http://www.gaming-age.com/cgi-bin/reviews/review.pl?sys=xbox&game=wreckless
Review By Jim Cordeira
Grade
C
Average
Ratingsystem: http://www.gaming-age.com/reviews/guidelines.shtml
System
Xbox
Developer
Bunkasha Games
Publisher
Activision
Medium
DVD-ROM
Players
1
Wreckless- The Yakuza Missions
After playing Grand Theft Auto 3 for a number of weeks, I went into Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions with rather high expectations. The games are somewhat different in concept, though they are still mission-based driving titles at heart and do share more than a few similarities. Maybe expectations were too lofty, because Wreckless unfortunately came across as a bit disappointing in the end.
Right from the start, Wreckless gives the option to play as either an elite police squad member or a government spy. Regardless, you are given the task of taking down the Yakuza which is currently carrying out territorial feuds and high speed chases throughout Hong Kong. The game takes you through 20 missions in total, 10 each for the police and the spies. There are in game cut scenes that play out the storyline in between each mission, though the voice acting is absolutely laughable and the dialog, which attempts to be humorous, makes no sense. The plot really is just there to set up each mission, but a little coherence would have been a nice thing.
Even in early previews, Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions is labeled as being a stunning visual showpiece. That, is absolutely the truth. Every lighting, motion blur, heat shimmer and particle trick in the book is utilized to an amazing effect. While flying through the city nearly everything your vehicle collides with sends off a burst of debris, rainbow colored sparkles and fireworks. Thanks to some incredible reflection and self shadowing effects, the vehicles and environments look nearly as nice as pre-rendered CG. Some of the traffic and pedestrians look weaker in comparison, but the overall effect is really impressive. The amount of polygons being tossed around is also up there. When seeing a street packed full of pedestrians, boxes, carts and vehicles for the first time, you will undoubtedly be impressed. All this detail does cost the game engine a little. Instead of 60fps, Wreckless pushes a somewhat solid 30fps. I have definitely come across a few bouts of slowdown, but it's fairly uncommon. The replays also look fantastic and they alone feature another whole set of funky video effects.
While the visuals obviously do not disappoint, the gameplay unfortunately does. New vehicles are unlocked as you complete more and more missions, but they suffer from the same issue; Very simplistic controls. Accelerate, turn, brake/hand-brake and crash is the extent of your portfolio. Of course most driving titles feature a similar scheme, though good ones at least contain technique of some sort. A good portion of the free roaming streets/areas in which the missions take place are ext
remely narrow, congested and constricting, even more so than real life Hong Kong. Thanks to the narrow pathways and streets, it's frequently a chore just to avoid getting spun around and hung up on corners. The physics model is good, but it definitely leads to some annoying rollovers and sticking points. The ability to "bounce" off of the environment a bit more, a la Crazy Taxi, would have helped. Hunting down Yakuza cars and smashing them into everything in sight is fun for a while, although comes across as being rather pointless after a few times in a row.
Regardless of who you play as, missions usually place you in a "destroy X number of Yakuza cars", "protect X from the Yakuza cars", or "Destroy X things before your rival does" scenario. With most vehicles, "destroying" usually means crashing into repeatedly. There are some boss style fights which have slightly different variations, and some more interesting objectives later in the game, but do not expect Grand Theft Auto 3 mission complexity. Besides GTA3, the game I still find myself comparing mission based driving titles to is Felony 11-79 (Runabout in Japan). Wreckless, although looking light years better, definitely does not play as well as that several year old PlayStation game. What's even more confusing is that Bunkasha Games is made up of at least a few of those who were responsible for Runabout and Super Runabout.
Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions is an amazing game, until the point where the initial impact of the pretty visuals wears off. What's left is a very average playing mission based driving title with not much in the line of long term replayability. The missions don't last very long, and a good portion of them are not fun enough to warrant playing over and over. While the depth isn't there, as an interactive tech demo Wreckless is brilliant, and that alone should prompt at least a rental.
