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When you read a name like DEATH RALLY, well, you assume you will have DEATH and also RALLY. You also assume you’ll have an experience that is EXTREME, or X-TREME if you prefer.

I don’t know how X-TREME it really is, but it’s not too bad of a game.

There’s some comic-book style story when you start the game. It’s got good production values, but for the most part, you’re just racing, so it’s not really important. Still, it sets the tone for the game as being an incredibly polished and flashy-looking game for the platform. This is a top-down racer, like, say, RC-Pro-Am or, say, Rally King. Something along those lines. Of course, this is a DEATH RALLY so you’ve got a car equipped with guns and various other weapons, and can simply explode other racers instead of out-race them.

Frankly, I really appreciate the controls in this game. They realized how frustrating it would be to have a gas button on the touch screen, so instead they have a fairly large virtual analog stick that does gas based on how far you move the stick to the edges of it. It works way better than having a gas button, especially with this sort of top-down game. There’s also a big button to fire your weapons, but that button is only for your special weapons. Your basic machine gun always fires if there’s something vaguely interesting in front of you, so you’re never having to hold down the button. That’s just smart. There’s also two different camera modes. I find camera mode two, which keeps the orientation of your car set and rotates the track, to be WAY more usable than the default, which keeps the camera angle on the track set, but maybe it’s different for different people and I appreciate having the option.

In each race, there is a bunch of other racers, one of which is the “boss” who is likely going to win and who is hard to kill. You get money based on how many people you kill, where you place, and whether or not you took out the boss during the race. You can use this money to repair your car (which is never very expensive, so you’ll never be able to NOT repair your car, even if you get last place) and upgrade things such as your car’s armor, handling, and top speed. You can also upgrade the various weapons on your cars. These special weapons can be moved between cars, but things such as armor enhancements are on a per-car basis, so if you’re planning on doing a lot of car-hopping, it may be better to focus on your weapons first. In general, I find it extremely hard to win races just racing. I’ve done much better trying to explode all the competition so that I’m second place by default, because there’s only two cars left alive. Still, sometimes in spite of myself, I drive really well and win without much carnage. I suppose it’s good the game gives you the option to do things either way.

While you drive, you pick up “parts” of additional courses, cars, and weapons, which eventually unlock as you collect them. The game also has a big meter of your overall completion collecting all this shit on the main menu, so you know how much there is to unlock. There aren’t a ton of courses, but there are a decent amount, and the game uses mirrored versions of them all as well, for more variety. The developers have also put out tons of free updates with more new cars and courses to unlock over the life of the game. Since I bought it, they’ve put out at least one major update, and I know there have been several in the past before I bought it on sale, so that’s awesome that it’s being supported.

If you like those sorts of old-school, top down racers, Death Rally is an easy sell. It’s really polished and a lot of fun. I’m not sure if it’s worth the premium otherwise. It does eventually devolve into doing the same sorts of races over and over to collect more parts and money to upgrade again and again, which is fun in its way, but it doesn’t feel like it’s for any real purpose, just generic completion’s sake, which doesn’t engage me for too long. Still, it was totally worth the dollar I paid for it at the time. I’ve enjoyed myself.