Game News Destruction AllStars: New model for a new life? The excluded PS5 changes, our opinion!
Published on 07/10/2022 at 12:00
A PlayStation exclusive that does not appeal, it is not common! However, this is the sad fate reserved for Destruction AllStars, a motorized action game released in February 2021 on PS5. Despite a rather solid foundation, the production of Lucid Games / Sony lacked content and had chosen an astonishing economic system. But time has passed and the title has since welcomed a lot of new things. What makes you want to go back? Our opinion in this article!
Pour Destruction AllStars, it’s time to start a new chapter! After a mixed release in February 2021 and “free” access for two months thanks to Sony’s subscription offer, the action-powered title once and for all joins the ranks of the new PlayStation Plus in the Extra and Premium catalogs. . The opportunity for the software to continue its transition to un genre de free-to-play payant. Since last June, Destruction AllStars has everything from the model of a Fall Guys or a Fortnite, with a free or paid battle pass to unlock a whole bunch of rewards, a Season system, premium currency and regularly updated challenges. For information, it is still possible today to buy Destruction AllStars on the PlayStation Store (for 20€ and not 80€ as at launch) but you still need a PS Plus account to play online. To acquire it, the choice is therefore quickly made! The game from the Lucid studio invites you to race cars on several arenas with 17 playable heroes. Each has a class – Fast, Solid or Agile – a special car and a unique ability.
“Having some under the hood”
That being said, what has really changed in all this time? In addition to a hybrid economic system – mentioned above – and some gameplay adjustments (the addition of a double-jump, reduced loading for vehicle loads) Destruction AllStars mainly welcomes new game modes. In addition to the basic four, you can now test jumper, where four teams of three players compete to keep a mechanical part as long as possible and score points thanks to a ring in the center of the arena. There is also Blitz, a competitive tournament that resembles a multi-round team deathmatch. We can also cite “Carnage and Falls” et “Autornade et chutes”, variants of two modes already present. As a reminder, the basic experiences of AllStars are Carnage (or Mayhem) where you have to collect as many points as possible by rushing on the enemies; Autornade (or Carnado) where each impact represents pieces to be validated in the center of the map before being destroyed; Savings (or Stockpile) sort of capture the flag with items to collect; and Survivor (or Gridfall) a small battle royale where the last survivor of a decaying arena is victorious. Finally, there are the single player modes: Story, whose chapters are to be unlocked or purchased, and Arcade.
Destruction AllStars – Muscle part on Jumpshot (Gameplay)
Sitting between two seats
So yes, as it stands, Destruction AllStars offers quite a few modes. But the hard law of the “game service / free-to-play” model means that they are not available all the time. During our long online session, via Quick Match, we only encountered Carnage and Autornade, Sparing and Survival being only reserved for “Arcade”. For the cases of Jumpshot and Blitz, the first is only accessible from level 10 (count 1h30 of play), the second only on weekends. All in all, it must be admitted that it is quite a pity. The modes will obviously change according to the Season, renewing in passing the challenges to be completed to win rewards and the prizes themselves (skins, emoticons, etc.). But for such a hybrid model than that of AllStars, it remains special. Much like having to buy Story Mode chapters with real money, though they can be obtained by accumulating premium currency over hours. Also note an often capricious matchmaking, especially on Jumpshot: in one followingnoon, we only had access to one game.
Always at full speed?
So yes, as when it was released, the Destruction AllStars model is in between, even if it is now clearer. Beyond that, there is of course one last question to answer: is it fun to play? Despite the changes made by Lucid Games, AllStars still leaves a slight taste of “might do better”. The racing and destruction sensations are good without being hair-raising; the fashions are fun without being exceptional (with the possible exception of Canardo | Epargne); the cast of heroes brings a welcome but never really convincing variety while the arenas lack a lot of diversity. However, we hope for additions that will make us change our minds in the future. In the case of Jumpshot, which is somewhat new to the title, unfortunately we were unable to play enough to issue a constructive opinion. The mode looks like a mix between Savings and Carnado, except that the player who can score points is randomly selected and is clearly displayed in the game space. Enough to guarantee strong attacks on the lucky winner. For the rest, Destruction AllStars remains a fun game, so do not hesitate to try it!