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By Ted Litchfield published 12 August 22

Racing games *need* high-flying Hot Wheels loop de loops.

One of the more exciting games revealed at THQ's showcase today was Wreckreation, a racing game in the style of Trackmania or Hot Wheels Unleashed with an emphasis on custom content and editing courses on the fly.

The game's announcement trailer features befuddled local radio chatter about the gravity-defying race tracks that have suddenly appeared in the sky, before cutting to some cinematically-shot gameplay of racing and vehicular destruction on the aerial loop-de-loops. The trailer demonstrates the game's capacity for track building and customization with a player placing and resizing obstacles and track features as other players/NPCs race.

The car-on-car violence certainly has my interest. The Trackmania series has been offering "Hot Wheels but life-sized" racing action on roller coaster-looking courses for a long time now, but with a focus on pure time trial gameplay. Wreckreation looks to offer something a little bit messier, with progressive damage wearing down the cars and the ability to run your opponents off the road. It's like a Smash Bros. four player free-for-all with items to Trackmania's Fox-only, Final Destination.

Wreckreation's sandbox building also holds a lot of promise. The Trackmania games have a more traditional level editor, while Wreckreation seems to have something more akin to Halo's Forge mode, with on-the-fly editing of the world occurring alongside active races. Additionally, developer Three Fields Entertainment boasts veteran talent from the Burnout series (opens in new tab) —these people know their arcade racing. Wreckreation does not yet have a release date, but it has gone live with a page on Steam.

Ted has been thinking about PC games and bothering anyone who would listen with his thoughts on them ever since he booted up his sister's copy of Neverwinter Nights on the family computer. He is obsessed with all things CRPG and CRPG-adjacent, but has also covered esports, modding, and rare game collecting. When he's not playing or writing about games, you can find Ted lifting weights on his back porch.

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