Review in Progress: Wreckreation (PS5) – Single Player Feels Like Budget Burnout Paradise

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We’ve been testing Wreckreation, a fun, open-world racing game made by some of the creators of the Burnout series. We’ve played it for a while now, but we need a bit more time before we can share our complete review.

This is largely due to the game’s strong online features and multiplayer modes, which we haven’t had a chance to fully test until now.

Currently, we can only discuss playing the game by yourself, and that doesn’t fully show everything Wreckreation offers.

Three Fields Entertainment, a small game studio founded by former Criterion Games developers Alex Ward and Fiona Sperry, created the game. Because Ward and Sperry previously worked on the popular Burnout racing series, fans are excited and hoping this new game captures the same fun and fast-paced arcade racing experience.

After playing Wreckreation’s solo campaign, it seems Three Fields Entertainment hasn’t fully achieved what they were aiming for.

Well, in some ways it kinda has. The game has extreme Burnout vibes, Paradise in particular.

The game features a large, open world with various events, a driver’s license that levels up as you improve, and smooth online play. Structurally and visually, it strongly recalls a beloved racing game from the past.

I love that some of the coolest cars are hidden out in the open world and you actually have to find and win them! Plus, it’s ridiculously fun just smashing through all the billboards – there are so many! And that little ticker at the bottom of the screen is awesome for checking out what other players are up to and seeing the records being broken.

If you’ve been hoping for a new game similar to Burnout, Wreckreation is the closest experience available since Burnout Paradise Remastered came out in 2018.

However, there are sadly some caveats, at least as far as the single player is concerned.

Wreckreation features a massive open world, and there’s a good reason for it! The game is all about letting you customize the map – absolutely anywhere – with objects, ramps, and even complete race tracks. Giving players such a large, free space to build and create their own unique events and courses just makes sense.

Live Mix is more appealing when playing with others. When you’re playing alone, there’s no one to share your creative mixes with, making the feature less useful.

If you ignore this part of the game, you’ll find yourself with a large, open-world racing game that unfortunately feels empty and uninteresting.

While the game world has roads and trails to discover, and a few interesting landmarks, a lot of the map is just forests and hills. These areas seem intended for players to build on, so it’s reasonable to expect they aren’t filled with pre-made content.

This large map highlights that the roads tend to be very long, featuring mostly straightaways and gradual curves. Even though you’ll be driving fast and taking risks, the experience can surprisingly feel quite calm.

When you try to drift around corners, you might notice it doesn’t always work the same way. Sometimes it feels smooth and controlled, but other times it feels forced, awkward, or simply doesn’t happen at all.

Everything else works well, but a racing game that doesn’t handle drifting properly is always a letdown.

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

Sometimes, the game lets you brush against objects like trees and simply guides you around them. Other times, even a slight bump into something like a railing can send your character tumbling.

Checkpoints are marked by the word “Checkpoint” appearing as a physical barrier you drive through. It’s a fun experience, unless pieces of the sign get stuck under your vehicle and throw you off track.

The game can be really frustrating because it’s often unpredictable, and there are lots of examples of this happening.

The game does a good job of keeping things interesting with plenty of events like races, challenges, and time trials. Plus, you consistently unlock new cars and customization options for the Live Mix, which is a consistently enjoyable feature.

We really like how customizable the game is. The DJ menu can be a bit clunky, but it lets you do a lot, including playing online, taking photos, and completely changing your car and the game’s environment.

You have complete control to change things like the weather, time, traffic, and even road names, and you can do it instantly. It’s really remarkable.

To be honest, we’re a little disappointed with Wreckreation based on what’s been shown so far.

We anticipate the game will become more engaging once there are more online players, and creating tracks and performing stunts feels more like a shared, social experience.

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2025-10-27 17:07