Sam Reimer / Jul 30th, 2012

Gameplay

catapulted their latest title,, onto the XBOX 360 Kinect during XBOX Lives’ Summer of Arcade. Wreckateer puts players in the shoes of their XBOX Live Avatar to rise from the ranks of ball polisher to Wreckateer under your two mentors, Tinker and Wreck. It pushes a simple concept that is very similar to a 3D take on Angry Birds, with a few noticeable differences.

Even if you aren’t already familiar with the Kinect style of control; it is super simple to step in front of your television, flail your arms around and start playing Wreckateer. Straight off the bat you get introduced to your mentors and are given a reason to be wrecking castles, at the same time you will be taught the basics for the entire game.

Although Wreckateer is similar to Angry Birds, you trade in the slingshot and birds for a ballista and balls, the viewing angle changes and you can’t play it on the toilet. You do however have a similar assortment of shots, from the simple ball, the exploding shot which explodes when you activate, and the guided shot that you guide with your arms. There is also a heavyweight lift shot which allows you to lift it higher in the air three times as it will not travel very far, the speed shot takes off like a bullet in a straight line once activated and the split shot breaks into four separate, smaller shots that you guide in a line with your arms. Each shot has its own use and the game brings them out relatively slowly for you to learn each use.

The main mechanic of the game is the ballista which gets you to put your hands together, take a few steps back, move awkwardly around until you get it aimed at least near where you want it to go and then throw your hands apart to send the shot flying. While the shot is in the air you have the ability to moderate it’s direction by basically slapping it in the direction you want it to go. You are mainly aiming to wreck the castles that have been overrun by goblins, who for some reason have strapped explosive barrels to some of the buildings. There are also power ups and point shields that you get by sending your shots through them.

In order to rack up the gold medals and beat Wreck Wreckington’s (yes Wreck’s last name is Wreckington) highest scores you will have to mix together strategy and excessive amounts of luck.

The physics can be a little inconsistent, at times a tower won’t fall the way that it should or a chain reaction won’t start resulting in only one tower destruction instead of multiple which can be enough to warrant a reset of the stage. The Kinect can also hold a problem depending how well it works in your living room, but it might take you a bit of time and awkward movement in order to aim where you actually want to; or you could hold your arm slightly too low and select replay instead of continue once you finish the stage.

Story

It does however have 50 different castles to wreck spread across 10 lands, as well as challenge levels as well. After the tutorial, the difficulty starts to ramp up pretty quickly and it’s easy to feel bad when you stop getting gold on every stage.

Graphics and Sound

The graphics are very similar to the typical Kinect style of games but at the same time, this game is really pleasing on the eyes. Everything is bright and simple at a first glance but the more you stare at it the more you notice.

The sound is very reminiscent of Fable with classical fantasy style music and the sound of fireworks and other explosions ring throughout the majority of the time on stages. The main thing is that at no point does it get annoying, even with Tinker and Wreck spouting off lines and praises to remind you that they are in fact still there.

Overall

Wreckateer is a fun game but it does get repetitive as the levels are very similar; it’s definitely a game that you can whip out and play if you have a spare hour or so. It is also simple enough that a younger child might really enjoy it, even if they aren’t getting the highest scores. The Kinect can get annoying at times but the game gives you the opportunity to earn mulligans for when you make a mistake. It also takes a surprising amount of effort to play for a long period of time.

With gold medals and high scores there is the drive to go back and better your previous scores or complete the entire game to get a nifty goblin hoodie for your Avatar. Not to mention the new addition of “Avatar FameStar” making its way into Wreckateer; FameStar is a cross game achievement type initiative which counts points towards unlocking Avatar outfits.

Overall Ratings – Wreckateer (Xbox 360)

Gameplay: 8/10 Graphics: 7/10 Campaign: 5/10 Replay Value: 8/10 OVERALL SCORE: 70%

tags: review , wreckateer , xbla , xbox 360