Destruction AllStars PS5 PlayStation 5

Who has fond memories of Destruction Derby on the original PlayStation? At the time, it was a pretty impressive showpiece for the console, allowing you to bust up vehicles in all manner of over-the-top races and events. Over two decades later, PS5 would surely be a great platform for showing off car damage and deformation, right? Would it be the right time to bring the old franchise back for more carnage?

As it so happens, this is something Sony's XDev team seriously considered. In a new interview with Eurogamer, XDev's John McLaughlin and Lucid Games' Colin Berry talk about the genesis of what would eventually become Destruction AllStars.

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McLaughlin says there was a desire early on to emphasise damage in a racing/driving game. "We were like, we want to be there on PS5, so what could we do? And we looked at Destruction Derby and then we just started speaking about damage - where's all the damage gone in games?"

Wanting to create an arcadey experience that would showcase good vehicular damage, XDev turned to Lucid Games, which has a ton of veteran developers on staff who've worked on games like WipEout, MotorStorm, Project Gotham Racing, and more. Berry recalls early conversations — "what do you want to do with Destruction Derby?" — but it wasn't too long before some big ideas evolved the idea into a new IP.

McLaughlin says there were discussions about how trying to get around in Destruction Derby with a near-ruined car "was the worst part of the game", and the solution was to have cars be disposable and allow you to move around on-foot to keep you in the flow.

So, in the very early stages, there was talk of that classic PS1 series coming back. In the end, though, it sounds like AllStars will be a snappier, more immediate experience that still makes mincemeat of motors. There's loads more info in the interview, so give that a read if you're interested. Would you like to see Destruction Derby come back? Smash head first into the comments section below.

[source eurogamer.net]