Combat racers tend to be quite common in modern times. While they don’t usually make it to a full retail release they do often appear as downloadable games. This has lead to the genre becoming some what competitive, which of course means for a game to stand out it must be top quality. Wrecked: Revenge Revisited is the latest entry into the crowded genre, does it have an impact or is it just another flat tire?

With a tag line as bold as “the next evolution of explosive battle racing fun.” you’d be forgiven for expecting a fresh twist on what has become a stale genre. The single player portion of Wrecked is a limited affair. The game is broken up into 24 challenges which are divided into 3 different categories.

The fist category is a simple test of speed which tasks the player with beating ghosts to the finishing line. It’s the simplest of the modes and the least enjoyable due it feeling so out of place in such a combat game. Weapon mode is exactly what it says on the tin. Players are tasked with taking out the enemy with various weapons, all of which are generic (think mines, machine guns, etc.) before the lap limit is reached. Skill challenges add fun to proceedings, by tasking players to collect coins dotted around the track while overcoming various handicaps.



Elite challenges are where the most fun can be found when playing Wrecked solo. The challenges range from being strapped with bombs to navigating obstacle courses. These challenges tend to be the most enjoyable, but they aren’t without their faults. Only a handful of the events offer any form of opponents to battle/race against. There comes a point where it doesn’t even feel like your playing a game that’s described as a vehicular combat title. The challenges also tend to be rather repetitive in nature once you hit the midway point, this makes the game feel repetitive.

Certain elements of the challenge modes would be effective if they were combined, but as solo modes they tend to feel rather flat. It’s a shame, as there’s potential for a decent game but these elements are far and few between, not to mention the primary elements that fail Wrecked are unfortunately key parts of any game, and that’s design and controls.

The camera is the biggest hazard players will encounter. The player has no control over the camera whatsoever, this leads to many cheap deaths and being blind sided when tuning corners. The speed at which the camera changes from angle to angle is extremely confusing, especially towards the later ice based tacks.

The controls are also a huge issue. Turbo boosts play a large part of the core gameplay and they’re very fiddly to pull off. While most games make the wise decision to map turbo boosting to a single button, Wrecked requires a button combo. Tapping the break button and instantly following it up with two quick taps of accelerate engages the turbo boost. This fiddly combo results in many mistakes and frustration, which ironically breaks the pace of the gameplay. The design decisions play havoc with the majority of the game and detract from its overall quality.



Confusing design decisions also appear in the controls lay out. It’s rare to find modem video games that straight out refuse to offer a player the chance to change the control set up. While it may not sound like much of a issue, mistakes are costly and unfortunately the control set up encourages them.

Wrecked offers a multiplayer option, which hosts up to 4 players both online and locally. Multiplayer puts the players on the same screen which means that anyone falling too far behind, and off the screen, will be eliminated. The multiplayer works well and is fun to play in small doses, but after a few hours the fun begins to burn away and the frustration of the previously mentioned issues begins to set in.

Wrecked: Revenge Revisited is a fun game but only in very brief outings. Single player offers a few enjoyable experiences that are regrettably bogged down by the repetitive nature of the majority of challenges . The camera is by far the biggest issue with Wrecked and there comes a point where patience is required, and rarely rewarded. The maps of Wrecked are a bit on the generic side (ice, desert and all that jazz) but they do look visually appealing. Overall, it sounds and looks decent and manages to offer some thrills, but in the end the camera and odd controls result in the game being more frustrating than frantic and fun.

5/10