Next Car Game: Wreckfest New Previews

Paul Jeffrey

Premium
Wreckfest Preview.png

With the announcement of new Bugbear game Stuntfest, the studio have been quick to quash speculation that development will be slowing down on current game Next Car Game: Wreckfest.

Preview images of a new car due to be added to the game, alongside confirmation that more new content previews, will be forthcoming in the coming days and weeks. Bugbear are keen to stress that the game will remain high priority "until its finished", with Stuntfest acting as a "much smaller scale experimental project" aimed at players less interested in racing games, but still wishing to experience open world environments and customisable events and damage simulation.

Wreckfest has received rather a lot of criticism of late for an allegedly slow development pace, having spent a prolonged period in Early Access with seemingly limited development visible to those part of the title since its initial release. It is however heartening to hear that Bugbear are keen to stress development of the title continues, with new content and enhancements due to be brought to the game in the coming weeks. The studio confirms "we already have some cool new stuff in the works" and promise to reveal more information in the next few days.

Natural successor to the FlatOut series, Wreckfest is a superb recreation of the exciting world of destruction derby style banger racing, but with a few interesting takes on the scene thrown in for good measure. Graphically pleasing to the eye, with one of the better damage models in the industry, Wreckfest is a visual delight to behold while at the same time offering a surprisingly engaging driving experience, bringing to the fore a simulation aspect one would not originally have thought the game would contain.

The cars are all pretty entertaining to drive, with power slides satisfyingly possible in the quicker machines, mated to an impressive feeling of the body roll and weight shifting when driving out on track.

The game itself is very well optimised considering the amount of action on screen, with early stutter issues now seemingly resolved. Menus and in game screens are, at best, minimalistic but never the less easy to negotiate for those not familiar with the game. Room has obviously been left for new features yet to arrive for the sim, but Wreckfest just about scrapes through and passes for a semi-finished game when it is first fired up.

On track the net code has been improved considerably in recent builds, presenting players with a solid online experience. The in-game lobbies work well, as does the simplistic chat functionality available when waiting for the race to load.

It would be expected development of the game should increase soon, with the recent announcement that Wreckfest will be made available for console in the near future, its exciting times for fans of the series.

Wreckfest is available to purchase for Windows PC in Early Access now.

Check out the Wreckfest sub forum here at RaceDepartment for the latest news and discussions regarding the game. Head over to the forum and join the discussion today!

Do you play Wreckfest? How are you finding the game? Looking forward to the update? Let us know in the comments section below!
 
Wait.. where are the previews? So BugBear are previewing the previews?
"Preview images ... will be forthcoming in the coming days and weeks." Why is this even news?

I should add that this is not a criticism of @Paul Jeffrey at all, but of BugBear; I think you do an absolute top notch job keeping us up to date with all the latest sim racing news.
 
Wait.. where are the previews? So BugBear are previewing the previews?
"Preview images ... will be forthcoming in the coming days and weeks." Why is this even news?

If anything, it's a testament to how slow things are with Wreckfest. When there is so little going on that a potential preview coming later is significant and we should know? That's not a good sign.

It's like Wreckfest is pretty much already another crowdfunding DOA, but they're refusing to admit it.
 
Wreckfest has great potential but it's been badly managed. They have so much WIP in game, they never seem follow through with the build. I think it was released way too early, but sounds like they had big plans an no money. Thier own forum is full of unhappy backers the response from devs is poor, i'm sure their busy but does only takes a few minutes for post or tweet to inform the community of progress. The best thing they did is to open it up to the modding crew with free to use tools, that has kept it afloat like the UK online Bangers mod. So a bit like rF2 if there's light at the end of the tunnel don't switch it off !
 
Here's the flip side of Greenlight style releases for the purchaser. Devs can make a bunch of money with an incomplete title, then on to the next probably never to be completed title.

Bought this a long while ago and it has been in virtual stasis, with irregular blog updates to the contrary. I have no reason to expect this latest statement of intent to hold any more water.

I'm done with Bugbear.
 
I don't have problems with Bugbear having side projects, good for them. Also I joined to Wreckfest early acces and think about it accordingly, nothing is guaranteed and things takes time. I have time to wait and other games to play while waiting.

Go Bugbear!
 
The game, despite having many unfinished aspects, still offers a lot of fun. It's been worth every cent for me personally.

Figure-8 endurance racing with 24 cars is just fabulous :inlove:
 

Paul Jeffrey

Premium
Wait.. where are the previews?

Opening image ;)

But you do have a point, I just wish Bugbear would get some serious work done on the game, as it really does have all the elements necessary to make a really good title. I've no idea why it would take so long to get stuff done on Wreckfest, but again I must stress, the bare bones we already have are awesome, it just needs that little push to get it finished off...
 
The thing that drives me nuts about Wreckfest is that, for all intents and purposes, the hard part is DONE (and has been for a while, IMO).

They just need to slap some career mode window dressing on top of what is a great looking/driving game engine and the damned thing would be a hit (well, within the genre, at least).

I really am not sure what the hold up is - either far-flung product roadmap ambitions or just a simple case of a mismanaged project (or perhaps a combination?) - but I for one would like to see them finish the product. It's a great start and more than worthy of carrying on the Flatout/Flatout 2 mantle.
 
Wreckfest was always my "ok, I have 10 minutes until I go to bed, I don't feel like putting in too much effort, let me takedown some cars" and I would play with a gamepad. I recently tried again with my Fanatec wheel and WOW. Now its the first game I play. The feeling of the cars on dirt is great.

My favorite is a 30-lap race on the tiniest oval with 24 cars. I purposefully spin lap traffic to slow up pursuers. By the end of the race, you have 3-6 mangled wrecks to avoid. I'm okay earning cash and XP for now and buying parts upgrades, but I would prefer a more structured career with series and car unlocks. I can be patient with so much other stuff to play.
 

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