There is nothing I enjoy more in games than seeing things get smashed to pieces.  I’m not exactly sure but I think this fascination started back when Black was released on the original Xbox, and only exacerbated through games like Battlefield: Bad Company, Red Faction: Guerilla and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.  The latest game to make that list is the recently released Wreckfest.

Wreckfest is a destruction derby styled arcade racer, meaning you’re driving cars that look like they were made out of parts of other cars as you drive around a combination of dirt and asphalt paths.  Despite that sounding overly reductive, there isn’t really a whole lot else going on in the gameplay department.  You’ve got various forms of races you can compete in, but aside from some bonus objectives you can go for that involve causing damage or spinning out other cars, you’re just going for first place every time.

There are some fun diversions you can take place in however.  There are some destruction derbies you get to participate in, but they range anywhere from mildly entertaining to nearly impossible.  There’s one where you drive a combine harvester in a destruction derby with other harvesters, and while that sounds fun on the surface, in practice it’s pretty boring.

The main pull for me is the destruction, and luckily there is no shortage of that.  You’re bound to see plenty of it too considering the AI ranges from stupid to downright vindictive.  Your opponents like to do their best to just fuck you up at crucial points in a race.  They’ll sacrifice themselves to push you off of a cliff, they do not care one way or the other.  It isn’t so bad considering that when they go all t-bone crazy on you, pieces of car fly off into the sky in a beautiful explosion of shredded metal and glass.

All things considered, I’m enjoying my time with Wreckfest despite it being a little thinner of an experience than I would’ve liked.  The progression isn’t great and the car upgrades are boring, but as a car deforming simulator it’s great.  I would probably wait for it to go on sale though, $45 seems like a little too much to ask for what’s being offered in my opinion.