WEEK 6

Sentinel

This sedan is the third of six cars in the game and it is driven by Mori Sato, Suzy Srock, Iron John and Cher Stone. One more tire upgrade, stronger machine gun and a stock speed of 80mph, which can be further raised to 90mph by two engine upgrades, make this car superior to Dervish. Sentinel, costing $6,500, has the best price/value ratio because of several reasons. It is an apparent king of the easy race but it is also the best choice when racing in medium race. Why Sentinel and not Shrieker? The answer is easy. Shrieker is better, but, if you decide to race it in the medium race, you are risking the chance of encountering Wraiths, which often appear in medium race when a player is racing Shrieker. This will not happen if racing Sentinel. The performance gap between Shrieker and Wraith is more significant than the one between Sentinel and Shrieker. If you win the medium race twice with Sentinel, earning some extra money, you have your money back. Beating Wraith is difficult and severe damage is often inflicted by its two deadly machineguns. Tracks available in medium race should be considered as well. Tracks like Desert Run and Rock Zone are quite narrow and there are many sharp turns. They are not designed for rough, high speed battles of Shriekers and Wraiths. Mines, spikes, rocket fuel and sabotage are almost twice as expensive as they are for Dervish. 

 

 

 

Shrieker

Similar to the real world Pontiac Firebird, Shrieker is the first car equipped with two machine guns. Lee Vice, Dark Ryder, Clint West and Greg Peck drive this car. 9 upgrades are available in total, three for each category. Stock speed of 95mph can be increased by three engine upgrades up to 110mph. All these things make the car look good but in fact it’s racing value is the lowest of all the cars in the game. It is not recommended to race Shrieker in the hard race and the recommendation is really in place. Wraiths are fierce opponents but the real threat is the chance of being overlapped by much faster Deliverators. Another cause of its low value is that when you have this car purchased, Wraith drivers start to enter medium races. Why would you spend $11,500 on Shrieker in order to struggle against Wraith in medium race for a $3,000 reward? Considering also the higher cost of repairs, it is clear that Sentinel is a better choice. However, if you play DR for fun, and you do not care about points, standings or number of races needed to finish the game, get Shrieker and and enjoy it. It is definitely fun to drive. There is one interesting aspect about Shrieker. The entire game follows a pattern where costs of weapons, rocket fuel and sabotage are higher for more expensive cars. There is only one single exception. Rocket fuel for Shrieker cost $625 while for Sentinel it is $675. In general, the cost of all items for Shrieker from the underground market is higher by only 3% in comparison to Sentinel.

 

I have written two more articles for next two cars. At this time I am starting to realize that there is way to little time to complete everything I initially wanted to. The main goal now is to finish the design of the pages which are describing separate cars. I also decided that I a going to use photoshop instead of indesign.