Wednesday 08 Oct 2008

Take a collection of hoverships. Add a rollercoaster circuit, the occasional weapon and drop in a thumping soundtrack. This has been the Wipeout recipe since 1995. Wipeout HD is no different. In fact, it’s better than Wipeout 2097 – you heard right.

Over a decade ago it was the sequel to this already stunning franchise that had speed, weapons, techno tunes and Red Bull sponsorship pushing this new found genre to new heights after the successful PS1 launch title – Wipeout. We since had Wip3put and Wipeout Fusion and more recently Wipeout Pure and Wipeout Pulse on the PSP. It seems as if it has been ages since we had a genuinely great wipeout game, one as good as Wipeout 2097. Besides the fact that Wipeout HD is made out of existing tracks from Wipeout Pure and Pulse, and that it even utilizes the soundtrack from Wipeout Pulse… it is the first Wipeout on console since Wipeout Fusion – which means it is the first time we get to play this game on our home consoles in 6 years! That is a complete generation without a worthy sequel and even worse – Wipeout Fusion was the all singing, all dancing “crap” of the world. Can it get worse? Wipeout HD comes from the same developers that did Wipeout Fusion.

Thing is Studio Liverpool has learned from their mistakes and have come out with gloves on ready to smack you out of your seat, this is the Wipeout we learned to love back in 1997 and it has fixed all the horrible bugs from the games past-2097.

For the first time I can honestly witness the difference between 720P and 1080P and for the first time in a very, very, very, very, very, very long time my eyes bled with excitement after seeing a game producing such luscious graphics may that be split-screen, online or single player in a crisp uninterrupted 60Fps! This game is possibly one of the most beautiful things this generation.

The tracks might be older tracks with a High Def brush added to them, but they are the best 8 tracks from the PSP versions. With the speeds increasing from Venom through to Phantom it will take you a good amount of time to perfect the tracks.

All those beautiful tracks would be worthless without the ships embracing it and here we have, in essence, all the ships ever created in the Wipeout universe available for your pleasure. Each ship handles very differently for your specific preference. I used AG-Systems and later on, after unlocking it, switched to Harimau International which handled the corners well at high speeds with just enough shield energy to last 5 laps on Phantom difficulty. What is a tad bit sad, in my opinion, is that the Piranha ship still has the most terrible shield energy and that they never captured the same twitchy feel of the original 2097 Piranha ship. What I did enjoy, surprisingly, was the motion control setup and it actually worked better than I would have guessed, but I would still rather opt for the analog sticks setup. You also have the option of using the Sixaxis to pitch your ship up and down while still using your analog sticks, which is very well implemented.

The weapons in Wipeout HD consist of your normal bunch of weapons, that being missiles, rockets, shield, earthquakes, speed boost, leech beams and machine guns. Nothing we haven’t seen before, but it has been perfected and works a charm. Added to your inventory of tricks you now have barrel rolls for the first time in a console version of Wipeout (introduced in Wipeout Pure on the PSP) as well which I find a bit more difficult to pull off than what I could with the analog nub on the PSP. Another nice touch in the gameplay department is that they now introduced “assist” for beginners, assisting them around the tracks, like the extra sets of wheels on the back of your bicycle when you were 5.

For those that have played Wipeout Pulse, you would be aware of the grid style presentation in career mode. We have the same setup here which overall consist of 8 layers where you have to work your way through single races, tournaments, time trials, lap events and zones. It is not as involved as the handheld versions but it is more than enough to ready yourself for what stands out as some of the best racing in a Wipeout series – online.

8 player, lag free, worldwide or friends only - need I say more? Oh, there is 2 player split screen, but that was done way back in Wip3out, so it is something one would expect.

I left the best for last, the juicy bits that makes Wipeout fans around the world just gobble up everything given to them in this game so far. Being a retro nut myself I was exceptionally surprised to see the Wipeout 2097 and Wip3out HUD’s being made available for use after using your chosen team for a certain amount of time, accumulating points. You also have custom soundtracks so that you do not have to listen to the same tunes over and over again. So, if you’re anything like me and would like to relive your memories you would select the Wipeout 2097 HUD and upload your Wipeout 2097 soundtrack (which can be uploaded via your PS1 game) select it in the custom soundtrack, invite your old mates and talk about the good ‘ol days. Oh, and if you really want to you can do the same with Wip3out, but that would spoil the party.

I’m sick and tired of playing F-Zero GX, as it is the only game that had me excited after Wipeout 2097 and Fatal Inertia was just a complete letdown in every sense of the word. Eventually we have a Wipeout console game that has been given the shine it deserves and with the possibilities of future downloadable tracks this game is feeling very HD indeed.

Pros: Beautiful graphics; constant 60Fps; 8 player online

Cons: 8 tracks might be too little for some; the soundtrack can get repetitive – but you have custom soundtracks available.

Rating:
Contributor:	Dawid

Purchase: