Wreckfest Bent Metal, Zero Rules

The soft-body damage simulation is the heart of it. Every panel, wheel and bumper deforms on impact, so a head-on shunt leaves your door crumpled, a wheel wobbling and the engine grinding. You feel the weight of every car too: these are heavy old hunks of metal with real inertia, not cardboard boxes on rails. Slide into a corner, feel the back step out, and decide whether to save it or use the car next to you as a barrier. It's a driving game first, and the driving holds up even before anything gets wrecked.

Upgrades are a real trade-off, not just numbers going up. Reinforced bumpers, roll cages and side protectors let you survive a derby and hand out punishment, but all that iron adds weight and dulls the handling. Strip it down instead and you're fast and fragile, betting on staying out of trouble. Engine parts like air filters, camshafts and fuel systems change how a car performs on track. You decide what kind of racer you are before the lights go out, and the car you build shows it.

There are proper races on tarmac and dirt circuits, ovals and figure-eights, plus courses with intersections and oncoming traffic to keep things interesting. Then there are demolition derbies, where the last car moving wins. And then there are the challenge modes: racing lawn mowers, school buses, three-wheelers and more, which is exactly as dignified as it sounds. The old, banged-up cars ooze character, from American heavy-hitters to agile European and Asian models.