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 Wipeout
HD (Playstation 3)
Sony's seminal futuristic racing series has
arrived on PS3 with the long-awaited Wipeout HD, a superb revamp of two
previous PSP titles presented in full high-definition. Featuring eight
tracks, classic vehicles and multiple racing styles, this edition of the
franchise includes both single-player and online modes. In terms of
design, Wipeout HD features breathtaking courses, slick menus and gorgeous
vehicles rendered beautifully while moving at a blistering 60 FPS
throughout. Even though it's a downloadable title, Wipeout HD delivers the
production values, intense gameplay and polish usually reserved for
full-release titles. It points to the future in more ways than one. |
Wipeout has been one of the most
influential racing series to appear over the past decade, forging an
indelible mark on the racing genre in terms of style, presentation and
gameplay. Now, the series is breaking new ground in terms of delivery,
with the release of Wipeout HD on Playstation Network. While it would have
been easy to bring out a simple port of the PSP games with modest
improvements, the developers at Sony's Liverpool Studio have instead opted
to produce a completely robust and brilliant edition of the series. While
it features 8 tracks from the two PSP Wipeout games, they have been
completely redone in high definition with full 1080p support. In addition,
they're available in mirror-mode, which expands the total tracks to 16. At
the main menu, you can choose from several racing modes as they login to
the game's beautifully designed menus. Jumping into single-player match
provides an immediate energy rush, with intense battles against other
vehicles providing an intense experience that lives up to the series'
reputation. The gameplay should be quite familiar to series veterans with
the courses and tracks laid out in typical fashion. You'll face sharp
turns, dramatic drops, huge jumps and challenging items on each course. As
usual, there are loads of power-up energy pods scattered throughout each
course, and players can collect these by running over them. The usual
selection is here including energy based weapons such as the infamous
Quake device. Energy Drains allow you to suck power from your opponents'
vehicles. There are also machine guns and mines that you can drop behind
your vehicle. You'll also find defensive weapons such as shields and
auto-pilot pods. Once collected, you can choose to use them to battle with
your opponents or use them as energy to increase your ship's reserves.
This is especially handy if you're running low. Finally, players will find
a number of speed boost pods that immediately thrust your ship to
incredibly high speeds. Memorizing their location and collecting these
will give you a significant advantage in terms of your lap times, and
successfully running over them can make the difference between losing and
winning in some of the speed trial modes.
 Wipeout
HD's controls will feel immediately familiar to veteran gamers, with an
incredibly responsive interface that's second-to-none in terms of feel and
control. Anyone who's played the previous titles will know that using the
air-brakes is essential to mastering the game and this installment is no
exception. While they slow you down a bit, its not as bad as the loss of
momentum that comes from hitting the side of a wall. Learning to use the
brakes sparingly and not relying on them too much plays a critical role in
your success or failure. While it might be a little bit difficult to learn
all the nuances, the game allows novices to use racing assists to keep
them on the right path, which is helpful in learning the basics. However,
it's a bit too conservative and you'll have to learn the best paths on
your own. Another critical factor in determining your success is which
vehicle you use. Each one has a unique set of attributes ranging from top
speed, to handling and shield and knowing which one to use in which type
of race makes all the difference. Picking a vehicle with great handling
but a slightly slow top speed isn't the smartest move in time trail modes,
but the same vehicle's control might help you win a standard race. There
are eight racing teams including the legendary AG Systems, Feisar, Pirhana
and Auricom teams from the earlier games. Most of these ships aren't
available at the start of the game, but you can unlock them relatively
quickly in career mode at a rate of two per completed level. While it
might not make much difference on the surface which ones you choose,
loyalty points are awarded after each race and earning enough of these
unlocks additional skins for your ships, which is a cool reward system.
