Since Destruction Derby makes use of the Miles Audio Interface for its sound driver implementation, other settings can be found in the file AILDRVR.LST in the game's directory.
Problems
Symptom: I hear sound effects but no music!
Cause: Destruction Derby plays all its music directly off the game CD.
Resolution: Make sure you have the game CD-ROM in your drive, or the game will run with only the digital audio part.
Symptom: I get a "DOS/4GW fatal error" message when starting the game.
Cause: The game requires 540 KB of free hard disk space and uses only XMS memory.
Resolution: Check your free hard disk space and be sure to comment out any EMM386 and SMARTDRV lines in your CONFIG.SYS. Then reboot your machine and try again.
Keys
Destruction Derby can be played with either the keyboard or an analogue joystick. If playing with keys:
A = Accelerate
Z = Brake
Left/Right arrows = Steer left/right
Space (with accelerate/brake and steering) = turn the vehicle around if you've crashed
P = Pause game
F2 = Change view (there are four)
To Quit the Game
Hit ESC to return to the main menu, then hit ESC again to return to the DOS prompt. The game doesn't close very cleanly, putting you into 40-column text mode. Just type 'mode co80' to return to normal 80-column mode.
Supporting Documents
- User manual
- FAQ (link to GameFaqs)
Additional Files, Drivers & Utilities
Save Games
Destruction Derby has a good save game feature. Between races in the you can save your Championship progress by hitting the Save button and choose from one of the 8 available 'slots'. You will be prompted to enter a name for the save game - you must go down to the OK button and hit enter to save it.
To save a replay after any type of race is over, press the Replay button and when in the replay click on the hard disk icon, choose from one of the 8 available slots and hit enter. Specify a name for the replay, hit enter, then move down to UK to save it.
To restore from a save game or a replay, from the main menu hitting the HD button and choose a save game or replay from a slot.
Save game files are stored in the SAVES subdirectory in the game directory.
Replay files are stored in the REPLAYS subdirectory in the game directory.
Versions of the game known to exist
| Version | Date | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | 29th December 1995 | Initial public release. |
Original Disc Contents
The mixed-mode CD-ROM has no specific volume label. Here are the disc's contents:
Disc 1 of 1 (CD-ROM):
Directory of D:\ |
|
Installed Directory Contents
Once installed, the following directory structure exists in the game directory:
Directory of C:\GAMES\DERBY INTRO <DIR> 06-12-2014 17:50 LEVEL001 <DIR> 06-12-2014 17:50 LEVEL002 <DIR> 06-12-2014 17:50 LEVEL003 <DIR> 06-12-2014 17:50 LEVEL004 <DIR> 06-12-2014 17:50 LEVEL005 <DIR> 06-12-2014 17:50 LEVEL006 <DIR> 06-12-2014 17:50 LEVEL007 <DIR> 06-12-2014 17:50 LEVEL008 <DIR> 06-12-2014 17:50 LEVEL010 <DIR> 06-12-2014 17:50 REPLAY <DIR> 06-12-2014 17:50 SAMPLES <DIR> 06-12-2014 17:50 SAVES <DIR> 06-12-2014 17:50 ADRV688 DIG 11,278 29-12-1995 3:43 AILDRVR LST 16,131 29-12-1995 3:43 DD CFG 298 23-11-2023 20:34 DD EXE 625,281 14-11-1995 7:58 DD LAP 1,024 29-10-2023 10:17 DIG INI 217 24-11-2023 12:36 DOS4GW EXE 265,396 29-12-1995 3:43 FILE_ID DIZ 222 07-12-2014 2:19 JAMMER DIG 3,219 29-12-1995 3:43 PCAR1 RAW 68,585 29-12-1995 3:43 PCAR2 RAW 60,528 29-12-1995 3:43 PCAR21 RAW 60,344 29-12-1995 3:43 PCAR22 RAW 67,674 29-12-1995 3:43 PCAR23 RAW 64,429 29-12-1995 3:43 PCAR3 RAW 65,516 29-12-1995 3:43 PROAUDIO DIG 2,127 29-12-1995 3:43 RAP10 DIG 2,849 29-12-1995 3:43 REPLAYS RAW 12,931 29-12-1995 3:43 SB16 DIG 2,812 29-12-1995 3:43 SBLASTER DIG 2,984 29-12-1995 3:43 SBPRO DIG 2,763 29-12-1995 3:43 SETSOUND EXE 167,953 29-12-1995 3:43 SETUP EXE 44,392 29-12-1995 3:43 SNDSCAPE DIG 4,171 29-12-1995 3:43 ULTRA DIG 9,478 29-12-1995 3:43 25 File(s) 1,562,602 Bytes. |
Review
Who doesn't like crashing cars (in a game of course)? Go on, admit it, you drove the Indy 500 backwards didn't you...
