In this world of highly realistic driving and racing simulations, the pure fun of the Saturday night destruction derby has been sadly overlooked. Thankfully Atari has noticed this oversight and will soon correct it with Test Drive: Eve of Destruction (EoD). We were lucky enough to receive a preview build of the game and after playing it can tell you that it looks like the game will capture the pure joy of crashing rustbuckets into each other at high speeds.

A familiar sight at the derby.

The preview of EoD included five tracks that make a nice cross-section of stock car racing’s forgotten country cousin. The first was a classic figure eight track that provided plenty of thrills as cars crisscrossed through each other through the track’s intersection. The second track provided a variation on this theme with the intersection replaced with jumps. Instead of weaving through traffic you get to experience cars flying through the air at right angles to each other. The third track most resembled traditional racing in that while it did contain a nice jump there were no blatant track intersections. However, unlike traditional racing you’re actually encouraged to knock your competitors into the wall or off the track. Next there was a classic demolition derby in which the cars just go at each other in a dirt corral until only one is left running. Finally there was the totally insane suicide race where half of the cars circle the track in one direction while the other half do so in the opposite direction. Wear your seatbelt for this one!

Even though Atari probably could have gotten away with a purely arcade racer here, they did not take the easy way out and actually included realistic handling and physics in the game. The cars’ handling all change with speed and the track surface, and collisions have an appropriate effect on the cars involved. Collision damage is realistically modeled and as the race progresses you’ll have to dodge tires, fenders, and other debris littering the track.

The cars included in the demo reflect what you’d find at a real destruction derby. There is a hodgepodge of old muscle cars, sedans, and even compacts saved from the scrap heap and put back together just enough to get them running again. The half-hearted paintjobs and amateurish spray-painted numbers and names on the cars complete the effect. While not available in the demo, the full game will also include special races featuring school busses, hearses, and ambulances. The opening video even showed ambulance “soccer” with ambulances smashing into each other in an attempt to push a giant ball into a goal.

The demo was a lot of fun to play and teased us with the prospect of a career mode built on prize money and reputation that would lead to car upgrades and other unlockables. We’ll bring you an in depth look at the game once it is release.