Game review: Wreckreation (Xbox Series X)

Some people reading this review might be too young to remember the very fun Burnout racing game series. The first game in the series came out in 2001, and it spawned a lot of fun sequels. 

My favourite game in the series is Burnout 3: Takedown, mainly because the gameplay was refined, and it also has a killer soundtrack. Sadly, though, the last game to be released in the mainline series was Burnout Paradise. That game came out way back in 2008!

Aside from Burnout Paradise Remastered releasing in 2018 for more modern platforms, the series has remained dormant for some sad reason. Thankfully, some former Burnout developers are back and have released an unofficial spiritual successor called Wreckreation. 

Wreckreation is a new arcade racer that blends features from three different video games. The game includes the open world fun of Forza Horizon, the freedom to crash cars from Burnout, and the ability to create your own tracks like TrackMania. 

One of the more impressive things about Wreckreation is how big the map size really is. The map is 449 square kilometres big, and it features a bunch of races, takedown events, billboard jumps, time trials, and much more. 

A unique thing about Wreckreation is that the map isn't fully shown at the start of the game. Wreckreation is like an RTS game where the map slowly reveals itself the more you drive and explore it yourself. At first, I thought the map was quite small, but I was totally wrong when I started driving for several hours!

Due to the open-world nature of the game, you are free to tackle most events in any order you wish. The game features a ton of fun and diverse events that stop the game from feeling too repetitive. 

The most common event you will encounter in Wreckreation is standard races. Races are self-explanatory because all you need to do is race through all of the checkpoints and make sure to reach the finishing line in first place. 

The cool thing about this game, though, is that you can literally crash into your opponents. There are no penalties or anything like that because crashing is recommended. When you crash into an opponent, your boost meter will increase. 

Speaking of crashing into cars, the best event in the entire game is the Takedown events. Takedown events require you to crash into a certain number of cars within a time limit. For example, you may need to crash into 10 cars in a span of 60 seconds, or something like that. 

By pressing A on the Xbox controller, you can activate the boost to make sure you crash into another car thoroughly. In order to increase your boost meter, you can drive on the opposite side of the road, narrowly miss hitting traffic, or simply crash into opponents' cars. 

There are also Time Trials and other special events where you may need to use a specific type of car. The more you play the game, the more cars you get to unlock. You can choose to race as a different car by fast-travelling to the nearest parking lot you have already discovered. 

The game also has other smaller events, such as jumping off a ramp and crashing into a billboard. There are also tons of red gates that you can break through too. If your car looks trashed, you can visit petrol stations that will repair any damage for free. 

Another big selling point of Wreckreation is that you have the freedom to create your own tracks. You can add things like ramps, half-pipes, loops, and even create tracks that go up into the sky! Arguably, this may be the best part of the game, and I can see many other players being more creative than I was. 

While there are a lot of things I liked about Wreckreation, there are unfortunately some flaws to highlight. For one thing, sometimes the traffic can get annoying when you are competing in races and takedown events. I remember coming in first in a race, but I randomly crashed into a vehicle at the last minute and lost. 

The game can also feel long and grindy because you need to unlock license points to get more cars. You only earn six points for coming first in a race, and levelling up can require you to get 70 points or more. 

Graphically, the game just isn't as beautiful or bright as its competitors, such as The Crew Motorfest or the Forza Horizon video games. The map does look dull in comparison, although I have to admit, some of the cars look pretty cool, though. 

All of the cars are unlicensed in this game, but they do resemble real-life car models. One car looks like Bumblebee from the Transformers movies, while another looks like a Ford GT. That being said, gamers who want to race as real car models will be disappointed with this game's fake car list. 

While Wreckreation might not be a perfect game, I still enjoyed this spiritual successor to the Burnout series. I really loved the Takedown events, and crashing into other cars is always a lot of fun. You should check this game out if you are a fan of the Burnout games. 

Verdict: 7.5/10