Wreckfest is a new racing game from the developers over at Bugbear Entertainment. It was released on Steam on the 14th June 2018 and will also be available on PS4 and Xbox One by mid-late November of 2018. Primarily known for their FlatOut series, Bugbear Entertainment have spent much of their time developing some fun, arcade-like racers. In Wreckfest, nothing is sacred, and players are expected to enjoy the destruction-derby gameplay that the game focuses on.
How to Download Wreckfest
To download the game you should click on the Download button at the end of this review. A couple of years ago there was also a free technological demo of Wrekcfest available on download but the official link is gone and you need to search the net in order to find it.
The Game Review
Similar to many racing games, Wreckfest does not have any form of a story, but that’s to be expected from a racing game. Instead, the player is expected to do exactly what one might imagine in a racing game, and that’s racing. The player’s job is to typically get from one end of the track to the other, taking hairpin turns, smashing into opposition, and doing whatever is necessary within the confines of a racing game to get to the very end in the first place. A unique mechanic that the game coins is through the use of soft-body destruction.
The soft-body destruction mechanic works depending on where a vehicle gets hit, the body of the car will then proceed to crumble and take damage in a realistic manner. Cars affected by this damage will handle differently and will completely change how some races pan out. During races, players will have to balance out their aggression on other cars to get ahead, but the longer the race goes on, the more damage the car ends up receiving, making it that much more difficult to drive throughout.
As with any racing game, the main goal is to get from A to B, while remaining in first place. Unlike track racers, Wreckfest doesn’t revolve around power-ups and the like and instead requires the player to just be a decent driver. Although, due to the arcade nature of Wreckfest, it isn’t quite as hard to pick up as some other racers out there, such as Dirt or Grid.
Aesthetically speaking, the game comes off as a very polished title, with realistic looking cars, environments, and debris, just not to the same amount of level as full-on simulators. Instead, the game features plenty of bright, somewhat vibrant colors to make the cars pop visually on a track that’s typical if dirt or tarmac; grounds that never look all that impressive.
An easy comparison to make for this game would be the developers’ previous title, FlatOut, as it is designed to be a spiritual successor to the series. Another easy comparison would have to be Destruction Derby, since the developers have taken clear inspiration from the game and its car-destruction mechanics throughout the game, just brought to a more modern era.
For any racing game fans out there, Wreckfest does more than enough to hold their interest, especially in instances where smashing other cars to bits is considered incredible fun. Not to mention, any fans of the older FlatOut series will be sure to find something to love in this racer, as it’s designed to meet many of the same standards as the series this game is based on.