Destruction Derby is designed to scratch that itch. Developed by Reflections Interactive and released by Psygnosis in October 1995, you take control of a destruction derby car with the aim of being the last car running.
There are several game types including circuit racing which also awards you points for hitting your opponents in addition to finishing first, head-to-head with you against a single competitor, and the main destruction derby arena (called "the bowl") with up to 15 other cars.
In the two race modes (called 'Wreckin' Racing' and 'Stock Car Racing'), you can choose from six tracks: Speedway, Cross-Over, Ocean Drive, Cactus Creek, or City Heat. With Wreckin' Racing you get points for destroying the other cars whereas Stock Car Racing is the more traditional goal to cross the finish line first. You get 50 points for 1st place, 40 for 2nd, 35 for 3rd, 30 for 4th, etc.
In Wreckin' Racing, you race 10 or 12 laps around the chosen track. You get 10 points for destroying another car or for spinning them 360 degrees, 4 points for spinning them round 180 degrees, and 2 points for just 90 degrees. These points are doubled if they occur with the driver currently in 1st place. There's a maximum of 99 points you can earn in a single round.
The head-to-head mode has you in a vehicle chosen by the computer. There's also a multi-player mode which supports up to 16 human drivers who can take it in turns to play against the computer-controlled drivers. You can also form 'Team Pairs' where each human player works alongside some computer cars in teams that compete against each other. After everyone has had their turn, the scores for each driver are shown. In 'Tag' mode, all computer drivers target either you or another human player, and in 'Seek and Destroy' seven computer drivers go for you and your friend, and when someone gets tagged they forget about you and go for other human drivers, so the goal here is to ram as many computer cars as you can!
The real fun to be had is in the bowl - here there are several modes including 'Total Destruction' where you have to ensure your are the only one able to still move. There is a little pic of your car in the lower-right corner indicating the damage you have incurred at each corner and left and right side, and these go from green (no damage) up to red/pink (indicating major damage). Taking damage affects the handling of your such as not being able to turn as well in one direction, and difficulty in keeping your speed up. If you're hit too much in the front your radiator will blow and you're out of the competition.
There is a commentator who frequently provides you with remarks about things you're doing, whether you've taken damage from someone else, or you've managed to get a '360' after hitting another vehicle. This really adds to the sense you're in a battle arena with spectators watching the action.
The 3D models of the cars are nicely detailed, as is all the surrounding scenery. The standard game runs in a resolution of 320 x 200, though a special version was bundled with the Diamond Stealth 3D 2000 graphics card in April 1996 and ran with hardware acceleration, an upscaled resolution of 512 x 384 and with more object texturing. This version will also probably work with other S3 ViRGE-based graphics cards. At 320 x 200, it does appear very blocky by today's standards but in 1994 it was perfectly normal. If there's one complaint I have, it's that when cars are damaged you get a splintering effect during the crash but any parts that should fall off don't. Perhaps I'm being too picky but it would have been nice to have bits of the cars remain on the ground and act as further obstructions.
Replays are done nicely with a variety of camera views, and you can even position your own floating camera and record your own replay before saving it to disk, though the instructions are far from clear and I wasn't able to get this working.
The driving physics don't give you a great deal of control of the car - just the usual steer, accelerate and brake, plus a 'fast corner' button [which I'm not sure what it does - handbrake perhaps?].
Now for some videos of me trying to play Destruction Derby....
Let's start off on the Wreckin' Racin' race practice on the Speedway circuit - a pretty boring oval track. This was on Rookie difficulty [which you can tell by the blue and white car I'm driving] and using the keys as I've not got a working joystick interface right now. I switched the camera view during the race to give you an idea of what each of those look like - on the Speedway here, it's pretty difficult to time your entry into the corners when viewing from behind the vehicle, so this track is best played from the steering wheel view. In each of the below vids, the left video is the actual race and the right video is the replay.
