Every child in America has the dream of achieving what was once thought to be unattainable: embracing their inner redneck and smashing their enemies in a lawnmower-riding battle royale.
Developer’s Bugbear Entertainment’s Wreckfest, originally released in 2018 and published by THQ Nordic, is a racing game mashed with the glorious sport of demolition derby.
Upon loading up the very first race, a lawnmower battle, I was delighted. Apart from a couple of Need For Speed titles, I had little to no previous experience with the racing genre. Wreckfest, with its emphasis on not just racing skills, but also a pseudo combat system, was very refreshing.
Wreckfest is often compared to Flatout, one of the other demolition derby games on the market, but Wreckfest is a vast improvement upon it. I consider Wreckfest to be the spiritual child of Flatout and Forza. Conceptually, Wreckfest pulls from the same idea, but is executed with more detail. Mechanics like the car health bar are clearly visualized with the conditions of different car parts. Taking damage in certain ways can damage specific parts of the car, which all contribute to the overall function. (Though it should be mentioned that with my minimal experience in both racing games and cars in general, I can’t make any conclusions about the car models themselves.)
In addition to its finer mechanics, I greatly enjoyed the Forza-like graphical quality and realism despite the game’s comical nature. Comparatively, Flatout has many features like a speed boost and cartoon-like avatars. While that decision was likely made to emphasize the demolition derby genre’s grandiose playstyle, I found the more realistic look of Wreckfest’s animation to give more impact to the destruction you can cause. When I’m riding couches and lawnmowers in high speed races, I want to feel like I’m doing that very thing, as I blast through tire barriers and my opponents themselves.
But by far, my favorite feature in Wreckfest is the ability to make new rivals in each race. Colliding particularly hard with someone early on will label them as your rival, tracking them with an indicator. I cackled when I realized I was able to hunt down the racer that crossed me. Though not contributing too much to the overall gameplay, having a clear goal in mind that wasn’t just winning the race, was exhilarating.
What was very surprising to me was, despite Wreckfest being a destructive and comedic game, was the difficulty that came with it. Again, I should mention that my experience with the genre is limited to games like Need For Speed and Mario Kart. But even on an Easy difficulty setting, Wreckfest’s turning and handling system was unforgiving. At first I thought it was just the specific tuning of the lawnmowers, but as I moved on to more traditional vehicles, I still managed to crash on nearly every single bend. And though, I was quite proud of my 16th place finishes, I found myself wanting more. It seems strange that a game that is so seemingly arcade-like, still has an incredibly high ceiling for new players. While the concept makes me want to play with friends, it’s hard to convince them to play when nobody is able to consistently beat the AI.
Nonetheless, Wreckfest is well designed, but just not intended for anyone new to the racing genre. If you’re well enfranchised with games like Flatout or Forza, I recommend giving this game a try. It’s for these reasons I rate Wreckfest:
8/10.
Check Out the Wreckfest Trailer:
Wreckfest is available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC via Steam.
For more information, please visit: https://order.wreckfestgame.com/
PlayStation 4 Review
My name is Devon Huge. I'm passionate about writing, art, games, and lists that are one item too long.
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