LGR - Deathtrack - DOS PC Game Review

Sometimes, simple racing is not enough. Sometimes, you just want to strap ram spikes and missile launchers onto a car and smash up punks with 80's hairstyles on a track of death! For this, you've gotta choose Death Track, by Dynamix from 1989.

[@stefanstoyanov5640]

Thanks for bringing childhood memories. One of the first ever games I played on PC in 1990.

[@trueakuma777]

Deathtrack was one of my all-time favorite PC games when I was a kid! Pro tip: when you get a missile warning, slam on the breaks to cause the incoming missile to overshoot your car and explode harmlessly in front of you.

[@danoz25]

'I'd hug you but your edges look sharp enough to cut' - gotta love lgr reviews!

[@enertron4976]

danoz25 “the controls are straight forward, you just drive straight, forward” hah

[@TheNostalgiaMall]

I wish my Honda Accord had that many polygons.

[@fl0atpvnk]

Underrated comment

[@harvestblades]

That was such a great game back in 1990.

[@yakovkhalip9714]

I remember around 1992 when I was a child, at school, I was looking at "elderly boys", (one of which was school director's son,) - playing that game and the Golden Axe on a 286 machine. They forget it, but I now collect and use vintage computers to enjoy gems like that sometimes)

[@AwesomeRepix]

Just say when "When!" The developers definitely had some humor!

[@jannepeltonen7493]

I remember playing this way back as a kid with my dad's 286. There was one problem, for some reason the mouse wouldn't move to the right hand side of the display. That meant that buying armor repairs etc was not possible, adding extra difficulty :)

[@H4lminator]

Played this a lot when I was a kid. Always bought 20 caltrops and deployed them zig-zag style. That way every opponent's car was slowed to a crouch and could destroy them all.

[@stevenbenson9976]

soooo much this. that was the big secret, ram a car to death at the beginning, be in last place, spread 30 caltrops (you can get 30 of the smallest) all over the track at a lower speed, and everyone will run into them. laser up all of them, switch to beam when you run out of laser and when you finally clear the track of opponents, hit the auto pilot and make a sandwich before the next race starts. repair the minimal damage and load up on caltrops and go again. biggest problem i ever had was when the game glitches and someone fires their laser immediately at the start of the race and a car blows up.. and it's the car you were offered the max amount to take out.

[@ArwinVD]

It wasn't a laser, other cars don't fire lasers, beams or bullets. It happened when in the previous race there was a mine left on track after the finish line. If a missile was fired at you when but didn't hit you cause you crossed the finish line, it could actually hit you at the beginning of the next race.

[@mockier]

I used to load up on the cheap Caltrops, and mines. Zig zag of the caltrops then mines to hit them when their cars were trashed. Made the game a bit too easy towards the end

[@ArchTeryx00]

It has a huge nostalgia factor for me because at the University of Illinois dorms around 1990, Deathtrack was installed *everywhere.* The resident directors kept removing it, but it kept popping right back up. There were informal high score contests and people had, well, a blast. The only thing it was really missing was multiplayer, but that didn't come until DOOM in 1993. Mechwarrior was also a super-popular game, as well as NetTrek, but nothing compared to Deathtrack. It was just plain fun.

[@Sadoos]

The ingame music sounds like sonic constantly picking up rings.

[@todesziege]

These are definitely some of the best looking EGA graphics I've seen.

[@zesty2023]

Pretty awesome review Clint, YAY for Duke3D intro music. With all these reviews of vehicular combat games I keep waiting for you to review Vigilante 8 for the PS1. X3 I was impressed to see they included visible rear-end damage in this game.. that must have been an impressive addition in the day.

[@HyunMoKoo]

Oh god. Remember playing this as a 9 year old... Back then the tracks were too hard for me so I copied/overwrote easiest track file onto other track files and make all the tracks the same. (I think I used the oval shaped track similar to Indy500 track.) Even drew some Deathtrack fan comics on my notepad back then. haha :)

[@humakhan80]

I want to see these comics! Where they good?

[@MetalJesusRocks]

Dynamix made the best games back in the day!

[@RealRedRabbit]

Sup, man? I've been binging your stuff lately.

[@Cochese]

Hey LGR, Thank you so much for reviewing this amazing game! I've spent a lot of hours of my childhood playing this game!!

[@K3NnY_G]

I still haven't seen you do a review of Interstate 76'. This absolutely blows my mind be-it I've seen it installed on some of your computers, seen the box on your shelf; and it's just an AWESOME GAME.

