Since Next Car Game was first announced, Bugbear have created a Kickstarter , released a trailer , cancelled the Kickstarter , released a demo , and crowdfunded through their own website . You'd think that at some point during that process, somebody on the team would have raised their hand and said "hey guys, how about we call it 'Smashy Smashy Bang Vroom'?"
The destruction derby racer is now available on Steam Early Access , where yes, it's still called Next Car Game. If you buy it, it will be available through your Steam Library, where it will still be called Next Car Game. Is it really so hard to come up with a video game name? How about Metal Mayhem: Origins, or Super Scrapes: Awakening, or, if they'd rather go for a celebrity licence, Tony Hawk's Reckless Roadside Endangerment? I know he's more closely associated with skating, but he's not done a game in a while, so he'd probably be up for it.
"Early access phase is meant to give you a chance to experience the game as it progresses through its development cycle, and the game is still at an early stage," explains the game's Early Access disclaimer. "As such, it does contain missing features and nasty bugs." Features like a proper name. "Developing the game together with the players gives us a lot more creative freedom, and you get to communicate with the development team to make sure we're making the all-out racing game that you want."
Despite my fascination with their refusal to name a game, it's a promising looking racer from a talented team of genre enthusiasts. Bugbear were responsible for the good Flatout games, and it seems that they now hope to one-up those with a spectacular destruction engine. For more, race over to Craig's hands-on session with the game's tech demo. Or watch the below video, showing the game's developers smashing up cars for "research".
