Wreckreation

Wreckreation has lofty ambitions, and I’d say it achieves most of them. Driving is fast and furious, and the gameplay loop kept me hooked as I was constantly discovering some new and cool thing while tooling around in my MixWorld. Countless late nights were spent beating a tight time in a race or hunting new cars to collect. While there are more minor issues under the hood than I’d like, those who crave a decidedly old-school open-world racer should take this one for a spin.

Think of Wreckreation as a spiritual sequel to Burnout Paradise, only not as polished and with the addition of creation elements. It has some issues, but it's been much improved since launch thanks to numerous patches. If you want to race at insane speeds and take down opponents, it's well worth a try.

I can't deny that I liked my time spent playing Wreckreation. The high-octane action, the blistering speeds, and the open-world freedom all come together to offer a format that I adore. However, I can't in good conscience attribute much of this to this game, as it's about as blatant a copy I have ever seen, lifting Burnout Paradise's mechanics, UI, race types, and progression almost note for note. Yet, in many ways, the game fails to capture that same lightning in a bottle, with shoddy recreations of many aspects of its inspiration. The only unique thing this game has to offer lies within the creation and online functionality, but due to the lackluster and uninspired single-player core this game offers, I don't think these admittedly interesting features will be enough to get many potential fans behind the wheel.

Wreckreation isn't quite the arcade racer many fans have been waiting for. Its super-fast racing action and emphasis on taking down rival drivers recalls fond memories of Burnout, and the game's focal point — the ability to build your own challenges and courses wherever you please — has bags of potential. Unfortunately, iffy physics and handling and a lifeless open world let the side down, but there's still fun to be had in this open world racer, especially if you can gather some pals for some online shenanigans.

Wreckreation is obviously the most ambitious project of Three Fields Entertainment yet. It shows but unfortunately mostly in bad or boring ways. While the cars control alright and the placement of new track elements is great everything else falls off. You can never outdrive the other racers, no matter how good you perform. The crash sequences when wrecking other cars more often than not end in complete disaster and the world itself isn’t exciting either.