The first time I read about the concept of Denshattack!, Tony Hawk meets trains, I remember saying, “That sounds sick as hell.” I can now also say that after playing 40 minutes of the game, I said, “This is sick as hell.”
Denshattack! is the kind of game you play for just a few minutes, and you already know it’s onto something, just through the sheer joy it brings to play. It’s something that feels so uniquely fresh and unlike anything I’ve ever experienced, but manages to evoke the sweet sensory feelings of my childhood with games like Tony Hawk Pro Skater. It is, in short, a game that ten-year-old Hayes would go nuts for. Heck, 34-year-old Hayes probably will be too.
In case you’re still confused, yes, Denshattack is essentially a skateboarding game, but instead of a board, you’re driving a train. This does mean that the game’s levels are more on rails than you’d typically see in a skateboarding title, but the focus is squarely on getting through the level as quickly and efficiently as possible, while racking up a high score by completing objectives and pulling off sick tricks. But because of that formula, I found Denshattack had a lot in common with musical rhythm games, a high-speed game of timing your jumps, drifts, and tricks — and making it all flow together like a balletic performance…on a train.
Denshattack takes place in a near-future dystopic Japan, where a shady megacorporation and competing gangs decide the rules of the land. The game’s story, look, and style are heavily inspired by Shonen manga, casting you as an up-and-coming train operator who decides to take on the malevolent forces that have an iron grip on the country, with each level taking you through a variety of Japanese prefectures.
“I found Denshattack had a lot in common with musical rhythm games, a high-speed game of timing your jumps, drifts, and tricks…”
It’s a strong setup, to be sure, but what really makes Denshattack’s colourful art style pop is its charmingly arcade-y feel. For all intents and purposes, this is a game I feel like I could walk into an arcade and see, its colourful cabinet drawing my eye so much I just had to try it out.
In my demo, I was able to play through four different levels of the game, teaching me the basics of this newfangled triathlon sport, before letting me loose.
As you progress down the linear track for each level, you’ll need to dodge obstacles, change tracks to make sure you don’t fall off, hit jumps and pull off tricks, and boost your way through Mario Kart-esque drifts. Much like Tony Hawk, every level grades you on both speed and points, unlocking a variety of rewards for doing well, on top of packing collectibles to nab throughout the various levels.
There are a lot of different controls and ideas to take in initially, from how to drift properly to manual jumps, an ability to slam to the ground to avoid obstacles, and, of course, a list of dozens of tricks. It’s a surprisingly technical game with a lot of moving pieces, but once it all starts to click together, it’s a fearsome adrenaline rush.
Bursting down the tracks and pulling off the perfect drift, then careening into a jump and seeing those big bold numbers pop up as you twist and turn your train in the air is a phenomenally satisfying experience. And each level is basically a bunch of those moments strung together with some set pieces thrown in on top, like landing on a Ferris wheel that pops off its structure, which you can then use to charge through the nearby ocean bay.
There’s a real sense of rebelliousness to Denshattack, and I don’t just mean the sort of anime pop-punk style — I mean how the game demands you rethink ideas you already know. It’s a bit like a skateboarding game, but it doesn’t play like any skateboarding game out there. Sure, it’s an on-rails racer, but it also doesn’t obey the rules of that genre.
Denshattack! wants you to wrap your mind around its weird world and rules. But once you do, it’s quite literally going to take you on a ride.
