I never learned to drive, but every now and then a well-meaning friend would tell me I’d be good at it because “Listen, Edwin, you play all those racing games, they’ve probably taught you the basics.” My friend, here’s what racing games have taught me: Traffic lights are there to add regional flavor; drifting is the same as cornering; other cars exist to act as bumper pads when you’re going around a corner. You certainly don’t want a guy whose car ideas came from 2018’s Wreckfest taking the kids to school. By the way, THQ Nordic just announced Wreckfest 2, a fresh batch of destruction derby action with fancy visuals and modern animated drivers who flinch and gesticulate as other drivers hit them. Watch the carnage in the trailer below.
Oh, you can almost smell burning rubber. Real cars are made of rubber, right? The trailer is a mix of live-action intrigue and in-game footage of horseless carriages destroying each other. At THQ’s Nordic preview earlier this week, I also got a chance to see some of the game’s car customization – a “big new feature” that lets you paint individual car parts and decorate them with decals, impact damage and rust. God knows I wouldn’t want to get wrecked driving a dingy engine. As for modes, expect a single-player career, multiplayer, tournaments, regular challenges via game updates and mod support.
The game runs on a modern version of developer Bugbear’s ROM engine, which seems capable of more complicated vehicle deformation effects—doors and exhausts flap loosely, tires detach and jump like rats escaping a sinking ship that’s actually a truck with an absurdly raised chassis. It’s all enjoyable madness, but I don’t get the feeling that the racing experience will be too different from the 2018 game that John Walker (RPS in the room) considered Top Work.
“There’s so much fun to be had, and failure becomes a fun element of racing, which is a trick that’s too rarely used,” he wrote. “Wreckfest is a great antidote to the dreary severity of the current wave of Need For Speeds, Crews, and so on. It holds its own in that competition while also offering something much more substantial.” I’d say Wreckfest 2 has less competition – both the Need For Speed series and The Crew are in the background, giving this pumped-up, furious driver a clear chance to win our affections. Find out more about his mindless car abuse at Couple.