[@namebrandmason]

K3NnY_G I love that game-- both for gameplay and the snazzy setting.

[@ScottDuensing]

Absolutely love this game. Used to play it with a Maxx yoke and pedals with Overkill's "Elimination" blaring instead of the MIDI music. Vastly improves the experience. :-D

[@lindseygordon5186]

I love the way you do reply to comments and not ignore them I saw another channel with a few questions and they didnt reply

[@Wargoat6]

My brother and I owned quite a few Dynamix games, and this was one of them. Played the HELL out of it. Loved this game.

[@PosisDas]

Man... this was one of my absolute FAVORITE games to play on my dads old 386 back in the day. I put hours into that game and got really freakin' good at it... most races I ended up the last car driving. Easiest way to get 1st place that way ;)

[@kekula69]

every time i watch an LGR episode, i always hear a new word i've never heard of, or a new mental disability or an ailment that i've never heard of, and i love it

[@johnathanwesleycritch5412]

The graphics were pretty good, especially considering they are only EGA (but High resolution EGA) This game was years before its time. I wish I still had it. A remake is seriously needed for this In fact this was the first PC game that made we go WOW after I upgraded from my old C64 and Amiga days

[@joojoojeejee6058]

It's not "high resolution EGA", it's obviously 320x200... Very few games supported higher resolutions back in the day, in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Some strategy games did if I'm not mistaken.

[@pagb666]

Yeah, the polygonal cars look very cool for '89

[@joeyoung431]

I have many fond memories of this game, though your point about crashing into an unplayable corner is very well-made.

[@tapestapes0]

Man someone needs to remake this very game,nothing changed except for proper driving and updated graphics/Sound

[@LGR]

Vigilante 8, Impact Racing, MegaRace, Have a N.I.C.E. Day... plenty of vehicular combat games I'd like to feature sometime!

[@Jannemandevries]

I played this on an XT back in the day. The PC speaker music sounds way more badass than the MIDI music!

[@realrealqbok]

add to that CGA emulated on Hercules and an amber mono monitor and...... :)

[@Banjo-Oz]

@@realrealqbok I first played this in black and white (my first PC, an Amstrad PC1512 CGA often played games in B&W!) with PC sound. Epic.

[@nottrash9034]

You should cover Quarantine

[@KapiteinKrentebol]

Ross Scott has a good review. Check out Ross' Gamedungeon or Accursed Farms.

[@joek81981]

Prophetic, some might say.

[@SilviDaBun]

I can't imagine this game as out back when the only game I played was Wizard Willy on my Commodore... Oh the things I missed.

[@Bigheadedwon]

I played the shit out of this game when it came out. Always liked the shady fellow who would pay you to kill someone. I never felt bad because they were in a race called Deathtrack, so they knew damn well what they were getting into. For a DOS game in '89 it offered a lot of upgrade options for your flying car thing. And for the time the graphics were fairly awe inspiring. It's 3d and has polygons and some sort of music system that made the PC squeaker sound better than it really was. A remake with better driving physics and new graphics would be most excellent. But Activision shut Dynamix down and probably killed all the employees just for fun. So I fear no remake could ever be.

[@QuantumBraced]

I played this as a kid, it really felt ahead of its time. Probably because of the 3D, but also the menus and the cityscapes felt really polished and next-gen. I can't believe it came out in 1989, it looks more like a game that would have come out in 1994 or so.

[@luissolis5652]

Love these videos they fall in the "ah the classics category.

[@TheBeefeta]

Played this for hours on my IBM PS/2 286 back in the day. loved it!!!

[@TheDutchTexanGames]

Oh man, this brings me back. A family friend had it on his IBM. Blast from the past... Quite literally I suppose!

[@joolsstoo3085]

I have an irrational love of flat shade polygons, thank you for showing this game off. I'm working on a list of all the bare polygon games I can find, and this one is now added to my list.

[@SEGAdude95]

Awesome review i love racing games specially old ones.. big thumbs up.. :) ;)

[@obi_wan_kenobi561]

I remember playing this game on my parent's tandy 1000 ex computer back in 1990 and I thought it was fun back then but I was very young and it didn't take much for me to be impressed.

[@LGR]

Indeed I do, and I freaking love the cover art. I've been planning to review it for a while now, so yeah, I'll get to it eventually!

[@KaurTube]

The looping and ominous midi tune is from the intro of Ghostbusters 2 (For DOS). No joke.

[@Pillowcase]

This game was a favourite when I was a kid.

