"Tony Hawk on a [insert vehicle here]". If you were describing any extreme sports game that came out in the late 1990s onward, this was the perfect shorthand to ensure that everyone understood what you were talking about. Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX? That's Tony Hawk on a bike. Freestyle MetalX? Tony Hawk on a motocross bike. Razor Freestyle Scooter? Tony Hawk on a foldable metal scooter. The description worked because the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games were so well known and all of those aforementioned games (and more) copied the formula so well while also applying the necessary changes for their extreme sports transportation. You could say that Denshattack! is like a throwback to those titles, but it doesn't take very long to discover that it's more than just the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater formula applied to a very unusual vehicle.

The story has a pretty familiar setup. Thanks to rapid climate change, the world has transformed quite a bit. In Japan, domed cities with constant air purification have been built to protect the wealthy from extreme environmental changes, and those places are all connected by a well maintained train network. However, those who aren't lucky enough to live in the domed cities are able to live off the land fairly well. Players take on the role of a ramen delivery girl who travels throughout what's left of Japan using a train car and a fragmented railway system. After making her latest delivery, she catches the eye of a photographer who was impressed with her driving and casually mentions the sport of Denshattack. Intrigued at the idea that you possess the basic skills for the sport, you take the photographer as your companion and travel the country to challenge and beat the best drivers out there.

Considering the setting and setup, it makes sense that the game's story plays out like a typical anime. The protagonist is a natural at the main thing that people are gravitating toward, and rivals become friends after you defeat them. There's the revelation that a major corporation with a public face is seen as being helpful to mankind but is actually harming those who don't fit their ideals. Of course, your newly formed ragtag group has a mission to stop the evil corporation. There's even time for an onsen break. It's all familiar for most fans of the medium, but the story plays out so well that few will mind the familiar trappings.

If you only took a brief look at the game trailers, you'd catch that this is Tony Hawk on a single train car. Your train car can jump either by using ramps or by preloading the leap and taking off at any time. You can spin and twist and flip the train car just like you would a skateboard, and you can also cancel a jump by slamming the train car back to the ground. Tricks can be chained together while in the air and even on the ground, since you can perform manual moves. Every trick is performed with specific motions of the right analog stick on a controller, so those familiar with the .skate series will feel at home, while newcomers can still look good because moving the stick in any direction does something. You're still riding the rails, so it falls more in line with Wakeboarding Unleashed featuring Shaun Murray, where your line is predetermined instead of the game emulating the more open nature of most extreme sports games.

The presence of a bunch of sub-goals is also reminiscent of what you'd see in the Tony Hawk games and their contemporaries. You have about six of these at about every level, and all of them are a mix of things that you'd do normally and things you might not have thought of doing. For example, one task might have you trying to complete a three-trick combo or staying in the perfect grind zone for five seconds. Another task might have you trying to destroy a statue of the big train company's mole mascot or taking down some radio towers. In addition, you also have a few pick-ups like film reels and spray paint cans, both of which allow you to complete a fanzine that your friend is working on and unlock some cosmetics for your train, respectively.

It only takes one level to realize that Denshattack! isn't just a trick-based game. This is a blend of different genres wrapped around the idea of train cars sporting impossible physics. With the fact that this is a train, you can see some endless runner style gameplay mechanics present. Lane switching is a thing you'll do often, and you can even get bonuses for dodging obstacles at the last moment. While you can brake, there's barely any moment when it feels like a good idea to stop, so the sense of constant forward momentum never lets up. The game does something few other endless runners do by offering frequent alternate paths throughout each run. Aside from that, the experience will feel familiar to anyone who has played games like Temple Run.

The game also takes a few mechanics from modern arcade-style racing games. That seems like a natural thing to adopt, since you have a number of levels that are set up as races, but all of those events want you to finish a level instead of reaching the finish line before your opponent. This is especially true when you realize that you only see your opponent at the beginning of the event, and they take off before you do. The one racing element that comes as a surprise is the act of drifting and the accompanying drift boost. A meter appears when you take a corner. Failing to brake means being thrown off the track. Braking will slow you down, but if you let go of the brake in the green meter area instead of a red area, you'll be given a quick boost to return you to your top speed.