Wipeout HD's racing is structured in a
way that allows you to jump right in and start racing immediately. There
are several race types with the usual lap races complimented by fastest
lap races and time attack modes that challenge you to attain the quick
times, where memorizing the tracks gives you an advantage. You can also
compete in multiple races in tournament modes, where you earn a score
after each race and the racer with the highest score gets the medal. These
modes are self-explanatory, but Wipeout HD's signature mode has to be the
Zone, where you are placed in a virtual simulation of a track, without
opponents where you have to survive an ever increasing velocity around
tracks, which is as unforgiving, intense and absolutely addictive as it
sounds. Zone mode's visuals are really cool and trade the detailed
futuristic environments for a surreal, flat-colored virtual world with
pulsating primary colors that morph as you increase speed. With each zone
you complete, your ship increases speed until you are moving at an
incredible velocity - making it difficult to avoid collisions. Surviving
at the faster speeds becomes more difficult and you need to make it as
long as possible in order to earn a medal. It's definitely one of the
better additions to the series that came from Pulse and Pure on the PSP,
but it's flawless implementation here is absolutely amazing, and makes
Zone mode one of the most intense and exciting racing modes we've seen in
any title in quite some time. Going a bit deeper, players can charge into
the campaign mode, where they compete in various race types to earn medals
and unlock additional races. Each level in the campaign mode has a certain
number of points you need to earn in order to unlock the next phase. When
this is completed, the unlocked tracks and vehicles are available for use
in Wipeout HD's Race Box mode, where you can set up a match to your
liking, with options that let you set up the track, mode, number of laps,
competitors plus the ability to create tournaments for online play. This
gives you the freedom to create customized races either in single player
or online, with adds immensely to WHD's depth.
 One
of Wipeout's major innovations was its inclusion of licensed music tracks
from top electronic music artists, and this installment is no exception.
The included tracks fit in perfectly with the game's atmosphere, style an
attitude, driving the action and adding to the overall futuristic, forward
looking feel. Familiar names like Kraftwerk, Ed Rush & Optical combine
with lesser-known artists to create a coherent soundtrack that punctuates
the action almost flawlessly. Some of the tracks are more drum & bass
oriented than the previously techno-centric playlists, which expands the
genre slightly but doesn't lose the game's futuristic focus. Wipeout HD's
standard tracks are great, but players can also import their own tracks if
they want, to make their own personal soundtrack for the game as well.
Obviously, music is a huge component in the appeal of the franchise, but
the visual design carries things even further. The game's visuals and
design don't stray to far from the look seen in Pure, but the visuals have
been fully upgraded to HD. Its visionary design is coherent and beautiful,
with stunning urban environments, impressive trackside detail and a
consistent 60FPS engine that allows the action to explode off the screen
at a blistering speed throughout. The results are quite impressive,
bringing the series' futuristic design to another high-water mark. Those
who played the PSP games will notice a massive visual upgrade in the
familiar tracks, with added detail on the tracks giving the game a
beautiful look that mixes science fiction and forward-looking industrial
design influences to create a world that is simultaneously breathtaking
and believable. This game's long-standing attention to detail is evident
in the smallest details. The course designs have made an impressive
transition from what was an impressive portable title to a stunningly
designed console experience. The level of detail seen in each track is
quite impressive, with every element from the tracks, to the scenery
rendered in brilliant detail. These robust visuals give Wipeout HD an
incredible sense of cohesion that allows you to immerse yourself into the
racing experience. Combined with the outstanding soundtrack, this is
definitely, far and away, the best-looking Wipeout title yet.
Between its highly-polished visuals, its
intense gameplay mechanics and several innovative new modes, such as the
brilliant Zone attacks, Wipeout HD stands as an impressive accomplishment
in the series. Its one of the best-playing installments in the series to
date, refining the elements that made the previous titles so addictive
while adding new modes, such as Race Box that extend its depth and
longevity even more. The biggest problem with Wipeout HD is that, despite
including some really cool features and modes, you are left wanting more.
Including 16 tracks and 8 racing teams might seem like plenty of content,
but once you've unlocked it all, you'll definitely be disappointed to see
that's all there is. When you factor in the fact that this is an online
title and isn't as expensive as a full game, then Wipeout HD is still a
great value that delivers some of the most intense and exciting racing on
the Playstation 3 to date. While we wish there was more, what's included
in Wipeout HD is absolutely fantastic, making this a huge comeback for
this visionary racing franchise.
- Michael Palisano |
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