Next Car Game: Wreckfest for Windows

Not your ordinary racing game

Next Car Game: Wreckfest is a demolition derby-themed racing game from Bugbear. While most realistic car race games teach players to drive clean and race fair, this game encourages you to forget driving etiquette. It is like an automotive equivalent of a bar brawl, as it flaunts breakneck racing and over-the-top crashes.

Drive and destroy

Next Car Game: Wreckfest rekindles the door-slamming spirit of their original FlatOut games and brings it back to life by placing it inside a demolition derby. The game isn’t exactly an arcade smash- ‘em-up carved from the Burnout block. In fact, it looks to be more of a mix of Destruction Derby and the Test Drive: Eve of Destruction. 

Expect epic crashes, neck-to-neck races, and even metal bending. The game offers true-to-life physics simulation for a more thrilling experience. Wreckfest has two damage levels you can pick; namely, normal and realistic damages. Normal damages make your cars tough but not invincible. This is a fun option as it allows you to keep racing, even after your car takes a few hits. Realistic damages, on the other hand, are more challenging since one mistake can see you limping to the finish line, missing a wheel. 

The realism doesn’t end with the damages you take. Debris from the collision is persistent throughout the game, too. With every new lap, you will see evidence of the high-speed war all over the track. You will probably wade through a carpet of metal shards, splintered woods, and scattered tires by the end of the race. 

Old but gold

Most of the cars in Next Car Game: Wreckfest looks like they were hauled out of a junkyard and painted to hide the rust. However, don’t let the appearance fool you, because the detailing isn’t what’s important here. What matters is that every car drives fast and can take a beating.

The game provides a selection of cars, from hulking American models to smaller European and Japanese cars. There are also special vehicles available, including double-decker buses, school buses, and huge harvesters. An array of driving aids is available on hand to help you in controlling your car, but you still need to work harder behind the wheel.

Another thing that the players will like about Wreckfest is that it has tons of great customization options. Not only can you change the look of your cars, but you can also upgrade their body armor, reinforce them to protect from damage, and also add weight for more impact. You can also modify them to make a robust tank or a fragile but lightning-fast rocket.

However, Wreckfest is definitely screaming for a rudimentary paint editor to allow players to paint their numbers and messages to the cars. Moreover, it is a bit disappointing that the game opted to have a scruffy junkyard—so unlike the clean and sterile upgrade menu that Forza and Need for Speed have. But what’s more annoying is that you cannot save and quickly apply setups for cars.

Old-school racer

Despite emphasizing demolition, Next Car Game: Wreckfest is an old-school racing game at heart. It does not provide a guide path for you to follow, nor does it give you a rewind function. Instead, it pushes you to create your opportunities.

On the flip side, the game does not have much of a career structure. Sure, there is a challenge mode. But to unlock new challenges, you need to play what’s available. You also need to garner certain points to unlock a new event tier.

Aside from the challenge mode, the game also offers career mode, which lets you battle for championships, earns experience, and become the all-time Wreckfest champion. There is also the multiplayer mode, which pits you against players online. It delivers almost every race or event in the campaign but doesn’t offer much outside of this.

High-quality destruction racing

Looking at it, Next Car Game: Wreckfest is the long-overdue demolition racing that most hardcore racers are looking for. This game gives you an aggressive racing experience that is a triumphant blend of a sim and arcade racers. Sure, the game lacks a little spark off the track, and there are a few visual issues, but all of it does not matter when you are in the thick of a heart-racing and car-wrecking race.