Gaming Target - Xbox: Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions

Written by Patrick Geurs on February 15, 2002

Full Review: Yakuza! Bless you! No, noЕ YAKUZA! BLESS YOU!

I think the best way to sum up Wreckless would be by calling it Уthe little game that couldФ. But unfortunately, it falls just a tad bit short. Sadly, most of this falling short isn't due to the game being bad, but due instead to the misunderstanding of what this game is. People saw the cars and immediately thought that this was going to be a racing game with a lot of destruction and reckless driving, hence the name. However, Wreckless is something different. While you'd be correct in assuming that high-speeds and crazy driving are a necessity, what you'd be missing was that Wreckless has a point to it. Think of this as your James Bond game, on wheels.

First thing we notice, of course, is the graphics. I thought Halo looked good, and it still does, but Wreckless completely outshines anything yet seen on a console. The environments are extremely well detailed, everything from streetlights, signs, banners, even pedestrians on the streets. Just a normal day in Hong Kong. That is, of course, till you come tearing through and generally cause mayhem. The environments reflect off the cars with surprising realism, and the water effects (especially when and if you fall into them) are simply the best that I have ever seen in a game, period.

Perhaps the most noticeable aspect of the visuals is the visual damage your car, and the surroundings incur. For instance, smacking a rail on the side of the road will cause sparks to go flying and dent your car a bit. Not only does your car take damage, but the other cars around you also take realistic damage as they get hit. You'd expect this from the Yakuza cars (your enemy), but even the no-namers receive damage as well. If you're lucky, you may even get to cause a few tailspins or pileups here and there. Fun stuff. Speaking of damage, I mean DAMAGE. Get hit enough, and you might lose a bumper, or a hood, or even a door off of your car. The damage appears to be collision detected. Meaning, your door won't just fall off if you hit the back of the car.

Believe it or not, there is a story behind driving like a lunatic. See, there is this mob, the Yakuza, causing lots of trouble and it's up to you to stop them. There are 2 ways to go about this. You can either play the role of a police detective and inspector pair, or as a pair of new spies. Either way, your main goal is the same -- stop the Yakuza!

The mission types vary drastically from level to level. One mission might have you take out a certain number of dim-sum stands before your rival does, while another mission has you sneaking around to different УpictureФ points on the map to take surveillance photos. Of course, the more fun ones are the missions that task you with destroying the Yakuza cars by ramming them. One thing that does seem a little unrealistic, though, is that even though your car takes damage, it can never totally be destroyed. However, having a destroyable car on a mission that asks you to use your car as a battering ram won't work too well now will it? I admit, some of the missions are demanding, but with practice, are passable.

Gameplay for the most part is on target, but with a couple flaws worthy of mention. For instance, the cars handle way too loosely. Hit one bump, even a minor one, and your car will go careening out of control. This can prove especially frustrating when it happens as time is running out on a mission. Not only that, simple changes in direction can cause your car to loose traction. Lastly, at some points, holding down the brake will NOT stop your car. You will instead inch forward or backward, as an alternative to staying in the same place. This isn't all that important since 99% of the time you will be driving around with the pedal to the floor anyways. But on stages where you have to be careful, (mainly stage A-6), not being able to stop completely at times is a little annoying, if not possibly dangerous.

While I am on the gameplay tilt, let me point out that there is no multi-player option available in the game. None, nadda, zero. The only options available are the replay mode, in which you watch your saved replays, and the mission mode. That's it. There is no vs. mode, no co-op feature, there's not even a free drive mode available that would allow you to just explore the huge (and I do mean huge) levels in the game. While it might be asking for a touch much, a mini-destruction derby mode might have been a nice inclusion to the game also. I mean you DO take part in a mission where you are in a bowl destruction-derby style, but that's about all you see of it. Perhaps in Wreckless 2? If there is one that isЕ

The sound category in the game has to be one of the most varied I have ever seenЕ err, heard. The sound effects of the crashing vehicles and general environment sounds are excellent. However, the engine noise of your car sound like a wind-up toy. Now I know this isn't meant to be a УrealФ sim, but at least make the cars sound like it has an engine for a power source, and not some over-amped Energizer Bunny. The music in the game is a range of techno, electronic beats. Upbeat, catchy. Its good for those insane speed-missions. Yet, this seems better suited for a rave in LA rather than music in a driving game. This game doesn't support the custom soundtrack feature either, so sorry guys. Either live with it, or you'll have to turn it off in favor of a CD (oh, and by the way Adam, I got a new Dream Theatre CD, where the average song is 13 minutes, not hours).