Wip3out

Written by Tom Clare in PSOne Game Reviews, Saturday 8 May, 2004

Wipes out the competition...

Way, way back in 1995 when the infant that was the Sony PlayStation had just emerged in the U.K, big name games were required to give it a chance of beating the already established Sega Saturn. Developers Namco quickly came up with the goods - Tekken and Ridge Racer arcade-ports were immediately popular, but perhaps it was the futuristic racer WipEout that played the biggest role in the early success of the console.

Games are rarely cool in the public eye, but WipEout, and then a year later WipEout 2097, managed to find favour among hardcore and casual gamers alike. The futuristic, minimalist look of the games together with the fact that they featured what were considered to be among the greatest game-based soundtracks ever (featuring efforts from, among others, The Prodigy and The Chemical Brothers), insured the series classic status.

The series was on a roll, but then all goes quiet. Fans begin an agonising three year wait for the third and (sort of) final PSOne instalment to the series; the stupidly-titled Wip3out.

It's predecessor, WipEout 2097, was a bit of a flawed masterpiece. It looked and played like a dream, but was ultimately undone by failing to produce a two-player mode, lacking long-term appeal and featuring a truly hellish learning curve. Wip3out however is maginificent - it has not only fixed all these problems convincingly, but built greatly upon the foundations laid down by it's prequels.

As mentioned earlier, this is a racing game set in the not-so-near future. 2116 to be precise, and this is basically just a good excuse for the developers to create a bunch of stylish, imaginative racing circuits on which the player rockets round at astounding speeds. The techonology of the crafts and tracks may be super advanced, but the aim of the racing is the same as it has always been - cross the finish line first!

The races are between 2 and 5 laps long, whereby you start from the back of a twelve competitor field and must work your way up the ranks through skilled, accurate driving and with the help of some nifty power-ups. Power-ups range from standard but useful things such as shields, rockets and missiles, to more devious devises such as cloaks, energy drains (drains an enemies shields and adds it to yours!) and the excellent auto-pilot (allows the computer to do the driving for a short period of time). As well as these, the good old speed strips return, giving your craft a brief boost, something the WipEout series has pretty much made it's own in recent years.

Wip3out has a good few game modes, but the one you'll spend the most time on will be the Single-Race mode. Cleverly, the eight circuits and eight vehicles have been split into a grid of 64 boxes, and to complete the table, you must win on every course with every craft. This in itself should take you awhile, and just as you think you've conquered the game, you'll find that you have to complete the grid all over again in a higher speed class, not once but three times! In total this makes for more than 200 races in this mode alone, and will take months - the very definition of good value.

One thing that is instantly noticable about Wip3out is that it doesn't look like other games. Colours are muted and drab, and all presentation screens are grey, with no snazzy borders, and information often confined to corners and displayed in very small fonts. The in-game visuals are utterly unique and totally stunning - the ease with which it handles the eye-popping speeds is breathtaking. The first speed class, Vector, feels quicker than your average racing game; and then you try Venom, which ups the ante a great deal; then Rapier proves a test of raw reaction-time and skill, and finally Phantom class is just plain bonkers. Regardless of the class, there isn't a flaw or glitch in sight and the action never relents under any circumstances.

The track design really impressed me, as the developers seemingly knew no limits when constructing the circuits. There are some genuinely memorable sections - for instance, the Mega Mall track features a spiralling descent through a futuristic shopping precinct, as all around you are stores and shop logos on display, expertly placed to enhance the impression of velocity. Elsewhere, the Manortop track in general is fantastic; it is a Bladerunner-esque city circuit, high up, with dark builings all around and rain falling on the sections of track not covered by tunnel roofing, and a firework display towards the end of the track is the icing on the cake. Each circuit is littered with innovations; hot-air balloons and a flock of birds scattering as you pass by are another couple that spring to mind.

Much like the graphics, the gameplay oozes class. The eight crafts that are available all have their own performance criteria, based on speed, thrust, shield and handling capabilities. They are very different from each other and require different approaches to get the most out of them, yet they move with a shared grace and convincing smoothness that is missing from all other racing games aside from perhaps Gran Turismo.

Are there any problems? Nothing much, although such features as visual and performance damage to the crafts would have been a nice edition, and collisions with other crafts is still rubbish as (much like in Ridge Racer) you simply grind against them or bounce backwards with a big clunk.

Wip3out potentially has months of gameplay within it - the inspired Challenge mode allows you to try one-race objectives to obtain medals, for example the Race Challenges would simply require you to win a certain race in a certain craft, whilst Time Attack would be similar, but you would have to beat a set time instead, and then there is the great Weapon mode, whereby the elimination of your fellow racers is the only thing you need worry about.

Now I come to the two-player mode, something conspicuous by it's absence in previous WipEout's. As there is (an always has been) an emphasis on the single-player experience in this series, the developers could have been forgiven for producing a watered-down multiplayer experience. The end result astonished me - not only is the speed, detail and smoothness of the one-player game retained almost to 100%, a large field of eight racers can take part at any one time. It's not just Single-Races you can try either - Tornaments are also a great laugh. It's probably the best two-player racing game on the PlayStation.

Long-term appeal is huge, and the incentive to play on lies in the prototype tracks that can be unlocked through playing through the Single-Race mode. There are three of these, each using a unique half animated, half wireframe style that is fabulous to behold. Sadly, after the initial eight crafts you compile early on, there are no more to unlock, though this doesn't hinder the game in the slightest.

One thing people have critisised the WipEout series of is being too difficult early on. The unouthodox handling means a little practice is still needed for new-comers to get into the action, but at least this time you are eased into the game with nice, wide circuits with only very gentel corners. The difficulty steepens but there are no 'this is impossible!' moments, reassuringly.

The soundtrack doesn't overshadow the game this time around though it is of a high class throughout - Orbital, Propellerheads and Underworld provide good backing songs to the racing that seem to suit the futuristic theme to a tee. There is little to mention in the sound effects department - the engine noises are virtually none existent and aside the odd voice telling you what power-up you have just attained, there is little else I can think of!

Age group? A tough one to judge - it is most definately suitable for all ages but whether youngsters will be able to play it succesfully is hard to answer. I didn't find it too tough, although some of my friends have given up on it after a few goes. So, much like Dr. Pepper, you'll have to try it to love it...

Ultimately, Wip3out proves a masterclass in how to do a futuristic racing game. It is the fastest, most stylish racing game ever concieved and given half a chance, will gladly take months of your time. This is going to sound bizarre after all the praise, but you should actually look to buying Wip3out: Special Edition (as part of a double-pack with Destruction Derby 2, £14.99), as it is essentially the same game, only with an extra eight re-mastered circuits from the first two WipEout's! Anyhow, Wip3out is still to this day among the best PSOne games as it is so strong in every department. Buy it ASAP.

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