Denshattack! Review

Video GamesReviews

Jul 16

Denshattack! is an exuberant arcade adventure inspired by Tony Hawk's Pro Skater that never feels like an imitation.

*Denshattack!* Credit: Undercoders / Fireshine Games

Games inspired by Tony Hawk's Pro Skater usually try to recreate its freedom. Denshattack! succeeds because developer Undercoders does the opposite. Locking movement onto rails sounds like it would make tricks less expressive, but those constraints become the game's greatest strength. Every jump, grind, drift, and wall ride becomes part of a carefully choreographed obstacle course, giving Denshattack! the immediacy of an arcade game while preserving the endless pursuit of bigger combos that made Tony Hawk so addictive. Pair that with infectious joy, over-the-top set pieces, and near-constant sensory overload, and you've got something truly explosive.

You play as Emi, a ramen delivery (train) driver who stumbles into Denshattack, an underground subculture where train operators battle each other through impossible stunts in a corporate-controlled, post-climate catastrophe Japan. It’s got the logic of a Saturday morning cartoon. You battle giant robots and race through volcanoes, all of it infused with boundless enthusiasm.

But Denshattack! isn't simply “Tony Hawk with trains.” Every course is a high-speed gauntlet, forcing split-second decisions about whether to launch off a ramp, switch rails, drift through a corner, or squeeze in one more trick before landing. Undercoders wear their love for 2000s Sega on their sleeve, blending the relentless energy of Crazy Taxi, the stylish rebelliousness of Jet Set Radio, and the roller-coaster momentum of Sonic Adventure, without ever becoming an imitation.

The crowning achievement is how good the game feels to play. Your train hops between rails, rides walls, flips through the air, grinds upside down, and links tricks together with a satisfying sense of weight. It's easy to crash and burn, but the game graciously drops you back on the tracks to try again. The first time I pieced together a clean run from start to finish, I realized that I had tensed all my muscles at once. I unclenched my jaw and immediately wanted to try it again, but better, maybe hitting some of the optional objectives this time.

Denshattack! is aggressively colorful, with expressive animation, exaggerated character designs, and a camera that swings dramatically around your train whenever it has the chance. Sitting close to the screen pushed into sensory overload because the camera hugs the action so tightly, but I wouldn't want it any other way, even if I occasionally needed to step away. Restricting player movement to fixed tracks gives Undercoders control over the camera in ways an open skating game simply couldn't, with energetic, dynamic camerawork that makes the action feel larger-than-life.

Denshattack!’s influences are obvious, but it’s more than a nostalgic trip to classic games from the 2000s. It transforms the love for those games into something that feels entirely fresh. The result is loud, ridiculous, endlessly replayable, and full of an exuberant joy that proves the Tony Hawk formula still has the juice if you don’t treat it like a sacred text.