Preview: Warhammer 40K: Speed Freeks is a short, noisy blast
Boomdakka Snazzwagon. Rukkatrukk Squigbuggy. Deffkilla Wartrike. These are all real names of Ork vehicles, and Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks lets you drive all of them. The game does a commendable job of capturing that raw spontaneity of 40Kthe resident comedy entertainment faction, and this game exploded in popularity in a short time. My only concern is how long it will last, especially considering its free-to-play model.
Although more of a deathmatch than a racing game, Freeks Speed However, it puts you in the driver’s seat of one of several cobbled together war machines, each with its own unique weaponry and augmentations. And there are a variety of roles, from short-range armor-busters to slow but powerful tanks (looted from other species, of course) that can fire missiles controlled by a little goblin riding on top. My favorite is the Grot Mega Tank, a giant machine built like a battleship and with a shovel mounted on its front to flip over anyone foolish enough to get close.
Each vehicle has a few short abilities, usually primary fire, secondary fire, dash, and then something else. The two tank classes trade dash for healing over time, but they all generally follow this formula. Additionally, some trucks in Freeks Speed There are fixed weapon mounting angles or turret angles that can affect your firepower. For example, the Mega Tank like the one mentioned earlier has turrets mounted lengthwise so you’ll need to align them in a boat-style manner to get them all firing at once. This is a great little extra consideration to learn to get the most out of your vehicle.
Matches of Freeks Speed Played in either Deff Rally or Kill Konvoy mode. Instead of a straight race, Deff Rally is a race to reach a capture point and kill people while holding it, repeating this with different locations before finally racing to the finish line. Kill Konvoy, meanwhile, has your team escorting a giant Stompa, the ork version of a super-heavy mech, which will race against its opponents. Killing people will speed things up, but you can also grab bombs from the battlefield and drive them into the enemy Stompa to stun it for a moment.
A special compliment has to go to the maps themselves, which are surprisingly beautiful despite being mostly desolate wasteland. I particularly enjoyed the Ice level, which has a huge imperial city looming in the background, the massive Gothic structure making a lovely contrast to the Ork huts. Fighter jets soar overhead while stray bullets litter the sky, with the amusing implication that all this junkyard racing is going on while the rest of the planet is locked in a fight for survival.
There are a few missed opportunities, however. While the messy nature of Ork builds is perfectly suited to ‘kustomizin’, options are pretty lacking beyond a nice splash of colour. Likewise, if any game warrants exhausted– destruction and collision system in style, it is Freeks Speedbut aside from the Mega Tank’s ram, i’ve never felt like ramming someone was a big advantage, unless you knocked them into a rock or something.
There’s also the battle pass system and the shop, or the whole progression system. While it’s nice that the offerings are left unnoticed, I also don’t really understand why anyone would spend money unless it was for one of the two vehicles that are a bit difficult to unlock. And once you’ve unlocked each vehicle, there’s really nothing that motivates me to complete the challenge. You can unlock a few skulls or spikes to attach to your truck at will, but there’s nothing that motivates me to keep going.
However, if you are looking for something simple yet loud, Freeks Speed It’s endless fun. And if you’re someone who’s tired of the endless progression of live service games, some of these drawbacks might actually be a bonus for you. I’m worried about how long it can hold up, but as a free-to-play game, it’s definitely worth checking out if you’re craving some vehicular carnage.
Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks Now available for PC via Steam Early access.
