Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions

"You'll be screaming the "F" word many times, and I don't mean "Fun.""

Hype is a double-edged sword. It can take a game from the depths of the unknown to the status of killer app, just by word of mouth. On the other end, it can make a game that couldn't possibly live up to the hype disappoint many. The latter correctly describes Wreckless - a game that came from nowhere to get hyped through the ceiling due to its visual punch, yet winds up being nothing more than a glorified tech demo to show off the future power of the Xbox. For a first time effort, Bunkasha Games did a bang up job of making the game look incredible (at times, anyway), but really dropped the ball where it matters most - gameplay. It's worth a look to see all the much-hyped visuals, but with the frustration factor so high, there's not much reason to stick with the game, unless you need an Xbox visual showpiece.

Gameplay

Wreckless is split into a pair of Scenarios - one features 2 Hong Kong policewomen out to stop various schemes of the Yakuza, which is of course the Japanese Mafia. The other scenario features a pair of spies - one who looks like an overgrown Jeff Bridges from Dumb and Dumber, and one that looks eerily similar to Elton John. They too are supposed to stop the Yakuza, only in this case they aren't out to arrest them, since they're spies and all.

Besides the 2 scenarios, there is absolutely no more gameplay modes to fool with. No free run, no multiplayer, none of that. Just 10 missions per scenarion, and it's all finished. Short games have never bothered me, but to have such a pitiful lack of extras is disheartening. It's easy to see that Bunkasha was more interested in showing off the pretty graphics, considering they only threw in a Replay mode to watch your mission attempts. And there isn't much gameplay in that.

What Wreckless does have in replay is the ability to unlock hidden cars. The only downfall is you have to unlock them, and then complete the mission to earn it. And considering some of the missions, that task is nigh-impossible.

To Wreckless's credit, most of the missions go beyond the ''smash Yakuza car, speed away'' gameplay style that many feared Wreckless would wind up being. Sure, you have to smash up a lot of Yakuza cars, but you'll be doing it during your missions, instead of it actually being the mission. Some of the missions even intersect - mission's 1 for both scenarios are basically the same, but your target is different. Scenario A-3 (the police) features a race of sorts to hit Dim Sum stands...and your opponent are the bumbling spies in their fancy hot rod.

However, it's a shame the missions are set up in such a frustrating, annoying way. There's a time limit stuck into the game, giving you a short period of time to finish the goals. This is fine and dandy, but the missions are just so freakin' hard that even the best gamers out there will get inherently frustrated. For instance, Scenario B (the spies), mission 4 has you on docks, taking pictures of a Yakuza bigshot. Reading that, you'd think this mission would be a blast, riding to the picture points and shooting away. Too bad it's so poorly executed. Instead of just driving from point to point, the game suddenly transforms into a platform game with cars, hopping the water to get on a ledge across the way, shoot the picture, and then find the other spot. And since the cars control like a turd, the frustration level just goes through the roof. If it was say, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater or something this would be acceptable, but in a driving game, it just doesn't work, especially given the poor handling of the vehicles.

Other missions aren't that much better - A-9 is a vicious level that is barely passable because of Yakuza cars from nowhere whacking you around and defeating your mission objectives, and B-6 is simply the most annoyingly designed level I've seen in a very long time.

What's sad is some levels are pure genius and brilliance - the street race through town, smashing up all in your path to win the race is a pure blast, even with the bad handling, and the game of ''Tag'' you play with the Yakuza over counterfeit money plates is very unique. As is the rooftop level against the same Yakuza head you were taking pictures of before, only you're the police, not the spies. But for every good moment, there's 2 bad ones that completely take you out of the experience. You'll go from loving to hating every mission, and most likely by the time you're done it will be all hate.

Notice I didn't mention the big gimmick about smashing everything in sight - the reason is, Grand Theft Auto 3 does it 10x better, and it's nothing but a diversion from the terrible missions. And annoying too, since you'll ram into cars every 10 seconds and get stuck on walls instead of bouncing off them. It's all eye candy if you ask me.

As mentioned, the control is flat out terrible. I realize that the game is an arcade-like experience, but this takes the cake. Some cars, even when you are going perfectly straight down the road, will swerve around like they have a pair of flat tires. Turning corners on a powerslide is fun, when you can properly do it, and not slam into other cars, or buildings because you can't finish the turn. Nothing is really hard to adjust to on the Xbox controller, but it's just how things play out on the TV screen.

Graphics

The visuals are the reason why Wreckless was hyped all along, and for good reason. For the most part, Wreckless is an amazing looking game. It's a shame that Wreckless is nothing but a visual powerhouse, but for graphics fanboys, this is eye candy for certain. At first glance, the game does look quite real, despite running at 30 FPS and kinda lacking the sensation of speed that Project Gotham Racing has. Ripping apart the streets and looking at the damage is fun, but the collison detection is funny. You run right through poles and trees, but sometimes you'll be quite a good distance away from something and still hit it and spin out.

The special effects like lighting and water is great - the water on the docks is probably some of the best water I've ever seen, as is the lighting from streetlights and such. The cars take damage as well; you'll lose your doors, the sides will get dented in, and the front end will get smashed up good. Unfortunately the characters in the car show no expression; kind of like little Lego guys.

The replay mode is great though; it changes style and color as you view it. Sometimes it'll be the normal style, and then go to a white-stencil look, which is fascinating to look at. You can save your best replays to the Xbox hard drive to view later using the Replay mode, if it floats your boat.

What gets me is Wreckless has a ton of blur - due to the exhaust that's animated in from your back end. Driving around, you'll see a ton of blur, which is extremely annoying and really takes away the punch of the graphics. On the whole though, the visual package is excellent, but is less appealing since the gameplay is so poor.

Sound

The voice acting isn't very good. All the characters sound like stereotypical camp, with cheesy lines and typical attitudes. For instance the aforementioned spies - one is very smart and cunning, the other is dumber than a sack of hammers. And that's not very bright. For pure campiness, do the rooftop level and hear Mr. Yakuza yell catch phrases that almost par with the Resident Evil cheesiness. But not quite.

The music is largely forgettable, and definitely would have benefited from the Xbox music ripper. As such, the tunes included are very uninspired and nothing to write home about. 'Tis a shame.

Overall - Rent/Buy

Wreckless, for all the hype, is a pure disappointment. Perhaps if the game wasn't hyped to the level it was, then the score would be slightly higher, but even then, Wreckless simply isn't a great game. It's a decent game, which could have and should have been great if more detail was spent making the game fun to play, instead of only just fun to look at. As I said, give Wreckless a rent, but don't spend $50 on it, unless you really wind up enjoying the game or want to use it to show off what the Xbox is capable of. Let's hope if there's a Wreckless 2, that Bunkasha has more time to fine-tune the game, and give us a title that lives up to the undeserved hype.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 02/11/02, Updated 02/11/02