Is Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks worth buying?

Orks, vehicle combat, racing and bad spelling combine in Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks, but is it worth your precious money and even more precious time?

Many moons ago, I collected Warhammer. My army of choice? Necrons. Partly because deranged, Terminator-like robot skeletons appealed – but mostly because they were easy to paint.

Back then, Warhammer was not exactly cool – not that it mattered. There was no Henry Cavill flying the flag for tabletop warfare and far fewer Warhammer video games to get excited about. These days, we have Space Marine II from Saber Interactive of SnowRunner fame, adding serious firepower to the franchise.

Running around and shooting things until they explode in a mass of metal, blood and body parts may not be your scene though. So allow me to introduce Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks. With two Es. In which you drive around and shoot things until they explode in a fiery mass of metal, blood and body parts.

Speaking of explosive: Speed Freeks is available on Instant Gaming, the sponsor of this video. Grab digital copies of games including the survival thriller Pacific Drive, road-crafting RoadCraft and the muddy madness of SnowRunner – at prices that would shock even a battle-hardened Space Marine.

Instant Gaming can be used for PC via Steam, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation and Xbox. Just use this referral code or hit the link in the description or pinned comment. You can also enter a monthly giveaway for a chance to win a free game. You know you want to.

Please note: This is the script from my video. Click play above to watch or go here.

What is Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks?

In the not-so-savoury future of the 41st millennium, Orks have discovered a new religion known as speed. The result? A Mad Max-style arena racer shoot-’em-up where deranged green-skinned loons tear around in ramshackle, multi-gunned vehicles. Causing violent chaos and vehicle insurance premiums to skyrocket.

Think less Mario Kart and more Twisted Metal or Carmageddon for us oldies, only with a healthy dose of Ork-ward humour and Warhammer 40,000. Plus the ability to score points by zooming through checkpoints to a chequered flag, should you fancy giving your guns a rest. Ya wuss.

Speed Freeks was originally a free-to-play, microtransaction-heavy title, but now it is a paid game stripped of all that monetised nonsense. At launch, with a 20 per cent discount it cost £15.99, US$20 or equivalent – potentially a bargain for fans of vehicular chaos.

As things roll, there are nine vehicles to hurtle around in. These are the amusingly named Grot Mega Tank, Deffkilla Wartrike, Boomdakka Snazzwagon, Kustom Boosta Plasta, Looted Wagon, Megatrakk Scrapjet, Trukk, Shokkjump Dragsta and Rukkatrukk Squigbuggy.

Some are available from the start. Others require you to complete challenges to unlock them, such as getting a number of kills or driving a number of kilometres in a particular vehicle.

Said vehicles feel distinct, each with varying strenghths and weaknesses. There is, for example, a slow and tanky tank built to absorb damage, while my favourite is a fragile speedster with a powerful lightning gun and cloaking for hit-and-run fun or sneaking through checkpoints.

There are also five sizeable maps, full of craters, broken machinery and the occasional massive battleship looming overhead for added drama. Modes include checkpoint races, area control and bomb delivery, all drenched in over-the-top Ork-some flavour.

Race to death

While racing is part of the Speed Freeks formula, most matches with human players descend into full-blown firefights and the AI is not exactly passive either. Objectives are sometimes unclear, at least until you sink in a few hours of game time.

Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks also likes to lob unlocks at you as you level up, which means you can customise and improve your preferred vehicles with different weapons, paintjobs and more. Sadly, the user-interface control system is a bit tedious and it is not always obvious what everything you receive does.

It is also a shame that there is no single-player campaign to sink those sharp Orky teeth into, with bosses from the sizeable Warhammer 40,000 back catalogue feeling like a major missed opportunity.

At least the handling model is satisfying and the visuals and shooting mechanics make arena-based destruction suitably appealing. That is, until you get stuck on your side and are a sitting duck. Or try to rotate the camera 180-degrees quickly.

There is a frantic pace to each battle that lends itself to satisfying quick-fire gaming sessions, but it is also easy to get sucked in for hours – hoping to unlock new stuff and generally kill more and die less.

It is not too long before you begin to see the ‘meta’ tactics and ‘meta’ vehicles that prove most effective. But not before a whole lot of blowing up other green-skinned loons with a deathwish.

Worth buying then?

Should you buy Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks then? Now that it is a paid game without micro-transactions, it is easier to recommend. The core vehicular arena shoot-’em-up gameplay is explosive, frantic, intense and mostly satisfying. Despite some edges rougher than Ork skin.

Whether it will keep you hooked in the long run depends on your love for Orks, carnage and fast-paced multiplayer madness. The foundations are strong, but developer Caged Element will need to keep ork-menting it to maintain momentum, which thankfully appears to be the case.