Today’s (Free) Xbox Live Arcade Release: Dash of Destruction

By Jeremy Yerby | December 17, 2008

Remember the Unlock Xbox campaign that was all over TV and the internet last year? If you don’t, Doritos challenged all of us to come up with the best game concept we could that had anything to do with Doritos. (remember: eating Doritos is an “intense experience”) The winner would have their creation realized and it would actually be made into a real Xbox Live Arcade release. It was really quite over-advertised but was still a neat idea, despite the creative anchor that is making a game about Doritos.

That didn’t stop Al Mike Borland of Pennsylvania from coming up with a rather interesting idea. Imagine you work for the Doritos company as a delivery driver. Your job is to make deliveries of Doritos brand snack chips to various places throughout the town in a timely fashion. And because you are such a dedicated employee, you wish to complete your delivery route before the other Doritos drivers finish theirs. Oh, and by the way, there is also a Doritos-crazed tyrannosaurus rex on the loose who will stop at nothing to eat you and your truck.

Did I forget to mention that?

Okay, so the idea is zany, but it actually makes for a pretty fun time. You can play as either the truck or the dinosaur. When you’re the truck, you must complete all your deliveries before the other drivers do, and before the dinosaurs on the map eat their goal number of trucks. You respawn an unlimited number of times, however each time you are eaten it adds to the dinosaur team’s score. The truck moves faster on roads than the dinosaur can, and has a rocket booster for tough spots. While playing as the dinosaur your goal is to eat the goal number of trucks before the other dinosaur can, and before the trucks complete their deliveries. The dinosaur can bust through buildings and other obstacles to get to their targets.

I recommend you download this game even though the outward appearance may be that of shovelware. Unlike last year’s horrendous Yaris, this is an advergame with merit. The game is fun and has a good sense of humor (and frequently reminds you of the 200 Gamerscore you can get). Xbox Live multiplayer would have been nice (local multi only) and I blew through all the game’s levels in like 20 minutes, but it was a rocking good time while it lasted and it didn’t cost a penny.

Good work, Borland.