Now it's onto the CrossOver track, again on Rookie difficulty... anyone would think they're trying to make us hit each other! There's an awful lot of luck to this circuit, as it's very short with two cross-over points [hence the name], so the likelihood of you crossing at the same time as another car is very high. I had a few close shaves plus a couple of fairly major t-bones - you do need to keep a good sense of orientation so you recover going down the same part of the track you were heading before the little knock happened. Strangely, the replay on this track seemed to mess up, showing a completely different race from 0m47s onwards. Note in the real footage how at 47s the 2nd-place car in yellow appears behind me. On the replay he doesn't appear. We have an 'altercation' shortly after that will change the course of the rest of the race, but on the replay because he magically disappeared, the game shows me doing weird stuff I never did - We'll chalk it up to a minor bug in this version of the game (v1.0).
Next up is Ocean Drive - this is quite a tight circuit that corale you into a single lane in parts. With sharp corners added in, it's a recipe for a pile up! Sure enough, on my first go-around, I slammed right into just that - a huge pile-up after a sharp right-hander. One thing I wish the replays had was an indication of your score and/or position, plus your current damage. Yes, it's nice to look at in full-screen mode but there's no way to confirm your progress while watching a replay - shame, that.
And for race #4 it's Cactus Creek - This race didn't quite go to plan, and I learned something new. Around 45s there was a sizeable "exchange of paint" and I ended up down the wrong exit/entrace - I pushed to get around in the direction the car was now going but it was having none of it. It wasn't until I reached the next crossroads at 1m6s that the game seriously gave indications my car should be going somewhere else. So lesson learned - in a crash-situation, hit the space bar and control the car in the direction the game is wanting you to go. By 1m12 into this race, I'm in last place.
It was at this point it dawned on me that I was playing the game completely wrong! In "Wreckin' Racing" mode, the purpose is *not* to win the race (now I feel stupid... I should have read the manual as that's what we all do, right?) - it's to wreak as much destruction on your opponents as possible, and you have X laps in which to do it. This is why you have that "Race Points" indicator in the top-left. Well, actually you do still get more Race Points for finishing 1st (10 pts), 2nd (6 pts) or 3rd (4 pts).
Still, so far hopefully I've been giving you a nice tour of the tracks ;-) I've been playing like I should in "Stock Car Racing" mode, which is entirely based on your final position. Still, I've started so I'll finish. I thought I would try to win back as many positions as possible, and managed to get back into 1st place on the final lap - was that because everyone else is just in it to mash each other up? Probably.... anyway we'll start on the next round of videos playing the game by its own rules.
So for the 5th and final track (apart from the bonus track we've not seen yet), I will try and win as many points as possible, regardless of whether my position ends up being 1st or 18th. Let's see what happens at City Heat!
Well... this plan of mine to wreak havoc and chaos upon my foes simply didn't quite work. I guess I'm still a total novice at destruction derbies and end up trashing the front of my car - how do you distribute damage in a forward-moving vehicle to each body panel? Let me know if you have any strategies!
Oh, and I restarted my computer before going for this track in practice mode, and it seems the game doesn't store your detail settings - whether it defaults to 'off' for everything or if it was just my PC I'm not sure. Anyway, because of this I mistakenly recorded the race in the lowest detail setting - still, a good example so you can see what it looks like, and if you save the replay beforehand you can change the detail and it will be reflected in the saved replay.
So after playing all the standard tracks in practice mode, here were my pretty appalling 'Race Points' (which, again, if you read the manual on Wreckin' Racing will tell you how you can earn them - it's by bending metal, not winning races). I also briefly went for the highest lap time in 'Time Trials' mode, so these are listed too for the Rookie car which is the slowest but grips really well:
 |
6 pts |
13:32 |
 |
14 pts |
16:08 |
 |
6 pts |
19:16 |
 |
32 pts |
31:60 |
 |
14 pts |
20:92 |
There's a lot more to explore yet, so I will add to this in the future, with Championship mode and the other two cars which increase the difficulty level. Of course the key missing piece from this review is the Derby itself, though I feel I need to clue up on my strategy or that blown radiator will be my downfall every time. I've started reading a decent Wiki on the game over at Fandom.com, and learned about the powerslide capability - ok, that's something I could use...
Sound: Brilliant commentating enhances the action and the engine sounds are great. Shame there's no music. 7/10
Gameplay: This is where the game sings - the smashing up of cars is the main point regardless of the game mode you choose, and with various views as you drive and the ability to replay the events in full plus the fact you can create your own replays with floating cameras is a nice touch. 7/10
Lastability: With such a broad variety of game types from racing and time trials to destruction as the end goal, there's a lot to keep you entertained here. Plus there's the multiplayer and team-based games too. 8/10
OVERALL: 8/10