On-the-fly strategy, air strikes

Wrecked’s magic is based on the mayhem that unfolds during a battle amongst your friends. The wild strategies and unpredictability of the game makes the multiplayer an absorbing and unique experience. In my hands-on, one of my developer opponents managed to stay alive after being spun 180º with some nifty reversing skills, only to then rattle off his machine gun backward at my shiny bonnet.

In another instance, a developer being pursued by missiles from an air strike suddenly hit the brakes and used my chasing car as a sacrificial lamb. Every race is different and every moment will see you become increasingly engrossed at trying to find a clever way to wipe out your opponents. Or, if you’re me, accidentally block a shortcut with some Austin Powers-style sideways parking and cause a pile up.

The strategy really is deep, and the developers, rather than drastically change the gameplay, have sought to keep it very similar to that of their previous titles. The additions they have made have caused more tactics to come into play, such as the inclusion of manually-activated boosts and shunting, which can be performed by flicking the right control stick.





The introduction of new air strikes is perhaps the biggest change to Wrecked’s dynamic compared to Supersonic’s previous titles, with players now offered a range of options in that regard. Two of the ones I thought were the most fun are the “Swapper” and the “Steering” air strikes. By utilizing the Swapper, crashed players can target two cars and, with a touch of a button, switch their places on the track. This can lead to cars being pulled from salvation just at the right time or, even worse, lead to players purposefully hurling themselves off cliffs in the hope that they’ll teleport back onto the track, leaving their unsuspecting opponent in free-fall.

The Steering air strike sees crashed players given the ability to modify the steering of player’s cars, causing left to become right and right become left. Whilst this may seem very much a low-key effect, the damage here comes from the speed in which the striker can consistently assault his target’s steering. With two people targeting one car using the Steering air strike, the driver is thrown into a nigh impossible battle to somehow keep his car under control.