No matter how you choose to play Undercoder’s Denshaattack, the game feels special. If you are attempting to go through it once, for one run, clearing each stage a single time, it’s enjoyable due to its pleasant story and strong mechanics. Should you stick with it and decide to spend a lot of time replaying stages and going for personal bests, the hidden paths on maps, collectibles, and opportunities to diversify tricks make replaying attractive. Either way, it’s a great time.
After the apocalyptic effects of climate change, many people in Japan live in domed cities. Those who don’t rely on trains and drivers capable of getting through the permanently changed landscape to carry out things like deliveries. Emi Araki is one of those people who uses her train to take ramen to customers, but a chance encounter with Fernando Tamashiro gets her interested in the sport of Denshattack, which involves Denshattacker drivers taking trains through courses to face the best in the sport. However, it isn’t just about racing and performing tricks on tracks around Japan against fellow competitors. The Miraido Corporation took control once people felt forced to live in the domed cities and is against rebels like Emi and Fernando, and the two form a crew to stand against its bosses.
At a glance, someone might immediately equate Denshattack as being similar to a skateboarding game, what with the idea of grinding on rails and performing tricks when airborne. That isn’t completely inaccurate, but it’s more than that. Once you start things up, your train will race along the tracks. You need to know when to turn, drift around corners, jump, and switch tracks to safely get from point A to point B. The track swaps can happen on-ground or in mid-air. Jumps can be executed on demand or by racing off a ramp into the air. Going through the courses themselves almost feels like approaching a Sonic the Hedgehog stage, given the number of possible paths depending on which tracks you follow. Likewise, it requires the same sort of swift reflexes, as sudden stops and blockades or abrupt turns can require immediate responses without thinking about “how” or “why.” It never feels like a racing game, even though there’s some of that, given the way Undercoders implemented sorts of platforming elements into it.
Success also depends upon tricks and hitting minimum score tiers. It’s another way in which Undercoders’ choices make perfect sense. The analog stick is used to execute these in mid-air, with certain rotations and directional movements pulling off tricks of varying complexity. For one, it’s a brilliant design choice since it is tied to a hand that isn’t focusing on any other inputs while your train is airborne. The ease with which you enter these actions is also fantastic. You don’t need to remember specific names. But knowing that quarter, half, and whole rotations, as well as similar turns, pull off specials is enough. And because of that, you can do some really flashy things that earn lots of points with a lot of effort if you keep moving.
Another thing that ensures Denshattack works is how clearly Undercoders conveyed information. The signage in-game for blocked tracks is extremely clear, both with bright colors and icons on the boards so you understand and recognize the situation immediately. Tracks themselves are also very vibrant and recognizable, so a player can tell what they might need to swap or jump to and can plan ahead. These are always a stark and different color from the environments around them, including when it sometimes involves things like a ferris wheel, which helps with identification and visibility. Tutorials are comprehensive and involve telling us what to do and letting us try it out for ourselves. It’s a situation in which things are designed to be striking and fit a certain aesthetic, while also being simple for someone to parse at high speeds.
Image via Undercoders
On top of that, the story is also great! It’s outlandish! Sometimes it can get a bit weird. There are funny moments. But also, what the Japan we see in Denshattack feels extremely relatable and cautionary when we also consider how we see the climate changing around us in the real world. It’s an extremely relevant game. So while a lot of the fun will likely come from replaying stages and playing around with different runs, the main campaign is solid and offers a good story with surprisingly diverse situations.
Denshattack is great whether you’re intending to go on one big run or attempt to become a master Denshattacker. The story is great. The gameplay is fantastic. The design decisions make sense. There’s so much to it. And, given how complex it can get if you really dedicate the time to learning tricks and mechanics, it’s amazing how accessible it also is to all audiences.
Denshattack is available for the Switch 2, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC.