{"id":12079,"date":"2026-07-22T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/?p=12079"},"modified":"2026-07-22T19:25:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T15:55:29","slug":"wreckreation-2-preview-the-closest-we-might-ever-get-to-burnout-paradise-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/2026\/07\/22\/wreckreation-2-preview-the-closest-we-might-ever-get-to-burnout-paradise-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Wreckreation 2 Preview: The Closest We Might Ever Get to Burnout Paradise 2"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Wreckreation 2 is hardly the first attempt by ex-Burnout developers at reviving the spirit of one of the greatest \u2013 and definitely my favorite \u2013 arcade racing game series of all time. There was Danger Zone, and then its sequel. Next came Dangerous Driving, which was supposed to get a sequel that never came out and instead morphed into Wreckreation, which our racing game guru Luke Reilly did not take kindly to in his review. Is the fourth time the charm?<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Based on the couple of hours I\u2019ve put into the very early preview build of Wreckreation 2, I can, for now, at least optimistically say, \u201cMaybe.\u201d I don\u2019t say that to hype this game up too much or judge it too harshly. Rather, studio head Fiona Sperry (herself a veteran of the Burnout days at Criterion Games) wanted to emphasize that this is an extremely early version of what they\u2019re building.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">With that in mind, I loaded up the demo and its dozen-plus events and a couple of upgradeable cars, expecting a rough, buggy mess that might have a kernel of greatness at its core that the team at When Tides Turn just needed time to build and polish into a pearl. And to my pleasant surprise, I instead found the section of the fictional Heartbreak City on offer to be pretty solid on my 5080-powered PC \u2013 completely devoid of the framerate hitches and bugs cited by Luke in his review of the first Wreckreation. Does that guarantee that the final version of Wreckreation 2 will also be polished and free of bugs? Certainly not; again, by Sperry\u2019s own admission, this sequel is still early in development. But it\u2019s making a really strong first impression on me.<\/p>\n<div class=\"display-title jsx-684634384 jsx-2659527929 quote-container\" data-cy=\"quoteBox\">Road Rage events are ripped straight from Burnout.<span class=\"stack jsx-2959124702 jsx-326843967\"><span>\u201c<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Why? Just as with the first Wreckreation, which I confess I somehow completely missed when it came out, Wreckreation 2 is quite proudly trying to build what is essentially Burnout Paradise 2 in all but name. The shiny visual style is very similar, as is the pop-punk soundtrack. Heck, the flaming turbo meter in the bottom left corner is identical to the one found in Burnout. Even Heartbreak City itself feels reminiscent of Paradise City.<\/p>\n<p><span data-cy=\"slideshow-view-trigger\"><\/p>\n<div data-cy=\"slideshow-preview\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 slideshow-preview\">\n<h3 class=\"title5 jsx-62124236 jsx-1085005187\" data-cy=\"slideshow-preview-title\">Wreckreation 2 &#8211; First Screenshots<\/h3>\n<div data-cy=\"slideshow-images-container\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 images-container\"><button type=\"button\" data-cy=\"hero-image\" aria-label=\"Open Slideshow\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 hero-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt aria-hidden=\"true\" role=\"presentation\" class=\"progressive-image jsx-2896921488 image aspect-ratio aspect-ratio-16-9 jsx-2605834259 jsx-2338608387 hover-opacity\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/wreckreation-2-preview-the-closest-we-might-ever-get-to-burnout-paradise-2.gif\" data-cy=\"progressive-image\"><span class=\"button-text jsx-729543028 button button--primary jsx-3027214138 jsx-4266531355 row-pagination-button next contained centered round large\" data-cy=\"paginate next\" title=\"Open Slideshow\"><span class=\"ign-icon right-chevron jsx-2750866048 jsx-2919720488\" role=\"presentation\" aria-hidden=\"true\" data-cy=\"right-chevron\"><\/span><\/span><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">But of course, the play\u2019s the thing, as Shakespeare once wrote, and the team at When Tides Turn recommended I leave the difficulty at its default setting: Hard. I did, and they were right: as I flew around the tracks staked out within the downtown area of the city at blindingly high speeds, I was met by equally aggressive AI drivers who could dish out shunts and takedowns admirably well. Meanwhile, the arcade-y handling of the cars felt instantly familiar and pretty dang good; the handbrake (on the Xbox gamepad\u2019s X button) can get your car around a 90-degree turn pretty quickly if you feather it just right, while stomping on it too hard will slow your car down to a crawl. And slamming into other cars feels weighty, as it should. And if you do get wrecked, you\u2019ve got aftertouch, just like in Burnout, meaning you can nudge your slow-motion-crashing car in any direction to try and take out any approaching opponents along with you.