Destruction AllStars

Destruction AllStars was among the flagship titles with which Sony demonstrated the capabilities of the freshly launched PlayStation 5. It's an original mix of a vehicular demolition arena and battle royale elements – players try to smash opponents' cars and score points in enclosed arenas, but at any moment they can bail out of the wreck and continue fighting on foot until they find a new vehicle. Each character also has a unique special ability, whether a short teleport, temporary invisibility, or the ability to summon a heavier vehicle, which makes the game feel more like a hybrid of a hero shooter and an auto-destruction sport than a classic demolition derby. The individual game modes also differ in their objective – in some, points are scored for destruction, while others are purely about the last crew standing.

Technically, it was a showcase next-gen title: lightning-fast loading thanks to the SSD enabled an almost instant transition between menu and arena, switching smoothly between vehicle and on-foot action happened without the slightest hitch, and above all the precisely implemented haptic feedback of the DualSense let you literally feel the difference between asphalt, sand, or a deformed car body panel on impact. The visual side relied on bold colors, stylized characters with strong personalities, and energetic electronic music, which pushed the game toward the feel of a sports esports broadcast, including virtual commentators describing the action in the arena in real time similar to an online shooter.

The game was released free for PlayStation Plus subscribers, which secured it a huge initial player base, but in the long run it failed to maintain interest comparable to competing online titles, and support from the studio gradually waned until the servers were shut down after a few years of operation. Even so, it remains an interesting and, in players' memory, still vivid example of how the racing genre can be combined with multiplayer action and the possibilities of a new console generation, and for fans of car destruction it offered a fresh, original experience you simply won't find on other platforms.

Why play it: For fans of car destruction it was a fresh combination of racing and multiplayer action; today it's worth remembering mostly as an interesting chapter in the early days of PS5, since the servers have since been shut down.