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![review](https://bluestormvg.tripod.com/images/review.gif)
DOING THE
IMPOSSIBLE: SUCKING AND BLOWING AT THE SAME TIME
WRECKLESS
THE YAKUZA MISSIONS
Written By Shaun McCracken
Wreckless
was one of the first Xbox games to truly demonstrate what the machine
could do. Littered with many special effects, lighting and high
resolution textures, Wreckless was a showpiece for someone to show off
their Xbox. But Wreckless this version of Wreckless shows how much the
Xbox release relied mainly on it's graphical flair. When you take away
all the glitz and glamor, you're left with a game that can be fun, if
not for some of the inconsistencies it has problems with.
The
main plot of Wreckless is actually divided into two stories that
involve the Yakuza mob. You can either play as the Flying Dragons or a
couple of spies. The Flying Dragons are in a way like bounty hunters.
They really don't seem like they're tied to a criminal enforcement
agency, but the police really never go after them for wreckless
behavior (pun?). And as for the spies, you really never get the idea
that they are spies until a few missions into the game. Their opening
cinematic scene shows them talking about stealing all the Yakuza have.
The focus of this game seems kind of askew. It's like they mixed
elements of SpyHunter with the insane pace of Crazy Taxi.
The
missions of the game are fairly different for each group. You'll have
to race opponents, destroy cars, steal back certain items, take some
pictures of a person and so on. And before you start the mission, it
seems pretty easy on what needs to be done. But that's where things get
complicated. The arrow that is supposed to guide you is useless half
the time, it just wanders to where the goal is, but not how to get
there. The map is about as useless, since you can't see the whole map,
you only get a chunk of it, and it doesn't display everything, like
checkpoints.
But
those small elements really only play a part of the hindrance you'll
encounter in the game. The overall design of the game seems cluttered.
You drive around in a cramped city setting with cars EVERYWHERE. This
game has the worst traffic I have ever seen in a video game. Littered
with cars, there's really not much room to make a clear line in the
road. Add the fact that some drivers are just really stupid, and you've
got problems. It's hard to complete some missions due to the excessive
amount of traffic. If there's a mission that calls for not damaging a
particular item, how is this possible when you can't drive past a car?
Sure, you can push it out of the way with a missile, but that makes
things worse.
Speaking
of missiles, you have a small bit of arsenal at your disposal. About 8
missiles and 3 "Adrenaline Boosts", and while the missiles help a
little, the Adrenaline Boost is not really a boost at all, it just
slows down the pace of the game (for why?). And you can't replenish
your inventory at all. Use all the missiles, and that's it. Then you're
left to using your car. And here's something odd, your car does not
take damage! In a game like this, it does make life a little easier,
but with so much you smash into, you would think it would slow down, at
least. As for how the game handles, it handles better than I imagined.
Some places said the controls were poor, but for some reason I had no
trouble at all. It is fairly loose, kind of like Cruisn' USA's
handling, but I never really had problems with it.
The
visuals of the game can best be described as average. The texture work,
while not utterly horrible, is not nearly as nice as other GCN games.
You play this, then you play Burnout 2, and you'll notice a difference.
I guess you can blame some of the diminished texture quality on the
huge city environment, since there's just so much to place a texture
on. But then again, the Xbox could pull this off effortlessly, and with
effects to boot. I'm sure if there was some extra attention on porting
the game, it can look very close to the Xbox version. I know the GCN
can pull off better. Basically, it looks like an average Dreamcast
title.
The
sound effects are not thoroughly stunning either. Theres a lot of tire
screeching, crashing noises and explosions, but they seem to have been
sampled at a slightly lower rate. The music is pretty average, and the
voice acting is comical at best.
When
you put so much emphasis on graphics, you really forget about game play,
and Wreckless is a perfect example of this. The game looked great on
the Xbox, but when you get down to the design and game play of the game,
you're left with something that seems cluttered and a bit incoherent.
If you have an Xbox, it's best to go with that version as it does look
better. On any term, however, Wreckless is best as a rental, but even
that's a tough recommendation.
.
.
.
|
![gameinfo](https://bluestormvg.tripod.com/images/gameinfo.gif)
![](https://bluestormvg.tripod.com/images/wrecklessgc.jpg)
Published
By :
ACTIVISION
Developed
By:
POINT
OF VIEW
Year Published :
2002
Players :
1
ESRB Rating:
TEEN
![theverdict](https://bluestormvg.tripod.com/images/score.gif)
OVERALL
SCORE
3.5
VISUALS |
5.0 |
AUDIO |
4.0 |
GAMEPLAY |
2.0 |
REPLAY
VALUE |
2.0 |
INNOVATION |
3.0 |
Ugly, annoying and just not that fun, Wreckless is a lifeless port.
![betterthan](https://bluestormvg.tripod.com/images/better.gif)
What?
Could there actually be something better than this?
![worsethan](https://bluestormvg.tripod.com/images/worse.gif)
SpyHunter
SpyHunter 2
BloodWake
Roadkill
|