Denshattack! Knows When to Pull Brakes

Denshattack! is a hectic game. There’s something going on almost every second, whether it’s drifts, grinds, boosts, flips or any other movew I’d expect from a classic Tony Hawk or 3D Sonic game. Sometimes things get too hectic for their own good: barrages of comic-book visual effects obscure the end of rails, and the sound cue doesn’t arrive in time to respond. It’s understandable: even the best arcade-style games can’t escape some trial-and-error. The question is whether trial-and-error begins to prevail towards the end.

It doesn’t. Instead of throwing everything at me at once, Denshattack! deliberately holds off major mechanics until later stages, after it ensures I’ve mastered the basics. Manual and sequencing tricks are keys to get a high score, but I don’t learn about them until late into the first region. And then when I think I have it figured out, the game never stops recontextualizing mechanics and building on top. There’s almost Nintendo quality to how invention never stops from stage to stage, and there are quite a lot of them.

Still, the most important thing in training is not just building on top, it’s taking breaks. And in Denshattack!, there are plenty of breaks. Spray cans and film rolls aren’t collectibles of purely completionist nature, they’re ways to put stickers on my train and fill the in-game fanzine. They, along with visits to hot springs, reveal character and cultural backgrounds that doen’t pretend they’re the focus of the game but aren’t ashamed of themselves as well. And then there’s the loading screen, something so inconsequential that I could’ve ignored it, but I just can’t.

This loading screen is a thing of beauty. It doesn’t last for too long. There’s barely any movement in frame. It’s stylish and sweet, with just three colors and lots of space. It flows the transition between the in-game map and stage replays well. As it appears, I can take a breath, giving the last seconds of peace to analogue sticks and triggers. In just a few seconds, I’m going to bulldoze them. But for now, let my heartbeat go down. Everything needs a brake, even a skate-like train that seems to be better off without it.