If you grew up loving the beautiful chaos of demolition derby racers, then Wreckfest should probably be added to your wishlist, as it can safely be described as a spiritual successor to FlatOut. Crafted by Bugbear Entertainment for the PC after a somewhat tough development process with many years on Early Access, even more time was spent on the Nintendo Switch port, no doubt because of technical limitations. 2022 was the year this became a reality. So, fellow bad-mannered drivers, if you’ve ever dreamed of racing a lawnmower while getting T-boned by a Nascar-style car driven by someone named “Slam Master,” you’ve come to the right rodeo.
Switch users are by now accustomed to visual compromises – lower resolutions, muddier textures and all that. With Wreckfest the downgrade is a bit more noticeable than usual, especially after witnessing how it looks on PC, PlayStation and Xbox machines. Surfaces can appear softer and more blurred, with distant details losing clarity and cars sometimes looking a little less defined in the chaos. Thankfully, it looks good. A low budget version of the real deal, but still.
The trade-off results in a fairly stable experience as this manages to hold a steady 30fps around 70–80% of the time, which is crucial when the track turns into a rolling junkyard of spinning metal birthed by a mix of high testosterone, alcohol and male depression. The damage system, on the other hand, remains especially satisfying, and that’s what you are all here for right?! Cars crumble, bumpers fly off and panels peel away like duct tape. One can visibly wreck their opponents (or themselves) depending on how brave (or dumb) they feel, while entering a corner at 100 mph.
In case it hasn’t been made clear so far, the main purpose here is destroying the other guy(s). It’s still a game where you drive a car, though, so it’s important to nail the element of handling. If the cars feel like shopping carts on ice, the whole thing falls apart. Fortunately, this does a good job at that and even offers the option to tweak some of the car’s mechanisms – crucial when dealing with some of the more difficult scenarios. Additionally, every vehicle feels distinct, whether behind the wheels of a muscle car or a school bus. Because this clearly had barbecue and beer involved in the design meeting.
The opening race has you speeding around a dirt arena on a lawnmower while smashing other lawnmowers into the ground. It’s simple, mindless fun, which makes it obvious that the developer understood the assignment. That said, Wreckfest could certainly do with a little bit more silliness as it is a bit low on cheese, and as a result lacks character…but anyway. After this brief “intro” you are free to pick from a variety of different event types that all revolve around the same core philosophy: racing is good. Racing while ruining someone else’s day is better.
Traditional (sort of) races have you battling for position while opportunistically using your weight as a negotiation tool. Destruction Derby events, on the other hand, ditch the racing aspect entirely and drop players into last-lunatic-standing gauntlets. There are more modes to talk about, but truth be told, the structure of events doesn’t change dramatically, and the catalogue of cars isn’t exactly expansive. Oh, and some extra cars are locked behind DLC packs, but that feels a little cheeky for a product that originally launched years earlier.
Most will spend a fair bit of time revisiting familiar vehicles and race formats, and as such get bored from the repetition. The mayhem on offer rarely loses its charm, but that’s about it. This could do with a few, arcade-y mechanics like the ones in the Mario Kart series (just less outlandish), but it sadly leans more towards realism. The AI of the bots is a bit weird too. Instead of behaving like actual humans who “just” want to win the race and harm you a bit in the process, they act more like kamikaze-style maniacs. Occasionally hilarious, other times frustrating when a bot decides that ruining your race is more important than it surviving the collision.
On the multiplayer side of things everything works relatively well. The menus are straightforward, connecting is painless and it all runs smoothly once you’re in. When you do find a lobby, smashing into real players is where this truly shines, as human opponents bring a level of unpredictability the AI simply can’t match. That is if you find anyone to smash into. Compared to the Steam version, the player base isn’t always very active, so expect some time waiting for races to start.
A less “noticeable” issue here, is that Wreckfest struggles with a bit of an identity crisis. The driving model and physics (and the whole lack of character mentioned earlier) lean toward something slightly simulation-like, where mistakes can be punishing and proper control actually matter… yet the objectives, presentation and especially the AI behaviour push hard toward chaotic arcade mayhem. The two approaches don’t always blend perfectly, leaving this feeling slightly unsure of what it ultimately wants to be.
…Still, there’s something undeniably enjoyable about it. Wreckfest has its flaws, repetition being one of them, but it remains a laid-back (put that in big quotes) kind of fun that doesn’t demand too much from the player. You can jump in, cause some chaos and move on to a meatier title without overthinking it – and honestly, any racer that lets you win a race in a lawnmower while your opponent explodes into scrap deserves at least a small tip of the cowboy hat.
In the end, it’s not like you have many alternative options to choose from on the Switch.
