In a dystopian version of Japan sealed under massive corporate domes, Emi, a young ramen delivery girl turned train operator, joins a band of outcasts and an underground rebel network known as the Denshattack. Travelling all over Japan from the southern islands of Kyushu all the way to the freezing north of Hokkaido, Emi must navigate the ruined, overgrown railways to make a name for herself. Denshattack’s goal is to take down the sinister Miraidō Corporation and reclaim the rails from rival gangs.
Players take control of Emi, who is highly energetic, spunky, and fiercely resilient when behind the controls of her train, yet quietly shy and polite in everyday social interactions. The overall gameplay is incredibly simple to pick up and play, but mastering the game has a steep learning curve; no matter how hard it gets, it’s highly addictive and will keep players coming back for more.
It’s best described as a Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater game, but instead of a board, you operate a Japanese commuter train carriage and can perform a lot of familiar board tricks you could on a skateboard. The gameplay is fast and furious, putting your reflexes to the test. Each stage will have you riding on train tracks, jumping to other tracks, avoiding hazards, performing tricks, honking your horn to affect the environment around you and more.
The aerial tricks are performed with the right stick on a controller, which can also be changed to the face buttons depending on players’ preferences. There is a wide array of simple and more advanced tricks, all listed in the Tricktionary with instructions on how to perform them, and all are available from the start.
Players can also drift around corners, switch to different tracks, grind on rails, do wheelies and ride along walls to not only increase your score, but it is also necessary to overcome all the obstacles and hazards you’ll inevitably encounter. If that didn’t sound crazy enough, you’ll also ride a Ferris wheel down a hill, steer a ship in the water, pilot an aircraft through a city falling apart and much more, all with your train.
Different stages host a variety of conditions in order to complete them. The first few stages act like a tutorial to teach you how to play, and the explanations keep things simple, get straight to the point and get you back on track.
More tutorials will come up occasionally at certain points to teach you more, and having them spaced out like this helps players learn at a steady pace without being overwhelmed with information all at once. Occasionally, the game changes things up without giving a tutorial, but surprisingly, it’s not even necessary, as most players will immediately know what to do, and this helps keep the momentum of the game going.
In the main stages, players will either have to reach the goal, achieve a set score or higher, perform specific actions, discover secret areas, or even engage in boss battles. Players can also find collectibles, including customisation items for the train, which in turn help achieve the highest scores. Unfortunately, there is currently no online leaderboard to compare your scores with other players around the world. Hopefully, this can be added in a future update to give the game even more replay value.
For what might sound like a linear game with its arcade-style approach, it surprisingly offers wide variety, with over 50 stages to grind through, different conditions to complete them and all the collectibles and secrets to discover. The stages aren’t simply going from point A to point B, as most also allow you to choose which path to take, and certain stages will require you to go through every path to complete the stage. The boss battles amp things up even more, and each has its own conditions to take them down.
For the most part, Denshattack! is a simple game to get the hang of, but achieving all the high scores, getting all the collectibles and mastering all the tricks to chain them altogether will take quite a bit of practice; for those willing to put in the time, it’s absolutely worth it. Players can simply complete most of the stages by doing the bare minimum, but doing all the extra stuff, performing big tricks and building up combos is where the real fun is.
The game runs at a smooth 60 fps across all platforms, which is absolutely needed for a game that moves as fast as this. Everything you do in the game feels exhilarating, gets your adrenaline pumping and feels like you need to catch your breath at the end of each stage.
The challenges increase with every new stage, and with how fast the game is, players will need to think and react fast. Thankfully, every time you fall off course, you’ll instantly be taken back to the last checkpoint to try again and get right back into the action. There will be a lot of repetition, so players will need to remember the course ahead to plan their moves as they aim to arrive at the next area. It can get repetitive the more times you have to start over, but it’s the kind of game that is addictive and hard to put the controller down, keeping you coming back to try and try again until you succeed.
The development studio Undercoders is based in Spain, but they managed to nail the exaggerated Japanese anime art style with popping colours, character designs full of personality and bopping music. The overall style and presentation have a very bright, colourful anime art style, similar to the Persona series, but it manages to stand out on its own.
The game is brimming with style and personality, with cel-shaded in-game graphics similar to that of the Jet Set Radio games, urban aesthetics, and cartoony animation. Each of the 50-plus stages manages to stand out on its own, too, as players will be blitzing through cities, canyons, mountains and more at the speed of a bullet.
The story is simple and gets the point across, mostly text dialogue screens as characters converse with each other and, occasionally, fully voiced cutscenes in either Japanese or English in a manga-style presentation. The story may not be the most groundbreaking, but it benefits from its simplicity, keeping players eager to get back on track. The story and character interactions are entertaining, allowing the characters to shine with their diverse, upbeat personalities, adding to the game’s unique style and aesthetics. Even though the story might sound grim, the presentation and bright colours help make everything look fun and exciting.
Of course, a game loaded with style and personality needs a fitting soundtrack, and this game certainly has that with an all-star lineup of video game composers and musicians managed by Kid Katana Records. The main composers include Tee Lopes, Shoji Meguro, Andrew One, Sean Bialo, 2 Mello, Ryo Nagamatsu, The Noble Demon, Harumi Fujita, “OkanP”, Kohta Takahashi, Toni Leys, and Richard Jacques, along with featured performers including Takenobu Mitsuyoshi, Lotus Juice, MIYACHI, Alice Peralta, milkyPRISM, JUNKY58%, The DO DO DO’s, and Yunosuke.
All of them have done a ton of work for many fan-favourite games over the past few decades, and the tracks they’ve created for Denshattack! couldn’t be more perfect with its mix of urban hip-hop, high-energy breakbeats, punk rock, and Japanese vocal funk. The soundtrack alone is worth listening to on its own, and even better as you ride your train at super high speeds.
Denshattack! is a game unlike any other, something that needs to be experienced. The arcade-style approach helps players get straight into the game, but the mass variety it offers, simple, punishing gameplay and the addiction it creates will keep players coming back for more. Every aspect of the game carries style and personality, and the music by various gaming musicians and composers is a welcome addition to the vibrant, dynamic aesthetics. It’s time to board the Denshattack! hype train because it’s about to take off at breakneck speeds with no signs of slowing down.
