"Racing games. Yawn. With yet another racing game
on yet another console, when will the genre end? After Wreckless, let's
hope never."
Car go boom
Over the years, we have seen our share of hybrid racing games. These games have
tried to take racing titles to a new level, by adding "extra" events
to spice it up a bit. Games such as Driver, Vigilante 8, Carmagedon and
even Grand Theft Auto have attempted to keep the intensity of racing in
the foreground, with enough extras to keep the gamer satisfied.
For the most part, the racing/destruction genre has fared well. While,
it's usually a decent weekend renter, few games have ever entered the status of
a "must buy". Activision went out on a limb, and instead of
targeting the Playstation 2 it went for the muscle of the XBOX. It
was a good decision, because there is no way the PS2 could handle
it.
The storyline for Wreckless is a cross between Rush Hour 2 and Die
Hard. Actually, there are two main storylines that work well together and
cross paths more than once. Scenario A puts you in control of two female
Hong Kong police officers. The Flying Dragons, as their called, are
called in to stop the crime waves caused by the gangster mob of Yakuza.
The B scenario puts you into the shoes of two detectives/spies that are
more... subtle than the Flying Dragons.
Big Trouble in Little Car
The basic premise behind both scenarios is to stop the Yakuza. This is
mostly done by crashing into their vehicles (indicated by a damage meter)
and moving on. While, the concept seems quite the bore, the missions were very
unique and amazingly well thought up. The first few missions are fairly general,
and they allow you to get a feel of the physics of the vehicles and lay of the
city; later on most of the missions are complex and difficult.
The main lure of the game is as the title states: WRECKLESS. Once you
enter your vehicle, there is literally nothing to stop you. Running
through the intersection at 70MPH, will cause a wreck that would make Hollywood
look bad. Two story buses will flip in the air, people will scatter and
venders’ wares will fly everywhere. The action is fast paced and intense to
say the least. Starting off with only two choices of transportation, later in
the game you advance to some heavy-duty carnage creating mayhem-meisters.
For those concerned with a vanilla flavored game play, you will be surprised to
see the variety in the missions. Missions vary from anything from bashing an
armored transport, to running over dim-sum stands. There are also missions where
you have to play "tag", and then avoid getting hit from the Yakuza.
Each mission coincides with the rest of the missions and the different
scenario. Some missions are quite obscure as well. For example: you have to
"jump" on top of a moving dump truck damaging its cargo. And with 20
missions in total, the game will easily last a good 15-20 hours.
The difficulty does range from simplistic to nail-bitingly difficult. The
balance between frustrating and fun walks a tightrope. Tackling a level at time
can never be done in one try. Usually, the best approach is to take a few
"trial runs" in the level before actually trying to complete the
objectives. I found that each level took anywhere from 20-50 minutes to
complete. The level designs had a similar flare to Jet Grind Radio and
were challenging on every level.
As with most games that include any racing aspects, physics is crucial for
making a good game. Luckily, Wreckless is a better-than-average racer
with decent controls. Similar to the MSR series of games, Wreckless
takes use of accelerating, braking and power sliding. Even though the levels are
laid out in standard street fashion, we have a certain freedom that is comprable
with Crazy Taxi. Burrowing through trees, market stands, traffic and even
Buddhist temples; don't limit yourself to street signs. Your car is also not
fully invincible. Not only can you dish out some serious damage to your
environment, you vehicle also takes a nice beating as well. Doors will fly
loose, the hood will catapult and once completed your car is nothing more than a
stunt double for Dukes of Hazard.
Showoff your XBOX
All the rave on commercials and review sites are the amazing graphics within Wreckless.
I have to admit, these are the best graphics seen on any system.
The game truly has everything a visual critique could want. The lighting effects
are dynamic, and realistically portray real life. Depending on the time of the
mission, the environment is fully effected by the time of day. For even more
grins, check out the amazing detail that might go unnoticed. Smashing into a
dim-sum stand will shatter it, causing splits of wood and debris to scatter in a
physically realistic way.
Charging through a market square filled with lights, will explode the lights
causing streaks of light to blind and fade. Probably the most impressive aspect
of the visuals is actually how they portrayed the basic graphics. I've
yet to see this technique used in any games so far. As Cell Damage and Jet
Set Radio Future use a cell shading; Wreckless uses something
called blur shading. Well, I really don't know the technical term for it,
but the effect is totally impressive. Driving your vehicle around in this
picturesque environment is colorful and crystal clear. However, at times the
picture will "fade" in and "fade" out. When I first heard
about this, I questioned on how making graphics blurry would make it better. For
some reason, the effect is amazing, and no still shots could do it
justice.
The game runs at a solid 30 FPS. 30 FPS? Hard to believe, but 30 FPS on the XBOX
is like 60 FPS on a PS2. I was shocked that I never once noticed any
slowdown, clipping or hesitation. I think some of the reason for the smoothness
of it was because of how the destruction was handled. Once smashing into
something (for example a double-decker bus) it will realistically flip or
crash; but after a few seconds it will blink and fade away. While I was hoping
the damage would stick around, keeping the damage static would cause major
slowdown.
With graphics that are second to none, the audio had quite a challenge.
Unfortunately, the audio portions of the game were mediocre at best. Sound
effects were portrayed in a nice surround-sound effect, and the music was
classic Japanatecno. I enjoyed the crashing of metal and glass, and even
the engine sounds were better than average. However, most of the music was
straight from a modern day "B" movie. One thing I noticed, and
actually laughed out loud at, was in the background (and ever so lightly)
was the playing of classic video game music. I heard rifts from Pac Man,
Sonic and even Mario. I found it quite amusing, and most wouldn't
pick it up unless you are listening for it.
66 Says:
The only thing that really hurt the game was the lack of options and multiplayer
functions. If there were a handful more of levels along with a multiplayer mode;
this could easily have been a perfect game. Even without these two features,
this is a game to be had. While many might get enough enjoyment out of a rental,
I would highly recommend this as a purchase.
This is a great title to show off your XBOX to friends and skeptics. The
amazing graphics will stun them, and the addicting gameplay will keep them
rolling. My wife and I play this game and laugh out loud at each other, as the
impossible happens each time. As challenging as the game is, the unbelievable
carnage keeps the game light and fun.
XBOX owners should give this at least a rental. This should be a
must-buy for most owners. This should also be an encouragement for XB
owners, to see the possibilities that the console can produce. Honestly, the PS2
and GameCube could never produce visuals like this. For others
sitting on the fence of an XB purchase, let this be yet another example
on why you should not only grab an XBOX but also a copy of Wreckless...
and while you’re there, grab a copy of Halo too, ok?
8.6
