CGMagazine was able to sit in on an unannounced game preview featuring arcade racing veteran Fiona Sperry. The game itself wasn’t the only announcement, though; we also got to hear about the brand-new studio, When Tides Turn. The preview had us attend virtually with the new developers, but it also maintained familiar faces from Sperry’s last arcade racing game—Wreckreation. Sperry and the newly-formed When Tides Turn team provided us with some details on what they learned from Wreckreation, as they revealed they will be doing a sequel game—Wreckreation 2.
This Wreckreation 2 team is not only headed by Sperry, but also by other gearheads, including Ben Smith, Paul Philpot, and Philip Maguire. These were other executives heading the first Wreckreation. The preview began with me jumping into the Dearborn & Schaeffer Nightranger. Back by popular demand from the first Wreckreation game, the car drove impressively out of the gate. Even though this was a small taste of the full game, I liked the feel of all the cars available. I was able to jump into the Huntsville Nebraska, and a second iteration of the Nightranger called the Dearborn & Schaeffer Nightranger Prime.
Unfortunately, there were no car customization options in this build, but I was able to drive two variations of the two available cars. This gave me a small look into the car progression system to come. The When Tides Turn team explained that the final game is expected to feature around 25 unique vehicles, each with its own upgrade path. Wreckreation players were telling the dev team that they did not want to constantly be swapping cars, so When Tides Turn is factoring in how attached players are to each car by offering a deeper upgrade path for each one.
This preview contained eight events for me to experience a good mix of race events: two face-offs (1v1 battles), two Road Rages, and four Wreckonings. All of which were playable within a Miami-looking fictional city called Heartbreak City. As someone who has some knowledge of Wreckreation, I could feel the same DNA from Burnout Paradise and Takedown and games like Flatout or Wreckfest.
I can attest to what the Wreckreation 2 team was striving for: to balance this game on the wrecks and the creations. The shunting and bumping of me against the AI felt responsive, from a highly visual standpoint of the action lines and bubble force when two cars clash. I liked Wreckreation 2‘s visual upgrades from the first game and hope to see what more the team can bring to this responsiveness aspect at launch.
“I can attest to what the Wreckreation 2 team was striving for: to balance this game on the wrecks and the creations. “
The dev team noted that the playable area was intentionally small for this hands-on preview, probably since game stability was still sporadic. Yes, there were moments where the physics were wonky, but it was more laughable than annoying. So far, the main annoying factor has been the inconsistent car damage taken before I am taken down or crash. I get that I am going over 200 kilometres an hour, but there were moments when a small piece of debris or clipping could cause me to crash.
As a casual-to-intermediate racing game player, I found a good challenge on medium difficulty, but the game is recommended to be played at the Hard or Very Hard level. The devs noted how the AI will drive faster, earn and use more boost, be more likely to do boost starts, be faster around corners, and be more aggressive. The environment design of both the free-roam world and the set tracks within the world was fairly good. The physics of broken lamps, cones, and other debris looked good enough. Of course, this build did not optimize for the best graphics—especially for my PC. I will be curious how much further and better When Tides Turn can optimize.
Ultimately, When Tides Turn wanted to showcase its Wreckreation foundations, but with a more aggressive spritz to Wreckreation 2. Fans can expect the return of the Lix Mix and creation modes from the first game—introducing new, evolved tools to create more shareable and collaborative opportunities. I cannot wait to see the expanded roster of cars and other creative tools they bring to this sequel title.
I am also eager to hear the full track list after hearing some bangers so far. Sadly, there still will not be any Spotify integration, as Sperry explained there were too many Spotify rule changes. There is no release window or date yet for Wreckreation 2, but we will provide an update or review when that final version comes to fruition. You can check out the original Wreckreation now.