[@Chamchamcham10]

My very first "racing" game! And I used to play on PC that didn't have sound chip so the sounds was that... I don't even remember, was it MIDI? on Pc speaker... squeaky yet epic!

[@matthewjelleff4153]

Yes, fond memories of firing this up on the 486.

[@realrealqbok]

or 286 12 MHz with Hercules :)

[@andreyansimov5442]

Remembering this as first PC driving game in my life in 1995...

[@LGR]

No problem, thanks for watching!

[@OBluePrint]

Today, I would start a game on Mega Destroyer level. My fingers remember the tracks rather well. I don't know if it's a bug or a cheat but if you mark a weapon model you don't already have and try to buy it when it's off screen, you get money instead of spend money, with different weapons and models give different returns. Also, since you get some money back on your old weapon when you buy a new one, you can actually buy the fastest engine before running the first track, because every car has some powerful weapon you can downgrade, and earn the extra $1K you'll need for it. So if you're a good enough driver B-) you can easily win 1st place on the first few tracks, and then spend more money on upgrades. (good enough drivers also don't get hit as much, which saves on repairs) There is a slight difference between the vehicles: Acceleration. The Hellcat is very quick and the Pitbull is quite slow, even with all the upgrades. I usually pick the Crusher so I can sell its missiles to buy the engine, while keeping its more powerful laser. And I also like the spider hood ornament. Another Interesting bug I had in my copy, was an invisible time limit: 7 laps was the longest race that was winnable, because any longer or even not finishing the 7 laps fast enough, meant ending up in last place. Even if you're the only vehicle left on the track. Great game. Spent hours mastering it. Still play it from time to time nowadays.

[@superjoust1247]

I totally remember this game.

[@yerunski]

Yeaahh, thank you Clint for another trip down memory lane :)

[@JamesBowers9898]

love your intro and the music and reviews. brings me back to the days of my obsessiveness over Dos rpgs D&D like ravenloft Strahd's posession and ravenloft stone prophet, eye of the beholder and all them other rpgs. Dos was the best!

[@KenW66]

I loved that game.

[@AmyraCarter]

As a lover of such games, I'd love to have this one too.

[@w4llhugger]

I used to play this game all the time when I was a kid XD. ha can't believe I just randomly ran into it on youtube. :) thnx for the trip to nostalgia!

[@PeturHinrik]

Thank you! I had completely forgotten what this games name was, for the longest time I was certain it was Deathrace or Deathrally. But no, it was not so. So thank you, this game gave me many many hours of enjoyment when I was a teen.

[@Vandelay666]

I've been looking for this game for like 20 years lol. I did not remember it being so ugly but I sure had fun back in the days

[@soyreeng8864]

Omg. I used to play this all the time. This is deeeeep.

[@timsot]

For those interested, similar modern games - Flatout series & Carmageddon reincarnation

[@LGR]

Neither of those games feature weaponry in the way Deathtrack does. I'd say games like Gas Guzzlers are way more similar than those, even down to the same basic upgrade system.

[@timsot]

+Lazy Game Reviews Never the less, all these games got their inspiration from movies like Death Race 2000, The Gauntlet, Grand Theft Auto, Used Cars and maybe Duel.

[@LGR]

That much is true, yes! :)

[@MrTuco40]

Dynamix was one of my favorite developers. Project Firestart for c64 still works.

[@cat_caster]

great game. I was about 10-11 years old when I saw it. At that time I even did not know English yet.

[@12inchRules]

This is one of the first pc games I played the shit out. And it’s the first review I’ve ever seen on it. And I have searched for it…

[@jimijames9792]

I remember playing this as a kid on a monochrome monitor. Gotta live orange! Awesome game at the time. When I look at it now it seems totally unplayable compared to my PC or ps4.

[@ChozoSR388]

Have you tried Death Track: Resurrection?

[@grey7136]

remember how i fall in love with this game. beatiful piece of art ! (sic.)

[@NPC999]

I just checked out the steam page. I foresee an LGR review of MDK2 HD in the not so distant future...

[@Devire666]

Ah, when games mentioned in the video as new are now considered retro, you know that the video itself is vintage.

[@josephlafaele1]

For fuck sake, nothing gets me happier that some Phreakindee uploads.

[@LGR]

Absolutely, I'm a big fan of the "X Construction Set" games (Pinball, Music, Adventure, Racing, etc)

[@Dreamshadow1977]

Played this game for hours in the early 90s as a barely teen.

