More games should be on the rails (literally)

It’s been a good few weeks for on-rails gaming. Nintendo Star Fox The remake wisely maintained the tightly written, action-packed levels from the game Star Fox 64 Much the same, and it’s still fun to fly through almost 20 years later. Dinshatech attack!a new game from Undercoders, similarly features levels filled with carefully orchestrated sequences to great effect. Except that instead of flying through space as an unnervingly realistic anthropomorphic fox, you’re flying – flipping, spinning and grinding – across Japan while driving a dizzyingly fast train.

Contact Dinshatech attack! Toy train radically reduces what you’re actually doing. Through a bright and colorful version of Japan, you’ll weave and trick your way through towns and landscapes like you’re playing a supercharged version of Tony Hawk is a professional skateboarder. You fly through levels like a bullet, drift around corners trying to get a boost, and jump off ramps to do ski-inspired stunts. Imagine if Sega made cel shaders Sonic A Dreamcast game where he’s driving the train, and you’re on the field actually playing it Dinshatech attack! feels like.

Even in its early stages, Dinshatech attack! It’s exciting, but as you explore the game’s ten worlds, you’ll slowly gain new abilities that turn you into a supercharged acrobat. And before you know it, you’ll be grinding rails, riding graffiti-strewn walls, spinning around tunnels, catching wind currents to fly through the air, flipping your gravity to drive upside down, and sometimes all in a row. If you fill the energy bar by scoring enough points, you can even ride the magical rainbow path that spreads out in front of you like a magical rainbow path. All supported by an upbeat and catchy soundtrack.

I loved wandering through the game’s levels, and eagerly awaited every turn in the path to see what unexpected surprise I would encounter. Just a very A limited selection of highlights: grinding along the snout of a swordfish, precariously dodging blades in a sawmill, hitting baseballs back to a gang leader on a track-strewn baseball field – and then, in a later level, challenging that leader again as she pilots a sandworm train.

It works well because it’s all on rails. For the most part, you don’t have to worry about how to get from one place to another. The route will generally take you where you want to go. What matters most is how you react to the unexpected twists, turns, and obstacles the game throws your way — and which sick tricks you’ll pull off with a flick of the joystick while jumping from one track to the next. This gives the developers plenty of room to throw you into action-packed scenarios and carefully plan the sequence of everything you’ll have to deal with. Each level usually only takes a few minutes, which helps keep things fast.

Sometimes, it can be too much. You go very fast, so you have to react to things quickly. The game helpfully indicates turns and obstacles through various on-screen markers. But when you’re learning new mechanics, there are a lot of different moves you have to remember, and in the moment I would often stumble and hit the wrong button or bump into whatever was in the way on the track. Fortunately, checkpoints are generous and set you back within a second or two, so you can tackle a difficult section repeatedly without a major penalty.

The game also allows you to make it as difficult or easy as you want. After completing each level, you’ll see a results screen that grades you on things like how many points you earned, how quickly you finished the level, how many collectibles you found, and whether you completed any of the “challenges” for each level. If you want to chase medals in all of these, you can. But you can also completely ignore it and just focus on finishing each level, which is what I did.

However, like other games on rails, Dinshatech attack! Sometimes it felt repetitive. Each area has the same general structure, meaning you’ll be dealing with the same types of levels over and over again. The game also has a lightweight story, but I mostly got the hang of it. He loves Star FoxThis isn’t a game you’ll play for the narrative; It’s all about levels.

But those are nitpicks. The absolute cap and expertly designed levels mean that every time I start a new level, I can’t wait to see where the rails take me next.

^{Dinshatech attack! Available now on Nintendo Switch 2, PC, PS5, and Xbox Series}