Gameplay
At the start of Eve of Destruction, the options are quite limited, only offering two basic modes to choose from. Players will have the option to select Career mode or Action mode. Career mode is where the real meat and potatoes of the game is at. Players will start off at a very low point in their life. Living in a dumpy trailer and driving a complete junker of a car, it certainly doesn�t get much lower. During Career mode, players will earn their keep by earning new vehicles, and upgrading them to top performance; the main goal being to become the top rated demolition racer in the game.
Players will navigate around a map in order to stop at various points to continue along the story. Players will have the ability to stop at the scrap yard in order to repair vehicles damaged during events, or even to upgrade their current ride. Once enough money has been earned, players can stop by the auto shop in order to purchase newer, as well as noticeably better vehicles. There are also spots around the map where players can race against other drivers to earn cash, in order to pay for the upgrades.
In total, Test Drive: Eve of Destruction features over 30 cars for the players picking. While you will start out at the bottom of the rung, many vehicles await those who take the time to earn them. These range from small compact cars, muscle cars, to a selection of buses (including a school bus), ambulances, and even hearses. Each of these vehicles has a distinct way of controlling, so players will need to stay on their toes when it comes time to do business.
The Action mode that is offered, allows players to simply choose an arena, the cars, and the race event, in order to battle the computer (or up to three friends) in an all-out battle. With a total of 25 different events to take part in, there is certainly a good deal of variation. Such events include the gauntlet, the whip around race, chain race, trailer race, and a suicide race. All of these events are as they sound; for instance the suicide race being an event were cars are racing through the arenas at each other instead of along side each other. There is definitely a wide series of events to choose from and they even get a bit odd at times. In addition to the ones mentioned, there is also an event where players shoot exploding chickens at each other, and the list keeps going. While some might have you scratching your head, the events all possess an amount of campy fun to them. Test Drive: Eve of Destruction certainly doesn�t lose any point when it comes to event innovation.
With all of these various events to choose from, I was pleasantly surprised that the controls in the game were set much more to the arcade side of things, rather than a simulation setting. After some brief practice, the controls became quite familiar. The default settings are:
- Left thumbstick - steer vehicle
- A button � handbrake
- B button � reverse
- X button - rearview camera
- Y button - change camera
- White button - feat special (fire weapon/turbo)
- Left trigger � brake
- Right trigger � accelerate
Players will have the option to control the vehicles from three standard points of view. These include: an outside the car view, on the wheel, as well as an inside the car view. The only major complaint about the handling of the vehicles was the complete lack of speed. There were plenty of major wrecks going on, but that sense of speed was never really achieved. With other vehicle games like the Burnout and Need for Speed series� setting the bar on speed, Eve of Destruction felt like it was lacking.
Along with earning money to upgrade vehicles, players will also need to earn reputation points. These points are what can be used to unlock new items, such as tracks and events. Players can earn these points by ranking highly in a race, or by causing plenty of damage. There were numerous races where I earned more points by smashing into my opponent�s car, than I did by finishing at the head of the pack. These points are a nice way to unlock items, but also give a reason to cause chaos; as if one was really needed.
Unlocking all of the events, vehicles, and tracks, won�t take a great deal of time. In order to keep players coming back for more, split-screen multiplayer was added in to keep the fun �rolling� on. However, there is no support for Xbox Live, so players wanting to do destruction with friends are stuck together in the same room.
