Denshattack! Review: An Inconsistent Train-Tricking Spectacle
Read our comprehensive Denshattack! review to find out if this chaotic, train-tricking arcade action game is worth your time and money.
Quick answer
- Denshattack! is a $20 arcade action game featuring trains performing extreme sports tricks in post-disaster Japan.
- The game features gorgeous visual spectacle but suffers from highly inconsistent physics and arbitrary rules.
- Levels often play like heavily scripted QTE sequences rather than offering true player freedom or skill expression.
- While Steam Deck Verified and visually energetic, its mechanics are too fussy for a satisfying score-attack experience.
Are you ready to pilot a train off a skyscraper-high ramp and pull off gravity-defying tricks? In this detailed Denshattack! review, we break down the high-speed, chaotic world of Undercoders' latest arcade title. While the premise of Tony Hawk-style train acrobatics in a post-disaster Japan sounds incredibly enticing, our comprehensive Denshattack! review reveals that the actual experience is a mixture of stunning visual spectacle and frustrating mechanical inconsistencies. Priced at a budget-friendly $20, this game attempts to merge extreme sports tricking with arcade locomotive action, but does it manage to stay on the tracks, or does it derail under the weight of its own ambitious concepts?
What Is Denshattack!? Game Concept and Platforms
Developed by Undercoders and co-published by Fireshine Games and Boltray Games, Denshattack! is a high-energy arcade action game that completely throws real-world physics out the window. Instead of managing cargo or keeping passengers happy, players are tasked with guiding a heavily customized train through a stylized, post-disaster Japan using the power of friendship and extreme sports mechanics. Think of it as a train-based spin on Tony Hawk's Pro Skater or Jet Set Radio, set against a backdrop of beautiful cherry blossoms, bright blue water, and towering vertical ramps.
The game is available on multiple platforms, including PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2. For PC players, the game is Steam Deck Verified, making it an easy pick for on-the-go arcade sessions.
Gameplay Mechanics: How Train Tricking Works
At its core, Denshattack! is not a simulator. If you are expecting to manage a virtual mascon, adjust brakes for curves, or feel the heavy inertia of a multi-ton metal vehicle, you will be highly disappointed. The vehicle you control has zero weight, no gravity assistance on steep drops, and behaves more like a dirt bike or a platforming character than a train.
Tracks are broken up into tiny, chaotic chunks. One moment you are on a standard rail, and the next you are launched into half-pipes, bouncing off giant trampolines, or grinding along the outer rim of a ferris wheel. The game relies heavily on scripted setpieces and quick reactions rather than deep mechanical mastery.
To give you an idea of how a typical high-speed sequence plays out, here is the standard flow of a level run:
The Invisible Track Dilemma
One of the most polarizing mechanics discussed in this Denshattack! review is the inclusion of "rainbow tracks." These are optional pathways that allow your train to reach entirely new areas of a stage. However, they are completely invisible until you fill up a specific gauge. This design choice prevents you from planning your routes or strategizing combos in advance, forcing you to react blindly to paths that suddenly materialize in front of you.
Visuals, Spectacle, and Technical Performance
If there is one area where Denshattack! truly shines, it is the sheer energy of its presentation. When you launch off a skyscraper-high vertical ramp, your screen is instantly filled with speed lines, vibrant Japanese onomatopoeia, and bright sparks. Your enthusiastic allies yell encouragement as a gorgeous vista of the Japanese countryside unfolds below you.
On a technical front, the game runs incredibly well. Testing on a high-end PC setup (featuring an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX and an RTX 5090 laptop GPU) yielded flawless performance, which is expected given the stylized, arcade nature of the graphics. On consoles, the experience remains smooth and highly responsive.
Visual Clarity Issues
Unfortunately, the game’s saturated art style sometimes actively works against the player. In a game where split-second reactions are required, visual clarity is paramount. Denshattack! frequently stumbles here by placing critical gameplay elements against identically colored backgrounds. You will often find yourself trying to navigate:
- Long strings of orange lanterns hanging directly next to orange grind rails.
- Bright yellow guiding lights placed immediately adjacent to yellow tracks.
- Green air currents set against a deep sea-green background.
These poor color choices make it incredibly difficult to read the track layout ahead, turning high-speed runs into frustrating exercises in trial-and-error.
The Major Flaws: Why the Spectacle Falls Short
While compiling this Denshattack! review, it became clear that the game suffers from a severe lack of internal consistency. The rules of the game's universe seem to change from one section of a stage to the next, leaving the player feeling cheated rather than challenged.
1. Inconsistent Physics and Capabilities
Your train’s ability to perform Titanfall 2-style wall runs and ride at odd angles flickers on and off like a faulty lightbulb. The game will allow you to run along one specific vertical surface, but attempting the exact same stunt on a seemingly identical wall just moments later will result in a crash because the game decided that particular surface was off-limits. Similarly, touching the water's surface is usually an instant failure, except in designated stages where you are suddenly allowed to ride underwater for extended periods of time.
2. Excessive Hand-Holding and QTE Gimmicks
You are rarely trusted to make your own fun or build your own momentum. Too much of Denshattack! plays out like a sequence of glorified Quick Time Events (QTEs). If you do not do exactly what the game wants you to do, precisely when it wants you to do it, you fail.
This is compounded by a frustrating warning system. The game will flash a red exclamation mark ("!") to warn you of upcoming danger, but this icon can mean anything from a minor obstacle on the line to a giant shadow monster rising from the sea. Because you are given less than half a second to react, the icon is practically useless, turning progression into a chore of memorizing layout patterns through repetitive restarts.
3. Redundant Progression Systems
As you progress through the story, you unlock new abilities. However, these abilities do not actually broaden your creative toolset or allow you to achieve higher scores on earlier tracks. In fact, if you go back to replay an earlier level, the game completely disables any abilities you unlocked later in the story. Tricks are ultimately reduced to simple, scripted keys used to unlock specific setpiece locks, rather than a system for expressive play.
Narrative and Thematic Disconnect
The narrative of Denshattack! features strong environmentalist and anti-corporate themes. For instance, one entire stage-long event is dedicated to freeing Nara’s famous wild deer. Oddly, many of the optional side challenges in these very same levels require you to go out of your way to scare the local wildlife by repeatedly honking your train's horn.
Furthermore, trains themselves feel surprisingly irrelevant to the overall plot, serving merely as aesthetic shells for a variety of bizarre, disconnected stunts. While the game features hilarious, absurd moments—such as letting you control a giant shark or countering massive baseballs with aerial tricks—these high points are constantly dragged down by the fussy, restrictive nature of the core gameplay.
Final Verdict: Is Denshattack! Worth Your $20?
Ultimately, Denshattack! is a game caught between two diverging tracks. It is not clean or consistent enough to satisfy serious score-attack enthusiasts who crave precision physics and high-skill ceilings. At the same time, it is too fussy and frustrating to serve as a relaxed, comedic arcade romp where players can just enjoy the raw absurdity of its premise.
If you are a fan of Undercoders' unique visual style and want a quick, colorful spectacle to play on your Steam Deck or console, the $20 entry fee might be worth it for a afternoon of casual distraction. However, if you are looking for a deep, satisfying sports-action hybrid that rewards player creativity, you may want to let this train pass you by.
Our Score: 63/100
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