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Wreckreation is a game made by Three Fields Entertainment, a small studio led by Criterion Games alumni Alex Ward and Fiona Sperry. With their combined experience on the Burnout series, fans have been hopeful for a spiritual successor that can live up to one of the kings of arcade racing.

Although this is the team's best and most ambitious racer yet, there are still some rough edges that hold it back from greatness.

Arcade fans will be pleased to hear the game has extreme Burnout vibes, Paradise in particular.

An open world map, events dotted around it, leveling up your driver's licence to progress, online integration — it's very reminiscent of the classic racer in terms of structure and presentation.

Certain cars can only be unlocked by finding and taking them down in the open world, there are hundreds of billboards to smash through, and a ticker at the bottom of the screen keeps you informed of player records and other things of note.

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If you've been waiting for Burnout, or something like it, Wreckreation is about as close as we've come since the release of Burnout Paradise Remastered in 2018.

However, there are sadly some caveats.

The open world is enormous, and for good reason. Part of Wreckreation's whole deal is the ability to customise the map — anywhere — with props, ramps, and full-blown tracks.

It makes total sense to provide players with a huge sandbox and let them go nuts, creating whatever wild events and courses they like.

However, in a single player setting, this feature — Live Mix — is less of a pull, because there's nobody around to enjoy your madcap creations with you.

If you don't engage with this aspect of the game, what you're left with is a vast open world racer that can feel quite lifeless.

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There's a network of roads and dirt tracks to explore, of course, and there are some neat points of interest dotted around, but much of the map comprises nondescript expanses of trees and grassy hills. They're clearly there to be built upon, so it'd be unfair to complain too much about these patches of nothing.

What this huge map does mean, though, is that the roads cutting through the landscape are often very long, with massive straights and gentle curves much of the time. Despite the high speeds and dangerous driving you'll be doing, it can all feel somewhat tame.

When you do find a turn you need to drift around, you may discover that drifting is quite inconsistent. At times, it can feel really well done, but just as often the drift will feel on-rails, or unwieldy, or it might not even trigger.

The rest of the handling is mostly fine, but an arcade racer with iffy drifting is always disappointing.

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What isn't helping are some seriously dodgy collisions, with vehicles or otherwise.

Sometimes you might skirt a tree and the game simply sends you around the side; other times you might drive up a ramp and hit seemingly nothing, sending you flying, and not how you intended.

Checkpoints are represented by the word "Checkpoint", rendered as a physical object you smash through; satisfying, but not when pieces of that word get caught under your car and send you off-course.

There are many examples of this unpredictable nature of the game that can make it frustrating at times.

To the game's credit, there are at least lots of events to partake in, like races, road rage, time trials, and so on, and you unlock a steady stream of new vehicles and build parts for the Live Mix feature, which is always fun.

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We also appreciate how much flexibility the game offers. Its DJ menu can be a little awkward to use, but it contains a multitude of options, like online features, photo mode, and the ability to fully customise your current car as well as the world itself.

You can adjust the weather, time of day, level of traffic, and even rename roads, all on the fly. It's quite impressive.

It all works online as well, with the host of a session able to customise the environment and so on with others driving around.

Playing with others is definitely how Wreckreation is meant to be played; whether with friends or strangers, you can all take part in Live Mix, popping down ramps and obstacles and mad courses in real time.

The host can also choose from a long list of cooperative and competitive challenges, similar to Burnout Paradise's Freeburn online tasks.

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You can use Live Mix to help you achieve objectives like performing barrel rolls, jumping certain distances, and so on.

There's lots of potential here for madcap fun, though your mileage will vary depending on who you're playing with and how much you're willing to engage with the creative side of the game.

Having other players in the world certainly helps it feel more dynamic, and competing to set records or building ludicrous tracks that tower above the landscape can be good fun.

You'll definitely need to engage with the single player stuff, though, especially if you want to unlock everything and get the most from the experience.

Wreckreation has lots of good ideas, and it's nice to play a racing game with proper arcade sensibilities. It's sort of three quarters of the way there; it's only really the execution of certain aspects that lets it down.

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The handling is nearly right but isn't always responsive enough; the visuals are decent but performance can tank, particularly online; and the flexibility of the creation tools is great fun, but the blank canvas, open world sandbox can feel vapid.

We sincerely hope the dev team is able to build upon what it has here, as it definitely has the foundation of something solid.

Conclusion

Wreckreation isn't quite the arcade racer many fans have been waiting for. Its super-fast racing action and emphasis on taking down rival drivers recalls fond memories of Burnout, and the game's focal point — the ability to build your own challenges and courses wherever you please — has bags of potential. Unfortunately, iffy physics and handling and a lifeless open world let the side down, but there's still fun to be had in this open world racer, especially if you can gather some pals for some online shenanigans.

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