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Sign-Up The Armchair Empire Newsletter Sent Out Twice Weekly
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Reviews/Previews/Features/Goodies/Anime/Classics/Links/Contact |
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Platform: GC, PS2 |
Developer: Bunkasha Co. |
Publisher: Activision |
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Genre: Racing |
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ETA: Fall 2002 |
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Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions
Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions has been out for almost a year on Xbox. It met with good reviews for the most part with simple pick-up and play action and super-nice visuals, but got points off for a lack of racing options. This is where the GameCube and Playstation 2 versions look to improve on the basics of Wreckless.
Returning are the huge, wide-open levels featured in the Xbox version and the missions showcased therein. The basic story involving the Yakuza crime syndicate also returns. The added features sound like a wish list made to meet the criticism leveled at the Xbox version. There are "20 all-new missions, two-player action, 16 more vehicles to drive with mounted rockets, new sub-missions, interaction with pedestrians, 60 frames-per second and a Free Roam mode."
All of those additions should add many hours of gameplay, but most welcome are the Free Roam mode, two-player action, and sub-missions.
Wreckless has some huge cityscapes to explore and when you're hunting down Yakuza or crashing into Dim Sum stands you don't really get the chance to go sight seeing. Mission objectives could always be ignored, but a time limit always interfered. With Free Roam, gamers finally get the chance to see just how big the environments are and look for things to drive off. Two-player fun was especially missed in the Xbox version. Not having a two-player mode beggared logic as your car held two people -- having them split up for a specific goal or mini-game makes a lot of sense. The sub-missions will probably have something to so with interaction with pedestrians, giving special objectives during the course of a mission. I can also see this working in Free Roam mode, with the objectives acting as "mini-games"
Graphically, Wreckless might not be as good-looking as the Xbox version -- but graphics aren't everything. The official release does say they'll hit the magic 60 fps and there's not reason to doubt that. Saving Replays might be a little trickier on the GameCube and PS2 since they're limited by the storage capacity of the memory cards. (Though, I've been wrong before.)
The wait for GameCube and PS2 versions of Wreckless won't been long now. It's scheduled to ship Fall 2002.
- Omni (September 25, 2002)
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