The first problem I noticed is that the game closes out every time you hit "esc." This is one of those design choices that could enhance the game in some cases, but could detriment it in others. For example, in horror games, having the "esc" key work as a "chicken out" button actually increases tension as the player is constantly being urged to just click that one button and be done with it. I've never played any of those SCP games, but I've heard they implement that concept and that it works. In Damage Control, there's no tension, and thus no reason I can think of to make "esc" an instant quit button. Furthermore, this design choice contradicts the design of the game as a whole. The game is rife with little transitional animations in the menu screens. I guarantee you, at one point when you're navigating a menu, you will press "esc" unknowingly and close out the game. Luckily, the game autosaves the choices you make in the customization screen, so this isn't a huge problem. Also, it's worth noting that "esc" only closes the game when you're navigating the menu, which is the only time it would really be a problem. That's just plain sloppy.
But now let's talk about the meat of the game: the battles.
The first thing that annoys me is the level design. There are three levels to choose from and only one of them is passable. See, the goal of the game is to collect gears. One level has all the gears conveniently placed in the middle of the arena, so you can basically just camp there and turn the game into king of the hill with the added bonus of horrendous controls, which I'll get to in a second. Another also has the gears in the middle but with an obnoxious death pit waiting to kill all those hubristic enough to try and actually win the game.
Now I just want to talk briefly about the game design in general. The only competitive part of this game is that you can kill your opponents, thus removing any gears they've collected. The problem is that the cars move so fast and are so hard to control and the weapons are so useless that you'll never be able to catch up to your enemies efficiently enough, and they'll never be able to catch up to you. Running around collecting gears is the best strategy, and that becomes boring after like a minute of use.
Lastly, the weapon design is also sloppy. It seems they just put certain weapons in without thinking about how well they'll work with the games mechanics. The mentality seems to be something akin to this:
That's not good game design. Also, do not ever use the blades. Using those things is a fate worse than death.
Overall, there are ways to manipulate this game so it becomes fun, but you shouldn't have to manipulate a game. It should just be good from the get go. This game is miles away from earning my seal of approval. I'm not trying to be harsh, but the only basis I have for recommending this game is that it's functional.
Linksbumper cars minus the bumper: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=489