[@Banjo-Oz]

I played this game so much as a kid! One of the first games I had on my PC along with Sierra adventures. Do you (or anyone else) know how to get AdLib music on DOSBox? I can't get it to work, and that's the music I remember from childhood (sounds like the music in your video, not midi/MT-32).

[@Trusteft]

First time I hear of this game. It looks great.

[@Iggsy81]

aww shit man i loved this game as a kidlet !

[@asmcint]

I had to do a double-take after seeing that Gas Guzzlers box art. IT'S A BOOTLEG GENERAL LEE!

[@sidtandy4333]

wow! haven't seen this game in quite a while. So cool! Thanks for this review! Do you know if there's any tandy sound support?

[@elbryan42]

LOL, menu music is also from Ghostbusters II, also from Dynamix! :)

[@JimPlaysGames]

"Controls are pretty straightforward, you just move straight forward" - hehehe this among many things is why I love your reviews :D

[@shaider1982]

Brings back memories!😁 we thought Melissa was hot😁

[@lknanml]

I had this on a laptop as a friend and I took turns driving across state. After a few rounds I realized he was activating commenting on my race while he was driving. LOL. We decided it was best not to play while driving and survived the trip.

[@Blackadder75]

Damn, I thought this was Death Rally, from 1996, that game was great

[@rutgerb]

And had Duke Nukem. And Jane Honda suddenly pops into mind

[@bringbackmy90s]

1989 was such a great year, 30 years already! yeah!

[@danfrey1976]

this review brought back sweet memories of days gone by. thank you

[@Topepo666]

Used to play this on 286 PC. Oh, good days of old...

[@metabog]

Awesome duke music intro.

[@obliviousmode575]

Best racing game on pc ever!

[@janch1x]

ah, I remember playing this with my best buddy - one of us was steering and the other one was shooting. good times.

[@Unlimited1Ups]

Great review! Have you ever played "Racing Destruction Set" for the C64?

[@svtcontour]

lol i had this game. brings back memories.

[@dave4shmups]

Did you ever play a game called Quarantine? It was out for DOS, and also came out for the 3DO. I have a 3DO, and was thinking about picking it up. The high frame rate in Deathtrack really impresses me! I mean, Hard Drivin' also came out in 1989, but that was running on arcade hardware, and I don't remember the frame rate being as smooth as it is in Deathtrack!

[@Yusuke_Denton]

I was a big fan of Caesar so I'm happy to read this! :D Looking forward to a review maybe someday. (no pressure though)

[@Xaxnaxbar2]

Love this review :)

[@anomalousclouds]

Whoa. I remember my summer camp had this game (I could never remember the name!) in it's "computer lab" which was nothing but a trailer in the woods next to a lake. Heh. This would've been around 1991-92. The trailer was fill of Tandys with a few Macs as well... good times. The dude who ran it seemed to always wear an Iron Maiden shirt and I remember during my last year or so there they got the motherfucks to run Descent on a LAN. Shall we forever miss the early/mid 90s!

[@ricardomaggiore5518]

I remember this one...

[@mockier]

My favorite Dos game. I used to play it on my Amstrad 1512 in the early 90s. The 512KB ram it had seems insane compared to my current PC which has 256MB cache just on one hdd.

[@dwarf365]

Agreed. Love it so much I pulled the cutscenes and put them back together. I uploaded the full thing to my page.

[@lordchaotic0013]

recommended review: MegaRace from around 1996

[@sebastianp.48]

hi, i'm lance boyle and you'd be too if you were me!

[@fluxmasterfix]

I think this influenced similar game engines such as Formula One Grand Prix 2. Started playing it recently and was surprised at how much the inputs felt like suggestions and it had more of an interactive cinematic effect to the gameplay.

[@hal900x]

Hoe-Lee SHEEEIT! I Remember this game so well! I was absolutely obsessed with it!

[@smallmj2886]

My brother had this one on his 286. Lots of fun, though I was really bad at it.

[@LGR]

Yes it was, glad someone noticed that!

[@TschimmiCash]

[@Toad64]

Weird, the music that plays in the beginning of the game is the same music played in the beginning of Ghostbusters II, also from Activision and Dynamix.

[@ir0nl0rd]

Hey - I appreciate your desire to own Deathtrack. I've seen it only once for sale on eBay (sealed, even!) but lost out around the $120-mark. It gets hard to pay that much for cardboard ;)

[@jazzkomp]

i remembered playin this on our 386 family computer 32mhz with 2mb ram, the loading time are so long

[@Modenut]

Any hardware reviews/talks/thingies in the works? I missum...