Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions

"High Adrenaline Action Fun, Possibly the Best Ever."

Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions is easily one of the best games ever made. When I first started it up, I was expecting a good game, I just didn't [i]realize[/i] at the time what that meant. Wreckless is literally so good it makes the copycats look like crap.

Wreckless is not only good, not only does it have outstanding graphics, its just an AWESOME AAA game, which you if you have any skill or taste for action, can never get enough of. Overall I was more blown away by Wreckless than HALO. In Graphics it creams Halo, in absolute twisted gameplay, it takes on some of the best, including ChaseHQ and GTA3.

Graphics: 10. Easily the best most thrilling graphics I've ever seen. They actually include the real blure effect you get when traveling at full speeds. They actually simulate that in XBOX's hardware!!!! It's unbelievable to watch your replays, after smashing literally everyone to pieces.

Gameplay: 10. Let me say somethin real quick here. GTA3 may have some good gameplay, but overall it gets boring after a while. It's mainly a game where you are out of your car, so there is just not the oppurtunity or mass selection of things to do while you are IN it. Not like there is in Wreckless. Which is why I have to score Wreckless a perfect 10. It's got the absolute most AWESOME gameplay for its genre, and it shows. Wreckless is a game where if you ever wanted to smash a new window to that mans restaurant, you could do it. It's a game where you can throw yourself onto apartment building roofs, fly through city banks blowing everything out of the way, and chase people as they flee in terror. It's a game where you can do ollies off ramps, and SLAM straight into someone's porsche, or blow their indoor shopping mall a new door. It takes no time to get the controls of Wreckless down. Overall they are pure arcade at its best, the physics are done realistically for pure arcade action. This is a game where if you choose to, you can become a Tank the entire game, and just blow everything you see to hell, including the helicopters. Activision just left it up to you. Not satisfied with the timers?? Blow up some barrels and get some extra time.

Sound: 9. The voice work is amazing in this game. Truely, for translations, they did an excellent job. The Yakuza fit in great, as they return from their job as the main bad guys in GTA3. For this reason Wreckless is almost a side story to GTA3, in every means of the word. You will hear the mafia laughing at you, you can hear the screams of people running from you in fear. This ain't your mommas car game. This is Wreckless.

Presentation: 10. Overall the customability options, the tons of secrets, the incredible sense of fun and the added bonus of altering storylines, depending on how YOU complete the missions makes the presentation of this game a 10. You just couldn't do this amount of things in ChaseHQ or GTA3, it should have been there, but there is no way it was! You can play on both sides of the law this time, as the bad guys, or the good guys. You get to see how each story intersects and the craziness it causes. Overall, Wreckless takes this genre to a whole new height, almost higher than Halo takes the FPS genre.

Lasting Appeal: 9. Though short, Wreckless has its bang for your buck. Once you can get over the initial challenge, even though Wreckless is very hard and can get u really mad, the fun and thrill that is there continues to pull you in. Once you have the tank and auv, can go in and out of any nightclub you want chasing people away without any card, blow up cop cars and subway trains and just plain be Wreckless, there is no questioning the replay value. It's the highest of almost any game, and literally so fun, to see the different filters, and storylines you can create it makes it all worthwhile. Short at the beginning, but the longest thrill ride you'll ever have since watching Lethal Weopon 4 once u reach the end. Plus Activision has included a special code which is unlockable for Level Editor, could include the booster disc they are adding. Just think about Wreckless online!!! Gimme a hell yeah! :) Kudos to one of the best games ever being only on XBOX. If you dont have an XBOX and are afraid to get one still, just get one for this game. Even if after you've played it out you don't want the XBOX anymore, you have to experience this game. Go out and get it now!!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/11/02, Updated 03/11/02