-- Jim Cordeira
Review By Jim Cordeira
Grade
C
Average
Ratingsystem: http://www.gaming-age.com/reviews/guidelines.shtml
System
Xbox
Developer
Bunkasha Games
Publisher
Activision
Medium
DVD-ROM
Players
1
Wreckless- The Yakuza Missions
After playing Grand Theft Auto 3 for a number of weeks, I went into Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions with rather high expectations. The games are somewhat different in concept, though they are still mission-based driving titles at heart and do share more than a few similarities. Maybe expectations were too lofty, because Wreckless unfortunately came across as a bit disappointing in the end.
Right from the start, Wreckless gives the option to play as either an elite police squad member or a government spy. Regardless, you are given the task of taking down the Yakuza which is currently carrying out territorial feuds and high speed chases throughout Hong Kong. The game takes you through 20 missions in total, 10 each for the police and the spies. There are in game cut scenes that play out the storyline in between each mission, though the voice acting is absolutely laughable and the dialog, which attempts to be humorous, makes no sense. The plot really is just there to set up each mission, but a little coherence would have been a nice thing.
Even in early previews, Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions is labeled as being a stunning visual showpiece. That, is absolutely the truth. Every lighting, motion blur, heat shimmer and particle trick in the book is utilized to an amazing effect. While flying through the city nearly everything your vehicle collides with sends off a burst of debris, rainbow colored sparkles and fireworks. Thanks to some incredible reflection and self shadowing effects, the vehicles and environments look nearly as nice as pre-rendered CG. Some of the traffic and pedestrians look weaker in comparison, but the overall effect is really impressive. The amount of polygons being tossed around is also up there. When seeing a street packed full of pedestrians, boxes, carts and vehicles for the first time, you will undoubtedly be impressed. All this detail does cost the game engine a little. Instead of 60fps, Wreckless pushes a somewhat solid 30fps. I have definitely come across a few bouts of slowdown, but it's fairly uncommon. The replays also look fantastic and they alone feature another whole set of funky video effects.
While the visuals obviously do not disappoint, the gameplay unfortunately does. New vehicles are unlocked as you complete more and more missions, but they suffer from the same issue; Very simplistic controls. Accelerate, turn, brake/hand-brake and crash is the extent of your portfolio. Of course most driving titles feature a similar scheme, though good ones at least contain technique of some sort. A good portion of the free roaming streets/areas in which the missions take place are ext
remely narrow, congested and constricting, even more so than real life Hong Kong. Thanks to the narrow pathways and streets, it's frequently a chore just to avoid getting spun around and hung up on corners. The physics model is good, but it definitely leads to some annoying rollovers and sticking points. The ability to "bounce" off of the environment a bit more, a la Crazy Taxi, would have helped. Hunting down Yakuza cars and smashing them into everything in sight is fun for a while, although comes across as being rather pointless after a few times in a row.
Regardless of who you play as, missions usually place you in a "destroy X number of Yakuza cars", "protect X from the Yakuza cars", or "Destroy X things before your rival does" scenario. With most vehicles, "destroying" usually means crashing into repeatedly. There are some boss style fights which have slightly different variations, and some more interesting objectives later in the game, but do not expect Grand Theft Auto 3 mission complexity. Besides GTA3, the game I still find myself comparing mission based driving titles to is Felony 11-79 (Runabout in Japan). Wreckless, although looking light years better, definitely does not play as well as that several year old PlayStation game. What's even more confusing is that Bunkasha Games is made up of at least a few of those who were responsible for Runabout and Super Runabout.
Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions is an amazing game, until the point where the initial impact of the pretty visuals wears off. What's left is a very average playing mission based driving title with not much in the line of long term replayability. The missions don't last very long, and a good portion of them are not fun enough to warrant playing over and over. While the depth isn't there, as an interactive tech demo Wreckless is brilliant, and that alone should prompt at least a rental.
-- Jim Cordeira
![[IMG]](http://www.tothegame.com/bilder/gaminfo/screenshots/pirates_xb/boxshot_us_small.jpg)
