Have you played... Next Car Game: Wreckfest?

Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.

There was a time, before even rudimentary physics, when a football in a football game felt like it was glued to the feet of your players. Next Car Game: Wreckfest makes every other driving game feel as if the cars are stapled to the road.

Sure, as the name suggests, this is a racing game as concerned with what happens when you fail as with the successful execution of a slick driving line. Cars fall apart, metal rending and tearing, glass smashing, wheels which form track sidings break loose and are scattered, and the muddy track itself churns into new shapes.

But each of these only serves to highlight the physical movement of the cars themselves. The way the backend careens around corners, the way the body rocks on the suspension; everything about it communicates the idea that you're controlling, just barely, a heavy object at great speed. It's exhilarating.