Wrack is an “old school” arcade FPS whose main gimmick is a point/combo system akin to Bulletstorm although on the very basic side of things. With its cel-shaded looks, gibbing of enemies, both robotic & fleshy, high speed movements & level design, it certainly tries for the “old-school with modern touches” appeal but that it actually succeeds at it is another matter altogether.
If you’ve played any other FPS, then you should feel right at home playing Wrack. Standard controls through & through save for the Alt Fire button which unleashes a Finisher, product of the combo system & on controller you’ve got a Lock-On button. It does have limited range & not particularly strong, so it is not something to rely on.
Wrack sports the grand total of 5 weapons; a sword, pistol, shotgun, plasma gun & rocket launcher. Oh boy. Unlike say, Doom, in which some weapons usage depends on what you are facing. Wrack really lets you go through them, partly because holy hell is ammo limited in many areas. A major gripe I had with the game is how limited ammo was & how the weapons were like pea shooters making the enemies bullet sponges in turn. What ammo you see on the levels & what is leftover from previous levels is all you will get per level as enemies do not drop any, unlike in Doom or pretty much any other FPS out there. It is like they are forcing you to use their fancy ass sword, which is fine & dandy if it were not for the fact that the whole damn screen & body shakes whenever you swing it making it an annoying feat & the cannon fodder enemy explodes is you so much as knick it with the sword, its only saving grace is letting you gib all fleshy enemies in a hit or two. Lets not forget the Plasma Gun. Normally some games give some kind of drawback to these type of rapid firing high damage guns & Wrack is no different on the matter but did its drawback really had to be bullet drop, one that is arm’s length at that? You already have to make your ammo count & wasting a fair bit trying to hit ranged enemies is a final nail on the coffin.
As mentioned earlier, the game features a point & combo system akin to Bulletstorm, save that it is very basic meaning you won’t get point for doing the fancy shite that Bulletstorm lets you do. Nope, just point for killing & combo’ing kills. Wrack‘s points are only used to gain 1Up’s which is moot with usage of Quicksaves considering if you die you get drop to the beginning of the stage or whatever arbitrary checkpoint the game set. Pulling off combos though, does let you unleash a ‘Finisher’ for whatever weapon you have out but oftentimes either you don’t have enough enemies to warrant wasting time with the wind-up or or the charge bar fizzles out before your eyes. All in all a rotten cherry on the mud pie. The game features a Score & Time Attack in which this point system could make a difference but considering you also get scored in the Story mode, a side by side comparison will reveal that there’s little difference between the modes.
“I’m shocked it isn’t rougelike tho. Those tiny rooms look like something [dev] just cobbled together and are meant to blend in to other generated tiny rooms.” That statement sums up my feelings about the level design. Linear & labyrinths, with no distinction between each areas in a level, it pretty much blends in together, sometimes getting confusing. Unlike Doom, it has no clear ‘This is your exit, do things till you can exit” so I just pretty much ran around from area to area hitting switches till I got to whatever room gave me the “You Won”.
Or a boss.
Movement is Doom fast but the rooms are tiny for the speed you have & enemies just clutter you & most often than not their bullets are bigger than shown so you will get hit meaning the fast speed is wasted. Performance-wise it is decently solid, even with massive amounts of gibs, save for part 1 of ‘Recycling Center’ or whatever it was called, in which the framerate drops massively for unknown reasons. Art is cel-shaded which generally is easy on the eyes with some cutscenes doing in a drawn comic style which was meh at best. Sounds are also mediocre at best, weapons sounding anemic. Music on the other hand can be hit-or-miss some sounding pretty good & others will amazing as well, felt out of place. Doesn’t hurt that it was composed by Bobby Prince, of Doom fame.
Ultimately, from all it takes inspiration from “old-school” shooters like Doom & such, Wrack feels so empty in comparison. The potential is there with is combo system & high speed but crappy weapons & tiny sized areas gimps any potential it had at coming close to the old ones. I cannot really recommend the game in the least as after a while I just felt like I was beating myself against the wall & not really finding enjoyment out of it. Pass.
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