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Detonation Racing Review (iOS/Apple Arcade): An Explosive, Yet Generic Arcade Racer

Detonation Racing is one of those games that comes in handy when you need to fill yourself up with a bit of crazy fun. Although at its core it’s a racing game, Detonation Racing does away with many of the mechanics specific to the genre and tries to offer instead pure fun based on destruction.
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Photo: Electric Square
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Make no mistake, this is not another Wreckfest clone, so don’t go in expecting to be tasked with wrecking your opponents in arenas. However, Detonation Racing and Wreckfest do share something in common: to win, you must temporarily disable your opponents.

The major difference is the formula these two games use to reach the same result. While Wreckfest employs a more direct approach allowing players to bump their vehicles into their adversaries, Detonation Racing is much subtler in its approach. But I think that’s enough comparison between the two games, so let’s just see what’s Detonation Racing all about.

In Detonation Racing, you race against opponents trying to achieve various objectives given to you by a mysterious figure called Dr. Boom (no relation with the legendary neutral Hearthstone card). Typically, you are given three objectives before a race, and you are awarded a star for each one that you achieve.

The game’s progression involves unlocking several chapters by winning enough stars during these races with multiple objectives. What makes Detonation Racing interesting is how you do that. You don’t just race your opponents in Detonation Racing, you have to blow them up using the traps scattered throughout the tracks.

Detonation Racing screenshot
Photo: autoevolution
Instead of focusing on driving skills, in Detonation Racing players must fill up a gauge that enables them to trigger the various traps on the tracks and blow up their opponents. Car stats are secondary in most cases, but it’s worth mentioning that you can unlock quite a few and customize them with various paints that can also be unlocked as you progress.

Tracks in Detonation Racing are the least safe place on the planet, as each is filled with traps meant to wreak havoc among racers. These traps come in different forms and sizes, so learning to anticipate what each trap is supposed to do, and its area of splash is the key to success in Detonation Racing.

You can’t just mindlessly trigger traps as soon as your gauged is filled, since each function differently and you risk detonating yourself if you’re not careful. This adds a thin strategic layer to each race, although most of the time you’ll have to dodge traps triggered by opponents rather than planning ambushes.

To fill up the gauge that lets you trigger traps, you’ll must drift your cars as much as possible. Luckily, it doesn’t take too long to fill up the gauge because drifting in Detonation Racing is a bit awkward and unfun. The controls are nicely fine-tuned for touch screen, but they’re not particularly sensitive, another proof that Detonation Racing is very light on racing mechanics.

Cars look quite decent, but the tracks are very shallow. Apart from the fact that they’re filled with traps, there’s really no imagination to their design. The visuals are generic, but they do a good job supporting the exhilarating gameplay.

Detonation Racing screenshot
Photo: autoevolution

Conclusion

Detonation Racing feels like a dumbed-down spiritual Split/Second successor, an arcade racing game that made its debut on PC and consoles more than 10 years ago. The game knows its limits and doesn’t take itself seriously, on the contrary.

The very simple controls make Detonation Racing a perfect for all type of players, not just hardcore racing fans. Not to mention that this is an arcade racer that mostly relies on using the traps on the circuit to blow up opponents rather than on driving finesse.

That being said, if you’re looking for a full-fledged arcade racer that doesn’t require any driving skills at all, Detonation Racing is worth a try. However, if you’re a pro racer, you might want to set your expectations much lower, Detonation Racing might be the most dangerous, least sensible racing game ever, but it’s also very light on driving mechanics.

Rating: 70/100

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Editor's note: Review based on a copy of the game purchased by autoevolution.

 

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