Deathrow
By Panheimer
If you will, let us start this review with a nostalgic look back;
It was the summer, er.... winter.... uh, of '02 I think..... anyway I received an OXM disk containing a demo of a then little-known game called "Deathrow".
This demo soon consumed my life with its slick graphics, twisted humour and insane gameplay. thenceforth my every waking moment was spent furiously trying to obtain Deathrow.
Little was I to know the delights and sorrows this game would cause, such sweet, sweet joy and deep burning pain.
Because, and lets face it, this game is nigh-impossible to find.
Take heart, however.
Because I have confirmed the existence of at least 4 copies in this country, one of which I own, one of which belongs to a friend and the other two left to an indignant mysterious fate in the hands of the general public.
Should you ever come across one of the two copies, heres what you’d have to look forward to...
In the future, a sport called Blitz Disc is played professionally, mega corporations, companies and militant groups all submit teams in the hope of winning it big in the arena, for cash, publicity, or perhaps because they have something to prove.
Gameplay:
Picture this; a sports game for people who abhor sports, who absolutely loathe the notion of being sinbinned in what is after all a 'contact sport', people to whom 'teamwork' means both of you stomping on the same guy at once, now put in enough options, variety and a selection of teams so that even people who enjoy purist sports games may find something of interest and your about halfway there...
With a plethora of settings to wade through, or if you'd prefer to jump right in, you can always be sure to have the best setup for your personal tastes; taken from third person you have a choice of camera settings and the ability to add players (for when your mates come over) or switch teams (when things arent looking so good) mid game.
Each of the 15 teams (plus multiple mini-teams) has a different appearance, different specialties and a home arena, many are obviously influenced by other game characters - The Mercs for example wouldnt look out of place scampering around alongside the MC in halo, got a bit of a ninja fetish? like NG but cant hack the difficulty? well then theres the Black Dragons, a team of martial artists whos combat ability is unsurpassed, except possibly by a cadre of Terminator-style robots... theres guaranteed to be at least one team to delight any type of gamer.
A match consists of four rounds, set in one of many arenas, where 2 teams of 4 players each try to get on top, either by out-scoring (by throwing a electrically charged hovering disc into a goal) or out-lasting the other (by way of brute force, leaving the opposing team KO'd), games can range from 'hard and fast' to 'brutal and punishing' depending on your tactics, chosen team and how frustrated you are after having played the same Ninja Gaiden boss for the past 3 hours.
Controls:
In-game you control one player in third person, but can change at any time to someone else on your team. A button punches and B button Kicks, X Blocks and Y jumps. Left thumstick controls movement and your good to go. The game can be enjoyed with this simple set-up, however the longer you play the more you learn. A passes when you have the disc, B shoots when near the opposing goal, holding X then moving makes you roll out of harms way. Combine L trigger and multi-button combos and your moves list increases dramatically.
Holding A+B while near an unweary opponent does a throw move, which are spectacularly amusing and vary from spinning your opponent in mid air and sending him flying with a swift boot to the sternum to simply breaking her spine over your knee. Often these are accompanied with a flashy slowdown and matrix-style spinning camera showcasing the devastating move.
Graphics:
Built from the arena up for Xbox, the characters are so well modelled that they rival most FPS characters, from little details, like slogans on the sides of helmets, to fabric textures that look real enough to touch, and animation quality is unsurpassed, not flawless, but a step closer to videogame nirvana than the norm.
The arenas themselves are a joy to play on, with reflective surfaces and detailed backgrounds, you often cant help but stop to look out the window, to see the sun reflecting off a mountain lake, a school of fish passing by, or even earth far below from an orbiting station.
Even with the full quota of 8 players on screen, wheeling and dealing out punishment, the game runs rock solid, a true feat of engineering considering the quality of the models.
Sound:
Perhaps one of Deathrow's weaker points is its liberal use of adult language, It hits you hard and fast, left right and centre, the immature among us will have a good laugh and every so often a comment made is genuinely amusing, however this does limit the game's appeal and demographic.
Sound effects otherwise are brilliantly well done, with convincing voiceovers, effects and the authentically wince-inducing crunch of bone.
The game's default music all sound similar - all the songs share the same beat, which is forgivable as they only really serve as placeholders until you set your own soundtrack.
Replayability:
And ingenius unlocking system has been implemented by the SouthEnd team. As the player progresses every game they win in either single match mode or conquest mode gives them unlock credits - the amount received relates to the difficulty of the game. These credits are redeemable for new arenas, characters and modes in single match, to increase the longevity of the game.
The bots are challenging enough to last for quite a while, even more so with extreme difficulty unlocked, but really, we all know where true replayability lies...
Hence a full spread of mulitplayer options is available, everything you could think of except Live! The game supports 4 player split screen and upto 8 Xboxes syslinked, so potentially every player could have their own tv, whether 8 copies exist in this country remains to be seen, however.
Overview:
If you can handle the language and violence then this is a must-have game to the core, you wont find this on any other console, or on pc, and you probably wont find it on Xbox, but in the slim chance that you do I highly recommend it.
