Opinion: Wreckfest 2's Xbox Release Seems To Be Ages Away, But That Might Be For The Best

If I remember correctly I believe I had the original on PS4, when it launched it was a buggy broken mess.

Still great fun to play but it was in a terrible state when it first released.

Thankfully the Xbox Series X and PS5 versions seem to run perfectly.

Hopefully they will have learned from previous mistakes with this 2nd game

I tried Wreckfest while it was on Game Pass ages ago, but it didn't really click with me. I found the the CPU controller drivers would end up taking each outer out and I'd be limping round the track on my own at a snails pace because my car was almost wrecked too.
Picked it up in a sale a couple of months ago because I want to give it another try - it seems to have reviewed quite well.

I imagine this will probably wind up being a crossgen game eventually like the original, only for this and next gen consoles.

Anyways this is one of those sequels where I really don't need it but I still welcome it.

Wreckfest 1 was good but to me has limits I found boring like many modern racing games. The physics were fair.

Wrecreation looks like a more creative game. So 2 will be fine for what it is going for.

I'm fine with no licenses, I prefer it. More creativity. The style/what it's going for is great. We don't see many of it's type. Like Flatout but modern to compare or not. Wreckfest is a good thing to see in the really stagnant racing genre.

But progression/event variety bothers me in EVERY single racing game these days Indie or AAA/AA.

Just give me the vehicles with some bowling, some touge, gates, whatever objects, what weather, what gimmicks, some hitting scrap, using scrap, something original, some events or hubs with scrap in interesting dynamic ways.

Something to fit the tone/environment of Wreckfest. I'd take real vehicles/look alikes in space/other worlds even then grounded we see.

Even shooters are so bland and static maps. Hero ones sure abilities have to work around them but others don't do anything interesting with their maps and they feel lifeless, so they don't have that excuse. So yes I want them to use the scrap or rough tone and actually do more in the world with it. But they won't.

AI whether of opponents or people in stands or otherwise sure but mostly progression/event types were and are always my problem with racing games in the modern era.

It's like seeing analogue type tech in games like the Invisible or Ratchet 1, yet we see shiny sci-fi all the time.

Hot Lap Racing, Grid, Gravel, and more. I enjoy but again have limits and do the bare minimum.

The mix of vehicle types was good, didn't change much between them so didn't care for them at much, but visually was fair/physics fair between the many types, but the races/derbies back and forth for 20+ hours is very boring.

Played many games with more layouts or event types and had way more fun or some that blend them well of focus besides the 2 event types progression but I still would critique them as my issues with them they just hide it better.

The NFS Shift 1/2009 too much open ended to like half the event access to end game was just kind of worthless.

There is making it accessible but when it's so open it feels worthless or repetitive and like I don't care enough for that progression and the want to play them.

It's why I just played it in a challenge way to not upgrade anything or buy any cars and I still had access to the end game ones. Sigh. So I played half the game to follow that challenge mentality.

I may play it to completion but didn't on purpose. So the challenge didn't bore me. I play enough games properly then in a challenge way if I like the game enough and see where it really shines of progression, physics, upgrades, and other factors.

If the tedium/restrictions to make a game work shine versus not. Good tedium/restrictions work for good games. Bad is too much.

The lack of event types really bothered me. Even V Rally 4 has like what 2 of the same, 2 of the same and 1 slightly different of rules. But that variety is so paper thin.

We just don't get event variety anymore and it really annoys me in modern racing games unless it's like Inertial Drift, most don't and it's just sad. Just modes isn't that hard to have a few different rules and same disciplines of racing. They just don't want to put the effort in.

@dmcc0 Funny, because that's what I liked about Wreckfest. A lot of racing games have the CPU drivers sticking to a racing line, but I found the Wreckfest CPU drivers to be very unpredictable, they would take each other out and you too if the time was right 😁

@RetroMan71 I agree, the unpredictability of the CPU racers was great compared to most racing games, but it's just that the majority of races I did, I ended up as the last car standing and crawling round the track because I was so heavily damaged myself. I honestly would've been quicker if I'd got out the car and walked!