As a primarily visual medium, video games can occasionally forgo rock-solid game mechanics in favor of slick flashy visuals, and get away with it. Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions on the Xbox is a perfect example of style over substance, where the developer's main concern was creating a unique, cohesive look for the streets of Hong Kong, complete with narrow, bustling streets, miles of glowing neon, and a near-palpable level of humidity. Now the game has found its way to the GameCube. And though the game touts a fair amount of new content, the poorly optimized GameCube version robs the original of most of its visual style and slows the pace considerably, resulting in a mediocre mission-based driving game with poor handling.
|