When I was young, I got really into tony hawk games. I believe the first tony hawk game I played was either THUG 2, or American Wasteland. The arcade style skateboarding felt great to play and made you feel like you were actually a professional skateboarder. Some years later, in middle school, I got back into skating. It was around that time that I also found SKATE. SKATE 2 is my favorite sakteboarding game to this day a close second is Tony Hawks Underground 2. Imagine my surprise when I first started Denshattack! and saw that it was an anime style mix of the two.
Arcade Style Action!
Denshattack! has a very arcadey feel with the gameplay, getting crazy air, moving at absurd speeds, but like SKATE. it uses the right thumbstick for tricks. This allows for greater self expression in my opinion. It may not be true, but it feels like the analog stick has more variety when it comes to inputs than the D-pad and face buttons do. The game has a clear anime and japanese inspiration. I believe that the anime asthetic the game chose really gives the game a unique feel and it helps emphasize the action.
Great Story Great Characters
Denshattack! starts off with a brief but interesting look at the world and its lore. In the not to distant future a climate disaster hit the planet. The outside world was deemed unfit for life and massive domed cities were erected to save humanity from extinction. You play as Emi, a care free ramen delivery driver. Emi feels a lot like your average shonen protagonist. With a seemingly unbreakable spirit and an infectious outlook on life. She teams up with a blue haired boy named Fernando to take the Denshattack scene by storm. Fernando, is a photographer and a Denshattack enthusiast. After seeing Emi’s natural skill with a train he introduces her to the sport Denshattack. Emi, fascinated with Denshattack agrees to join Fernando and they both set off to challenge Yoshie, the leader of a rival Denshattack gang.
The Fun Doesn’t Stop at the Tracks
Before you’re able to fight Yoshie, you must first beat her underlings. After beating the first member she’ll tell you to upgrade your trains design. At this point in the game, you will have collected at the very least a few spray cans during the missions. You will use these spray cans to buy new asthetics for your train. Later on you’ll even be collecting gear parts to buy new trains alltogether. Each train has their own advantages as well as disadvantages so it’s best to choose which train will be best for which track. The mission select has a similar layout to the mario games. There are several chapters and in each chapter there are several tracks you’ll need to complete in order to move on to the next chapter. It doesn’t seem like there are any point, or time requirements to complete a mission.
Something’s Not Right With the Mole Mascot
As you play through the story you’ll notice that despite the climate catastrophe that almost ended the world, life outside the dome is far from being the radioactive, desolate hellscape you hear on the news from the less than reliable Molty Mole mascot. In fact the earth seems to be healing thanks to all the pollution being quarantined to the domed cities. It becomes clear from early on that the “news” broadcasts they play at the beginning of each chapter is propaganda to keep the citizens of the dome too scared to venture outside. No spoilers of course but I find the games story to be incredibly fascinating.
Very Little to Complain About
Usually, by this point in a game I have a pros and cons list a mile long. After beating Denshattack though, I just can’t think of a single issue I actually had with the game. I can nitpick and say that the bosses felt a little on rails, which sounds ironic, but even for this game it’s a little predictable. I can also say that I would prefer if the games missions were harder. Honestly though this game is almost perfect and that’s why I don’t have any real valid critiscisms. I want to say that this game is great and I would recommend anyone to give it a shot regardless of if you like anime or not. For the low price of $20 I don’t think it can be beat. You will definitely get your money’s worth out of Denshattack!
