Wheel World is an open world biking title with a transparent love for all issues biking. Whereas it is extra of an arcade racer than some form of bicycle simulator, it manages to seize the fun of pedalling like only a few different video games have.
You play because the comically unbothered Kat, a silent protagonist who units out on a quest to assist Skully — a floating skull-shaped spirit who must restore his legendary bike. The surface-level story’s pretty charming whereas it lasts, however Wheel World’s all in regards to the gameplay.
Following on from a short introductory chapter, you are free to experience by the open world, which is made up of a number of districts. The concept is that with a view to rebuild Skully’s bike, you’ll want to accumulate the all-important elements from the continent’s finest cyclists, every of whom reside in several elements of the map.
So, you pedal from place to put, steadily customising and bettering your experience with new frames, wheels, deal with bars, seats, and kit chains that you just both purchase, stumble throughout, or win in races. And as soon as your bike’s in good condition, you begin taking over more and more troublesome challenges.
There is a very nice development curve to Wheel World. The sport’s solely round six or seven hours lengthy, however the close to fixed rewards and tangible bike upgrades make it really feel like a correct journey to the highest. Coming again to earlier races — which as soon as appeared fairly tough — and totally dominating together with your a lot improved experience feels nice.
The races themselves are dotted throughout the map. Some function brief routes that reward velocity, whereas others are made up of tangled roads and dust paths that require extra dextrous dealing with.
You may win most races simply by ensuring that your bike’s construct is suitably well-rounded, however with a view to set document instances and declare victory on the user-based leaderboards, you will must suppose just a little tougher about preparation.
With satisfyingly tight controls and a few unbelievable haptic suggestions on PS5, really enjoying Wheel World is commonly a pleasure. The DualSense rumbles and whirls in several methods relying in your velocity and the kind of floor you are masking, which actually provides to the title’s already tactile really feel.
Churning uphill, hurtling downhill, braking and virtually drifting into hairpin bends… Wheel World will get a lot proper that it stings when the sport ultimately drops the ball. It is not a dealbreaker, however the title’s final couple of hours or so undergo from a dip in total high quality.
Racing routes grow to be increasingly more finicky, with particularly slim tracks forcing conditions the place your AI-driven opponents begin bumping into you. This does not sound like an enormous situation on paper, however in observe, taking a knock normally dampens your management over Kat to a major diploma, sending you off track or, for those who’re going at velocity, careering into the closest wall.
By this level within the sport, only one bump could be sufficient to wreck a complete race, and given how erratic your AI adversaries could be, there is no definitive method to counteract their randomised bullying. With how superb every thing else feels, the collision system — or lack thereof — looks as if a bizarre misstep (and we’re hoping that it is tweaked post-launch).
Sadly, extra missteps are made in relation to the title’s efficiency. Even on PS5 Professional, there are some fairly heavy body fee drops in dense areas, just like the traffic-laden metropolis part of the map. The sport’s tight and responsive controls save these dips from being an entire catastrophe, however they’re nonetheless tough, and display tearing out within the extra open environments is an annoyance as nicely.
Conclusion
Wheel World is a delightfully tactile indie title, and an actual celebration of biking. It feels unbelievable to play and it is pretty to take a look at, however it’s held again by a finicky finale and poor efficiency on PS5. We’re hoping that a few significant post-release patches will deal with our complaints, as a result of at its core, Wheel World is joyous.
