Totaled Review

Developed by Rage Games and published by Majesco Entertainment, Totaled was released in 2002 for the Xbox in North America. The destruction derby racing game should be a recipe for success, especially for my personal tastes. But would Totaled be a massive wreck or would it get my engine revving from the start? Buckle up for this Totaled review!

Totaled Plot:

There is no plot for Totaled, this is a pure arcade destruction derby-style car racer.

Totaled Gameplay:

My Totaled review features four different game modes. The one that most people will spend the most time on is the career mode, and that may not be much time at all due to some issues that I’ll bring up shortly. In career mode, you can race on 16 different courses and select from 12 unique vehicles. All the courses and vehicles won’t be available at the beginning. You’ll have to win events to unlock more options for cars and tracks.

Vehicles that are available in Totaled include Hot Rods, Muscle Cars, and Performance Cars. The hot rods are built for destruction and are able to withstand a lot of damage but lack speed and acceleration. They also don’t handle the best, but if you find yourself in a destruction derby instead of a race, hot rods will give you a decent chance. Muscle cars are good at just about everything but great at nothing. They have good speed, and handling, and can take a hit or two. The muscle cars are great for beginners that want to try out different events and get a feel for the game. Finally, the performance cars handle great and have top-end speed. You’ll zoom around in them but be careful because a few hits will take them down.

During your career, you’ll play through different events. These include “Free For All” which is a deathmatch with every car involved. You want to earn points by hitting other cars and the car with the most points at the end wins or if it is the final car. “Last Man Standing” is very similar except you score based on “kills”. You want to total other cars as well as being the last car left. “Points Limit” is just like Free For All but with a point limit set and the first car to reach it wins. “Hunter” acts as another version of Free For All except with a car being the target of the match and other players getting points for hitting it. “Stuntman” is based on points earned from stunts like barrel rolls and ramps. “Eliminator” is a racing mode where you must pass checkpoints and the last car in the race gets eliminated. The final two modes include “Offensive” and “Defensive” driving which are more one-on-one and two-on-two modes.

These modes are also included in “Arcade” and “Multiplayer” which can be accessed at the main menu. I had no interest in continuing my Totaled Review once I completed the career mode. Sometimes I’ll grab a friend and see what they think of multiplayer modes but with Totaled, I did not see the point in playing this bland game.

Let’s start with some positives before moving to the negative. I did enjoy the intro video of Totaled and thought the soundtrack of the entire game was a unique flavor. It was very much British Punk and Underground Scene, and I found myself listening more than I thought I would. Unlocking cars was a nice attempt to keep players playing the game but in the end, it doesn’t make the slog worthwhile.

No matter how you put it, Totaled just isn’t a “fun” game. It starts with extremely long loading times. I was shocked at how long it took events and races to load and it dissolved any excitement I had for the race. The entire action aspect isn’t done well. Sometimes your car will get caught on a wall, or another vehicle, and the game slows to a crawl making it very frustrating. Once you detach the vehicle it takes FOREVER to get moving again. Accelerating even with performance cars is a joke. It just feels like the tires are spinning in place or you’re stuck in neutral. With a game like Totaled, everything should be fast-paced but it felt like all the cars were stuck in glue.

One aspect that I love whether I was a kid gaming or an adult, is the physical damage and destruction of cars. Give me a decent video game with awesome damage and I can forgive a lot. Totaled did not have amazing damage or vehicle destruction. Instead, Totaled has very average damage, and the graphics were poor for the time. Even the fun customization and paint jobs can’t cover up all the flaws.

Control is another issue. The steering is way too sensitive and at times the action is too fast or too slow and you can’t control the car in order to adjust. I could tell the difference in steering between the muscle, performance, and hot rod cars but not by much. Steering and control sucked with all of them.

Memories:
I am a sucker for demolition derby games so I had high hopes for Totaled when I found it. It’s hard to mess up car chaos, right? Well, immediately I realized this wasn’t a very good game. I was disappointed after about 30 minutes of playing it and quickly lost enthusiasm for it.

Totaled Review Score:

This should be a mega-hit for my personal taste in video games. Cars and destruction, that’s hard to mess up but Totaled did. The action was far too slow and the steering of the cars was sensitive. Getting stuck on other vehicles or objects was frustrating and just made the wheels spin. Even with a nice soundtrack, Totaled should be left on the shelf whether that’s at a used video game store or if you have it in your personal collection.

Totaled scores a 5.1 out of 10.

What would you write in your Totaled review? Did you enjoy this game or was it disappointing? What was your favorite mode in Totaled? Let me know your thoughts and comments on Totaled. I’d love to read them.