Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks Review

Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks is a team based car combat racing game set in the long running Warhammer 40K universe. Also important to note that this game has no offline mode. This is an always online multiplayer experience. Once you start the game, you can either try a few maps in the tutorial or jump directly into a game with others from around the world.

Players also has the chance to choose from a myriad of rides. Each character/vehicle not only has common mechanics but also their own skills and perks in order to survive combat. While all vehicles has a boost and a dash option, their attacks will vary. For example, one of the rides has a machinegun that can be fired non stop alongside a stink rocket and another has missiles. has a default attack. Aside from the default attack, the other mechanisms have a cooldown period.

The game does have a few game modes available. First up is Kill Konvoy, Deff Rally and Kustom Rally. The former is where your team is required to protect a giant mech called Stompa from the opposing team trying to take it down with a bomb. And your goal is to destroy the bomb holder and destroy the other team’s Stompa. And Deff Rally requires players to race through checkpoints scattered throughout the arena. It’s never a typical straight race tracks. The team with the highest score wins.

And finally Kustom Rally, which isn’t a proper game mode in and of itself, is where you’ll be able to play custmom player made maps and racetracks. Winning races and destroying opponents rewards players with scraps that can be used to acquire new pieces of aesthetic to give your favorite ride(s) a unique style.

Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks looks fine. Nothing really outstanding here; could have easily released on the previous generation of consoles. Given the Warhammer universe has an overall dark color palette, this racer keeps the template going. The default arenas are hit or miss. Some of them are actually enjoyable to explore and chase opponents in; whereas others can be confusing and nauseating as it feels like you’re in a blender being bounced around by traps.

On the audio side of things, not much to say. The soundbytes of the creatures and vehicles are as you’d expect; bullets hitting metal, creature grunting, explosions; etc… I was expecting a soundtrack in-game, but there just isn’t. I found the official soundtrack by accident and it’s a banger. Too bad it’s not playing during the chaos.

Unfortunately Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks has quite a few faults. The main being the lack of depth. Only two proper game modes along with one that is community based feels lacking. Additionally, the tutorial is played “live” leaving players little to no time to properly adapt to the game; reading text on the right of the screen trying to kill enemies or avoid getting shot is not the best. The lack of the banging soundtrack during the carnage is baffling. Also the controls feel clunky as you have to accelerate/decelerate using the left joystick. Given the limited attacks, I don’t understand why they do the normal left/right trigger for drive/reverse and use the face buttons for actions.

I’m a fan of the car combat genre and was actually interested in Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks. But unfortunately, it falls pretty flat. This feels like an early access game that should be free to play given the limited variety. Due to being multiplayer centric, it’ll ride or die based on its fanbase. The combat in itself is actually pretty fun and there’s a great selection of vehicle with unique strengths and weaknesses, but that doesn’t make up for the limited gameplay. Always happy to see neglected genres getting some love, but Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks is disappointing. Unless you need everything Warhammer 40,000 or you’re a multiplayer type of person, then Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks, but for those hoping for some depths will be disappointed. It left me wanting more, but if and when they add more content, I’ll have moved on to something else.