Sports games are a niche that I could never really get into. Part of it comes from me not being particularly into sport in general, so any draw that a particular player or team would have is lost on me, but it’s also because they’re just not that great. Since I’m not interested in the mechanics and there’s usually no narrative to speak of there’s not much left there for me to enjoy. In the spirit of not writing things off just because I might not enjoy them though I decided to give Wheel World a go, figuring that professional cycling with a loose supernatural narrative could prove fertile ground for an interesting experience.
Kat was just your regular run of the mill cyclist, peddling her rusty frame around Wheel World just like many others were. That was until she stumbled across an ancient sewer ruins and saw the destitute Skully lying motionless on the floor. As it turns out he’s one of the spirits in charge of ensuring that the cycles of life in Wheel World continue and during his last run he burnt himself out by going too hard. So Kat makes it her mission to help him recover the pieces of his legendary ride so he can start the cycle once again.
It’s been a hot minute since I got to riff on a dev for using the low poly/low texture style that was popular for a good 5 or so years there. So this time, instead of it feeling trite and samey, it’s a refreshing art style that’s realised well. I’ve stopped short of calling it cel shaded as whilst the level of detail is somewhat above the norm for the low poly/low texture style it’s not at the same levels as current-gen cel shaded games. Not that the distinction really matters though as Wheel World both looks great and runs well which is really all you can ask for.
Wheel World’s core revolves around your bike, races and the usual open world antics of collectibles, challenges and exploration. Each race comes with 4 objectives: get in the top 3, get first, collect the KAT letters and beat an arbitrary time. Each one of those you tick off earns you some rep which is required to unlock access to certain races. Completing 2 of those objectives in a race will earn you a new bike part but they can also be acquired by exploring or purchasing them using the in-game currency you can find lying around. In between races you’re free to roam around, do some challenges, tick off side quests and do usual open world things until you feel the need to race again. All of these things are straightforward enough that it won’t take you long to get a feel for the core game loop but, of course, the challenge is always in mastering it.
The races are pretty fun to start off with, striking the right balance between challenge and reward. You probably won’t be winning races easily to begin with, but hitting 2 of the race objectives usually isn’t too much of a drama. Of course as you upgrade your bike and get a feel for how far you can push certain things you’ll start to win more consistently. It’s probably at this point that you’ll start to notice just how little variation there is in the races. To be sure there’s dozens of tracks to explore but most of them fall into maybe three categories: medium length lap races, long point to point runs and some wild short courses which feel more like brawls. These are fun for a time but the lack of variety does start to become apparent pretty quickly and even the change of scenery halfway through the game didn’t do much to alleviate it.
The upgrade system is well thought out, with most of your choices coming down to what you want to prioritise more than trying to find the objectively “best” parts. I myself favouring power and handling as I knew that cornering was my weak spot and both of those helped with mitigating my lack of skill there. I did experiment with mixing up builds for specific tracks and there were a few where that made a big difference (the BMX style tracks especially) but for the majority of them my standard build you see above was enough to get me over the line. That build also didn’t take too long to achieve either as most upgrades, past a certain point, aren’t pure “upgrades” as they just redistribute the stat pool I already had. I’m sure if I finished the game there might be some other items that were full upgrades as I didn’t seem to be able to hit the achievements for full power/aero/handling/grip with the kit I had.
The story is utterly forgettable but I do give it points for not belaboring on it too much. You’re given a brief overview of your character’s motivation, the challenge before you and then that’s it; you’re off on your own. Each of the racers have a small spiel that’s supposed to add some colour to the world but none of them relate to each other at all, so it’s just a loose bag of catch phrases and tropes that don’t add up to anything. There’s a little more meat on the bones for the main story missions but even that’s pretty thin on the ground. It’s clear that the narrative is just there to move the game along and that’s OK, the devs have clearly spent their time elsewhere to much better effect.
Wheel World is a competent bike racer, doing exactly what it says it does on the tin. The worlds are beautifully realised giving you the feeling of playing through a wide open comic book world that’s come to life. The core gameplay loop is good, although it suffers from repetition very quickly and the progression stalls out fast enough that it makes putting the game down far too easy. The narrative is nothing to write home about but I don’t count that too hard against it. As a short, chill distraction between other games Wheel World works well although it’s not much more beyond that.
Rating: 7.0/10
Wheel World is available on PC, PlayStation and Xbox Series X/S right now for $29.50. Game was played on the PC with a total of 3.6 hours playtime and 29% of the achievements unlocked. Game is also available on Xbox Gamepass.