There are elements that are reminiscent of a typical platformer, such as obstacles that you can blast with a train horn and track switching that can occur at different elevations. The boss fights have you dodging bites from a giant kaiju, swatting giant baseballs at your opponent, jumping over swipes from a giant mech, and then slamming on their back as they pass by.

This all comes together to create what can be best described as a fever dream of a ride. The speed of the game is fast, but it still feels controllable since everything isn't coming in at breakneck speeds. The courses are never straightforward, as tracks loop around buildings and on their tops and sides. That variation expands when you start to see broken tracks treated as ramps before the design starts adding elements like wall rides and extra rails for bigger tricks and combos. Scripted sequences, such as you riding atop a Ferris wheel, give the game a bonkers kind of feel while you'll also commandeer drones and boats to fly through tight gaps or ride the waves like a surfer, respectively. The game does everything it can to constantly surprise you, and the surprises keep the game exciting.

What works best is the pacing. Each stage comes in at just the right length if you can finish them without getting derailed. Restarting is quick, and your respawn point isn't far from where you failed, so you aren't spending much time replaying sections that you've already conquered. The game spaces out the level types enough, so you won't get a sense of déjà vu when you beat a level and move on to the next one. Saving is automatic, and the game doesn't set the level requirements so high that you'll be blocked from progression because you failed so badly in a stage. The result is a game that doesn't lose its overall vibe in any way.

While the main campaign comes in at a very good length, there are a few things to keep you coming back for a bit longer. The aforementioned cosmetics and fanzine completion give you an incentive to grab all of the pickups that you've missed and take some alternate paths while doing so. The same goes for the task list, which is tough to complete in one run. There are also a multitude of different trains to unlock, and each train sports different abilities, so it's well worth the effort. For those who aren't completionists, you can perform tricks and perfect combos in the trainyard without any limits. The only thing missing is multiplayer, but since extreme sports games don't really cultivate an online presence, it's not a big loss.

With the game's overall premise, it shouldn't come as a surprise to learn that the presentation borrows heavily from Jet Set Radio. Graphically, Denshattack! adopts an anime style slightly reminiscent of Kill la Kill with bolder colors and slightly thicker lines but not to the degree of Jet Set Radio. The designs aren't as wild, but each character and environment looks distinct. The game is rife with effects like sparks and smoke and explosions, while the game is locked at a high frame rate no matter what's happening on-screen.

The audio is also reminiscent of what Sega's cult classic. The music isn't as hip-hop heavy, but there are loads of tracks that do a fantastic job of providing the modern, high-energy tempo needed for a game like this, and everything from the menu music to the songs for boss fights are an absolute joy to listen to. The effects are pleasant, and there are no sounds of metal grinding on metal, so nothing is assaulting your ears. The voice work is solid, and the option to use either English or Japanese for both the announcer and characters separately is a welcome touch.

Players on Linux will find that the game needs no tweaking to run on that operating system. Steam Deck users will find that the game also runs without any issues. The game defaults to a mix of high and low graphical settings, but the art style is so good that you won't notice many drawbacks compared to a higher-spec PC with everything maxed out. It also helps that the game runs at a solid 60fps at all times. It would be nice if the game ran at 1280x800 instead of 1280x720, but that's more of a nitpick than a real issue. On a full charge, the game squeezes around two hours of gameplay from the LCD version of the Steam Deck, but we are talking about a device that has a four-year-old battery, which can skew the numbers, since there's a good chance that those who got the device way after launch have a healthier battery to push out more game time.

Denshattack! is a throwback to a time when games were allowed to be weird. A train pulling off skateboard tricks at high speeds while fending off a Voltron-style mech sounds strange even during the heights of the PSone/Dreamcast/early PS2 eras. The execution is excellent all around, and Denshattack! nails all of the familiar elements of other games while still feeling very original instead of being a homage to a particular cult title. This is a fantastic game, and the only reason to pass is if you tend to shy away from the extreme sports genre.

Score: 9.0/10