Wreckfest Review (mank11nd)
2 things I'm a bit disappointed about :
The AI feels unfinished
Sometimes they try to hit you even though they have nothing to gain from it, or just fishtail for no reason and drive off the track, put themselves in reverse and get stuck there forever. The deathloop in particular usually becomes an impassable graveyard after 2-3 laps. In expert mode, they are a bit rubberband-y in the corners, they get a pretty obvious traction boost and always try to it you in the rear. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't and they take themselves out and get stuck
AI Boomer cars in particular (but there are handful of others) are remarkable in that, at equivalent performance points, they are way faster than the others for some reason, thus very annoying to get past when trying to reach the top places. The only way to win certain races with some AI cars is to restart over and over until you somehow overtake everyone in the first corner, which brings me to my second point
The only real objective in races is to finish first
It's the only thing that gives you points and makes you progress. I played a Demolition Derby clone on the PS1 called Demolition Racer, where your damage points were multiplied by a coefficient according to your finishing position, which ultimately determined your place in the final leaderboard. You had to be fast AND agressive ; simply rushing to the finish unscathed would get you 0 points and put you in last place. Here, the secondary objectives given to you in career races have zero impact whatsoever, the bonus XP and money you get are so low they're practically non-existent, no bonus points at all in the championships, and crashing into others puts you at risk of spinning out or wrecking your car and losing everything, so at some point you realize that the best way to go is to simply take a fast car, avoid everyone and rush to the finish. There's no real incentive to put the "Demolition" in the "Derby" in singleplayer, and nothing to tame players with faster cars in multiplayer, and that's a shame.
Other than that it's a very good and fun game, best experienced with everyone screaming on a Discord call ;) Good graphics, good music, fun and pretty realistic handling