The main part of the game is the Championship mode. This consists of four rounds of play. Each round is broken up into four events, three of which are racing with the final event being a Destruction Bowl. The racing events are not pure racing, with players receiving points for both final race position as well as the amount of damage caused, so a small amount of strategy is needed to maximise both of these factors. The courses for these races are generally well-designed and set in a number environments - around a casino, at an airport, on a construction site. Each has various destructible objects, ramps and power-ups. Unfortunately some of the courses are not as well designed, offering few opportunities to hit other racers.

The Destruction Bowl events are set in an open arena with the sole objective to cause as much damage as possible. The arenas for these events are quite small, and incorporate several features which can either help or hurt players, including pits and moving obstacles. These events are generally more fun than the race events to the point where we were wishing that more of these arenas were available, and that more of the game were focussed on these type of events.

This main mode of Destruction Derby is unfortunately quite short, and rather limited. The four rounds of play can easily be completed for the first time in a short amount of time, with subsequent plays possible in single sittings. Replayability is extended slightly with the inclusion of unlockable cars on each event, but the overall mode is still quite limited. With no adjustable difficulty setting similar strategies can be employed each time an event is played so the incentive for playing the mode through again is diminished.

At a time when a lot of games offer either large singleplayer modes or a large challenge to complete them Destruction Derby Arenas offers neither. The replayability could have easily been extended for instance by providing side-challenges in each event, such as destroying a certain number of cars, or by providing tougher opponents. Players will likely need to spend a bit of time to unlock all the cars and the two bonus tracks, but there is little incentive to do this. Players also receive a little story about a character in the game once they complete the game with that driver's car, although this is done in quite a half-baked way. The story is presented in a screen and a half of tiny text rather than a more enjoyable cut-scene and is quite out of context with the rest of the game.

So with the game's singleplayer mode something of a disappointment we turn to the multiplayer side for some redemption. Destruction Derby offers two ways to play with friends - either splitscreen with up to three others or online against up to twenty others. The splitscreen multiplayer is just a sllight extension of the singleplayer mode, with players either racing or in the destruction bowl in single events. All the tracks from the Championship are available, along with two further unlockable arenas.

Again the same criticisms we had with the singleplayer mode can also be levelled at the splitscreen multiplayer mode. The game just does not realise the potential it had and presents players with limited options and modes. Multiplayer matches cannot be customised at all in terms of the number of bots, the length of rounds or any of the other factors that could have been easily changed. Even a co-op Championship mode would have been welcome.

What saves Destruction Derby from being a complete disappontment is the addition of online play. Although not currently available in New Zealand it is still worth mentioning in the belief that online play will soon be generally available. It is also worth mentioning because the online games offer a few more modes to tool around in than the offline experience. In addition to the standard race and destruction bowl events are slight variations that extend the game further. Last Man Standing offers a brutal type of destruction bowl. Speedway offers a variation on the standard race. And Capture The Trophy and Pass Da Bomb offer car versions of general tag games. They offer more ways to cause some destruction, and with a few other people offer a lot more fun than the offline game.

Why the extra modes were not made available for offline play is something of a mystery. It is almost as if the game were seen as some sort of online tech demo by the developers with the offline content something of a side issue. The online content does not totally save the game, but it does salvage it to some extent. The games we played were rather fun with the game running very smoothly, even with a number of other players around. Whether this mode can provide long-term thrills remains to be seen. Certainly for the short-term the fun is there.

The game is presented in quite a cartoony style. This seems to suit this sort of game, although fans of previous Destruction Derby games may be put off slightly. Each of the environments look great, and the cars move well through them. Even with each event containing 20 cars the game plays very smoothly, and large crashes between opponents are well done. Unfortunately the damage model is not quite what it could have been. Cars on the verge of blowing up still look relatively unharmed. For a game such as this more visible damage would have been great and made the game a little more satisfying. The physics model is quite arcadey as well, and making cars flip and spin rather easy.

Along with the visual style the handling of each car also seems quite cartoony. Each of the 20 or so cars available handles slightly differently but all drive in quite an arcadey style. Initially most of the cars handle quite badly, with wide turning circles. Automatic upgrades throughout the game will eventually improve this handling though.