Variety is the spice of life (or so I’ve been told), and let’s face it, this game isn’t a cheese sandwich. Just about every type of driving game imaginable has been released for the various game consoles and the PC over the years.
Finding something new (or at the least different) is one of the most difficult tasks for fans of racing games. For that reason, if no other, Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions™ is a game worth a good long look. It isn’t another NASCAR simulator (“Oh look, I can make a right hand turn!”), nor is it an Indycar or Rally race. In this game, you drive around a city, trying to crush things with several thousand pounds of steel and rubber.
Now, there have certainly been other driving games in the past that have focused on automotive mayhem and destruction. Remember Interstate 76 from Activision? Of course, that was more like a simulator with guns if I remember correctly, but still, it did have quite a bit to do with blowing stuff up with your car. The big difference here is that you don’t get to use guns, missiles, Nitrous Oxide, mines, spikes, or flamethrowers. Oh no, none of that junk--you just get your bumper. (Hmmm, why do I have an urge to laugh maniacally here … )
Okay, so the idea is to smash into things. Sounds pretty simple, without much variety or challenge really, right? Oh wait … what happens when you are trying to ram a huge industrial-sized Dump Truck with your little commuter-sized car. Well, so much for that “this is simple” theory. Time to think creatively and figure out some way to get your comparatively little car to bounce high enough to hit your victim someplace besides the tires. After all, each of those tires weighs about as mush as my house, so ramming them isn’t going to do a whole lot.
Of course, there are also the missions that don’t involve trying to ram other cars. Perhaps instead of ramming vehicles, you have to race against the computer and destroy Dim-sum stands. (For you westerners, think hot dog stands). Whoever destroys the target number of stands first is the winner. How about trying to locate someone in the city, while a bunch of cheesed off Yakuza thugs trying to ram you into submission, with the clock ticking down all the while? Seems pretty straightforward … until you find out the person you have to save is on the top floor of a half-built high-rise building. Things like these really are a fun change of pace from the normal racing game grind. Variety, isn’t it just a grand little bit of spice?
Of course, none of this would be interesting unless it were backed up with solid gameplay elements and code. Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions has them: fast graphics, a selection of vehicles to choose from, the ability to play as either the cops or as some other “less good” group of people, and of course, real-time vehicle damage. Well, you do spend a lot of time trying to destroy other cars, so you have to be able to see the damage, right? Of course you do! Maybe I’m odd, but I really get a kick out of watching the bumper crumple, the headlights shatter, and the hood go flying off of my car as I use the front end as a giant sledge hammer to destroy my opponents. Naturally, the enemy vehicles experience all sorts of mechanical mayhem and destruction. They lose parts and develop a variety of problems that would make a used car salesman shudder. There’s no way the body shop is going to be able to hide that dent.
So, when you get a little tired of chasing other cars around the race tracks, of playing nice and trying not to mess up your paintjob, or of shooting up your opponents with more bullets than the National Guard even owns, then you might want to try something different. Throw some spice in your usual cheese sandwich, and see how you like it.
