This is a PS Plus game for May on PS5 - so if you haven't grabbed it yet, go get it as it will disappear by the end of the weekend.
I've struggled to find racing games I like in the past decade. Arcade style has changed from meaning fantasy driving games focused purely on gameplay - your Outruns and Ridges - to signifying what are, to me anyway, rather stodgy and self-serious semi-sims (Driveclub, GRID).
Wreckfest doesn't buck that trend particularly - at no point do you dodge UFOs for points - but it's the most fun I've had with a racing game in years.
It all comes down to the feel of the controls. They're not as beautifully abstracted from reality as something like Ridge, but there is something about them that is tremendously fun. Each race is a Destruction Derby style banger smash up, where you jostle into each other on slippery, muddy race courses. Drifting, bouncing and crunching your way round is simply enjoyable, in a sort of kinetic, visceral way. I'm not into cars personally, but I'm into games, and this is a fun one I reckon.
There are loads of single player events to work through (including quite a few car combat, last man standing type ones, which to be honest I skip as I find these dull compared to races), a shop where you can buy new cars, and the opportunity to upgrade them. It's all pretty pared back compared to Forza and so on, of course. Petrolheads may find it insufficiently complex, but I'm quite happy just going through and upgrading mufflers and stuff without needing to know what they actually are, just that they make the stat numbers for my motor bigger.
The only thing I don't like is the music. So I turn that off and play my own soundtrack with Spotify.
Oh, and the implementation of the rumble, resistive triggers and the speaker on the DualSense is *chefkiss*. Probably the best implementation I've seen and really adds this cool bit of depth to feeling your car bump round the course. It's 4K/60 too, and looks delightful.
Is anyone else playing?
I've struggled to find racing games I like in the past decade. Arcade style has changed from meaning fantasy driving games focused purely on gameplay - your Outruns and Ridges - to signifying what are, to me anyway, rather stodgy and self-serious semi-sims (Driveclub, GRID).
Wreckfest doesn't buck that trend particularly - at no point do you dodge UFOs for points - but it's the most fun I've had with a racing game in years.
It all comes down to the feel of the controls. They're not as beautifully abstracted from reality as something like Ridge, but there is something about them that is tremendously fun. Each race is a Destruction Derby style banger smash up, where you jostle into each other on slippery, muddy race courses. Drifting, bouncing and crunching your way round is simply enjoyable, in a sort of kinetic, visceral way. I'm not into cars personally, but I'm into games, and this is a fun one I reckon.
There are loads of single player events to work through (including quite a few car combat, last man standing type ones, which to be honest I skip as I find these dull compared to races), a shop where you can buy new cars, and the opportunity to upgrade them. It's all pretty pared back compared to Forza and so on, of course. Petrolheads may find it insufficiently complex, but I'm quite happy just going through and upgrading mufflers and stuff without needing to know what they actually are, just that they make the stat numbers for my motor bigger.
The only thing I don't like is the music. So I turn that off and play my own soundtrack with Spotify.
Oh, and the implementation of the rumble, resistive triggers and the speaker on the DualSense is *chefkiss*. Probably the best implementation I've seen and really adds this cool bit of depth to feeling your car bump round the course. It's 4K/60 too, and looks delightful.
Is anyone else playing?
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