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Denshattack! is a wild story of hope and ambition, combined with an awesome skate-style rail-riding arcade
The premise of this game is intriguing: Emi finds herself in a dystopian future in Japan, where major cities are contained within protective bubbles and most forms of transportation have been destroyed. The only remnants are a series of disconnected railways that only a select few possess the skills to navigate. During one of her journeys on these rails, Emi encounters another rail rider and is introduced to a unique competition known as Denshattack!
Emi is a novice who takes to these competitions with great enthusiasm, beginning on some easier tracks and slowly but surely learns the ropes to progress to harder tracks and competitions. The first stages are used as a decent tutorial that allows me to get the feel of the train, movement, and basic tricks, as well as tracks I could ride. The tricks feel as if they are inspired by the Skate and Tony Hawks Pro Skater games. Denshattack! instead uses a loco instead of a skateboard. The loco is the object that performs the kickflips, 360s, grinds and more.
There are a whole bunch of tricks that can be performed; they range from basic to advanced and involve leaping the train into the air and using the right joystick to perform the trick. Along with performing tricks, I also had to look out for obstacles, end stops, and tracks to change to, as well as others on track to beat in some events. Along with these tricks are also grinds on walls or rails. There is a special focused mode in which invisible tracks become visible, enabling even greater traversal.
The game is framed in a mesmerising colour scheme that enhances the gameplay and visuals. It is combined with rhythmic background music, all built to pump the player up and give the game an amazing feel. With the music getting so intense and engaging, sometimes I lost track of the outside world.
Denshattack! is broken into multiple stages following the broad landscape of Japan; these different areas also come with various level types, challenges and boss battles. These level designs are where the game shines. Each area adds some unique challenges or mechanics to the game. These new mechanisms include wall riding, new locos and even new abilities added to the tracks. Each level also has a series of additional dares to complete, as well as a scoring system and goals. These vary from completing a certain trick in an area or completing the stage with no crashes; there are around seven per stage.
The boss battles are a different beast and typically add in some of the learned mechanics as well as an epic battle. The first boss battle is against a giant mech, and it was awesome. These boss battles are typically the end of a chapter and work towards progress to the next stage. Following the boss battles is a traversal stage which can get weird and have its own awesome accoutrements. These are varied, but so far, I think my favourite has been the water stage. Which included riding a shark and being swallowed by a whale.
The game itself performs very well on my main PC but has been a godsend as a companion on my recent travels on my Steam Deck. With the frames being locked to sixty, and the colourful cartoon stylings, it looks amazing no matter where I play it. It is definitely designed to be played with a controller.
The game has various features that are unlocked as I progress through it. Emi added many different locos, colour schemes, and stickers to her collection as we went along. There are multiple colour schemes for each locomotive, along with matching sticker sets. There is a heap of collectibles throughout the stages, the main ones being the spray cans and film canisters, but later there are also cogs. These items are used to purchase additional items or unlock visuals in the collection area.
(Review code provided to Explosion Network.
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