If you ever bought a new game system on or near its launch date, you're probably familiar with the phenomenon. Games that get released near the console's launch-Sonic Adventure, Luigi's Mansion, Mad Dash Racing—almost always sell far better than they would have in the middle of their system's shelf life. Wreckless, released last winter for the Xbox, is a perfect example of this syndrome. Despite its odd physics and questionable controls, Activision's mission-based car basher sold well into the six figures almost purely on incredible graphics and Xbox launch hype. Not that this is a bad thing. What is a bad thing is when someone like Activision believes they can make Wreckless just as popular on the PS2 and GameCube ten months later. And, oh dear, that's where the trouble begins. Wreckless, on the surface, is a sane enough port of Bunkasha Games' Xbox original (where did that software house go, anyway?). You've got four main characters, two sets of missions, 30 or so cars, and a giant rendered version of Hong Kong to recklessly drive about in. Most of the missions and cars are locked at the start and must be unlocked by completing missions in both Easy and Hard mode. There are twice as many missions to play now, but they still mainly involve bashing enemy cars to bits or completing a course through city streets under certain conditions (time limit, damage limit, and so on). And here's where the first major difference with this Wreckless rears its ugly head—the Hong Kong Police Department has apparently installed hidden rocket launchers under the hood of every car you drive, so you can actually shoot enemy cars down instead of bumping them off the road. This was included likely to make the game easier, but it doesn't, really—just like in the Xbox version, the missions fluctuate wildly in difficulty and you'll find yourself unable to complete some of them even after dozens of tries. This is true even considering the fact that the control beats the Xbox version by far—the brake and reverse functions are set to one button now, and there's none of that annoying "bouncing" that threw you off the road all the time before. As for the graphics—well, what can be said about the graphics? Although the city layout's the same, the new Wreckless looks laughably inferior. Where did all the smooth textures, the lovely lighting, the subtle atmospheric effects go? There's none of the programming wizardry that made the game such a showcase of the Xbox's abilities, and the result is something that, well, looks more like Smashing Drive than Wreckless. The game does run at 60 fps, as opposed to the original's 30 fps, but dull-looking backdrops and floppy-armed pedestrians cannot be made to look good simply by doubling the framerate. So what have we learned? Hopefully, we've learned that most launch games should not be touched after the launch is over. The new Wreckless may have more missions (which get boring after a while), a free-roam mode (which you can only unlock by completing the game, so there's little point), and the ability to run over pedestrians (big whoop), but the fact is that there are games on both the PS2 and GameCube that easily outclass this one in everything it sets out to do. If you still want to try it, try the Xbox one—it's $30 in most stores and, even with janky controls, is superior to this port.
