Introduction

With the gaming industry’s behemoths lining up to assault our pockets with a plethora of addictive, gung-ho, online titles over the next few months, you may just miss little gems like this… FiringSquad’s new correspondent from across the pond Luke Kaile takes us hands-on with Supersonic Software’s upcoming downloadable racing combat game Wrecked: Revenge Revisited.

The year 2004 saw the release of Mashed, a game that harkened back to the days of Micro Machines with its top-down, single-camera, ‘eye-in-the-sky’ view of proceedings and elimination of stragglers who failed to keep up with the leaders. It was a small game made by an independent developer who sought to take your eyes off the big graphics-enticing blockbusters and return us to a rare thing, a stripped-down and well-executed idea that birthed endless replayability.

Mashed garnered high praise and managed some rather stealthy success, albeit without being completely accepted by the U.S. market. Its triumph seemed to rely on two principles: its incredibly intense multiplayer experience and a powerful fan base that slowly eked this title into the hands of others through word of mouth.





Seven years later, the developers at Supersonic Software have set their sights on reigniting the old magic of Mashed for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network in the form of Wrecked: Revenge Revisited. This newest offering brings back all the gameplay that had friends crammed around their televisions, while seeking to make deft improvements and advancements to the familiar formula.

The main game mode is straightforward, with four cars rallying around one of the six tracks on offer while attacking each other with an arsenal of weaponry, as well as evading the constant hazards that occur throughout the course. Points are earned by eliminating the other three cars from the track, which can be achieved by firing them into oblivion or racing so far ahead that the opposition disappears off the tracking camera’s view.




Players continue to accumulate or lose points (by not coming in the top two) until one player reaches a set target. Victory is made harder when the crashed out players gain the ability to perform air strikes that can inflict heavy damage or confusion on a car of their choice, leading to a lot of fun bullying the current leader.