Ah, after other recent freemium disasters, here’s it done absolutely right. Not only can you have a lot of fun without paying a penny, when it does come time to want to upgrade in Demolition Derby: Crash Racing and to remove the ads, the in-app purchases are very modest indeed. Meaning that there’s a heck of a lot more chance users will use them. There’s a lesson here for other freemium game publishers….

From the Store description:

Smell the petrol fumes and enjoy the carnage!  Some of the awesome features of this game:

• Explore many events, including “last car driving” and demolition races (arena, 8 track, ovals and speedway)
• Intense high speed racing action
• Real-time car destruction and damage deformation + crash physics engine
• Choose between three thoroughbred all American muscle cars
• Customise and improve your car by earning or buying upgrades – Incredible visuals and solid performance on a wide range of devices
• Choose and modify your control system to facilitate your driving style
• Realistic car wreckage and debris simulation  Get ready to race and destroy your opponents in demolition derbies and full track speedway racers that will offer you the thrill of a lifetime. Destruction has never felt so real as you see doors and other car parts smash of your car.   
• Tracks and events: The game offers various tracks and events across the nation for endless racing and destruction driving pleasure. 
• Arena Demolition Derbies: Play the traditional demolition derby events in an arena. All drivers start in opposite directions and the goal is to smash the other cars and be the last man (car) standing to win the race.
• Race track / speedway events: You can also drive on race and speedway tracks which gives a different type of challenge and experience. These races are referred to as a banger racing (for British and Europeans) and are mostly referred to as enduro racing in the United States. During these gatherings you are invited to race on (dirt) race tracks and you can try to win by reaching the finish first or through endurance as you disable your opponents and survive to be the last standing after the racing carnage.

You get the idea, it’s a car racing game and yet there’s not much racing, it’s all about positioning your car in such a way to inflict maximum damage on your opponents’ vehicles. Oh, and don’t worry about the mess, a JCB trundles on after every round to lift off all the mangled metal…

Here’s Demolition Derby: Crash Racing in action:

It’s polished 3D from the start, with rendering going on even on the front menu – very impressive!

Once underway, there’s a choice of control mechanisms, but it’s essentially careering around building up speed and then looking for somebody to crash into! The damage model ensures that parts fall off and gradually get damaged, and the last car working wins. Easy, eh?

Naturally the best way to inflict damage is to hit an opponent side or rear on. Pity there’s no first person view through the cab, but you can’t have everything… Also, note the ‘radar’ view, which helps line up your next ‘kill’!

As you’d expect in a freemium title, you can start upgrading all aspects of your car – at least once you earn money or buy it with real world cash.

However, unlike other offending freemium titles, here everything’s sensible and well within reach. Even a heavy gamer might only rack up £5 or so, which is spot on. Perfect. Well done, developers (Lunagames)!

In addition to a career mode, there’s also the high score-based ‘Endless’ mode, in which you gain back 25% repairs at the end of each round and have to keep going for as long as you can. Pick up more than 25% damage each time and you’ll gradually be out of action, in which case it’s finito….

And here’s that JCB. You also get to see a fork lift which lifts track barriers out of the way at the start of each round. All very well done, and lovingly rendered throughout.

Recommended. You can grab this 60MB download here in the Store.