<\/p>\n<p><span data-cy=\"poll-view-trigger\"><\/p>\n<section class=\"box-wrapper jsx-2673806401\"><\/section>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">The events in my preview \u2013 aside from free-driving around the city to smash barriers and gates marked on the mini-map \u2013 were instantly recognizable to any Burnout fan. My favorite of what was on offer were the two Road Rage events. These are ripped straight from Burnout, so you already know what you\u2019ll be doing: takedowns of rival cars. Each takedown adds time to the clock and gets you closer to the next milestone. For instance, you might need three takedowns for a bronze medal, 7 for a silver, and a dozen for gold. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt aria-hidden=\"true\" role=\"presentation\" class=\"progressive-image article-image article-image-full-size jsx-1809694635 jsx-2338608387\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/wreckreation-2-preview-the-closest-we-might-ever-get-to-burnout-paradise-2.gif\" data-cy=\"progressive-image\"><\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Everything else in my early build were races of some variety, be they lap-based circuits, single-lap sprints, or one-on-one matchups that would win you a new or upgraded car. Both cars available in the demo \u2013 the supercar-styled Dearborn &amp; Schaeffer Nightranger and the \u201857 Chevy-like Huntsville Nebraska \u2013 have superior versions you can unlock for your garage. And they do indeed handle quite differently, with the Nightranger being quicker, faster, and lighter (and thus weaker against attempted takedowns) and the Nebraska being the opposite: tankier. \t<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Admittedly, there wasn\u2019t much to do just driving around the open world after I\u2019d completed every event in this early version, but that\u2019s just it: it\u2019s early. And so I\u2019m trying to give When Tides Turn the benefit of the doubt while also keeping my own excitement in check. There\u2019s a long way to go here, by the team\u2019s own admission, but what I\u2019ve already spent a couple hours with is really fun. If Wreckreation 2 can clean up the mistakes the first one made while focusing on being a modern-day Burnout Paradise \u2013 with the reasonable caveat that this attempt probably won\u2019t have nearly the manpower or budget behind it that Burnout did in its heyday at EA \u2013 then we might have the closest thing we\u2019ve seen yet to a proper Burnout Paradise sequel. That\u2019s the ceiling here. The floor is, unfortunately, another flawed and underbaked attempt like the last one was. But I\u2019m genuinely optimistic that we\u2019re heading for the better outcome here \u2013 particularly after the early preview version already addresses some of the criticisms of the first Wreckreation.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt aria-hidden=\"true\" role=\"presentation\" class=\"progressive-image article-image article-image-full-size jsx-1809694635 jsx-2338608387\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/wreckreation-2-preview-the-closest-we-might-ever-get-to-burnout-paradise-2.gif\" data-cy=\"progressive-image\"><\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Wreckreation 2 will be developed \u201cout in the open\u201d for fans to see, so seek out When Tides Turn\u2019s Discord to follow along. A PC release will happen first, with console versions planned to follow. Fingers crossed that the fourth time is the charm to finally, fully recapture the magic of Burnout.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\"><em>Ryan McCaffrey is IGN&#8217;s executive editor of previews and host of both IGN&#8217;s weekly Xbox show, <\/em>Podcast Unlocked<em>, as well as our semi-retired interview show, <\/em>IGN Unfiltered<em>. His favorite Burnout is Burnout 3: Takedown, because Burnout Revenge&#8217;s traffic-checking just didn&#8217;t work as well in his opinion. Debate it with him on Twitter at <\/em>@DMC_Ryan<em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"media_block\"><a href=\"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/wreckreation-2-preview-the-closest-we-might-ever-get-to-burnout-paradise-2.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/wreckreation-2-preview-the-closest-we-might-ever-get-to-burnout-paradise-2.jpg\" class=\"media_thumbnail\"><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><a href=\"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/wreckreation-2-preview-the-closest-we-might-ever-get-to-burnout-paradise-2.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/wreckreation-2-preview-the-closest-we-might-ever-get-to-burnout-paradise-2.jpg\" class=\"media_thumbnail\"><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12080,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[50],"class_list":["post-12079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-49","tag-50"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12079"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12081,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12079\/revisions\/12081"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}