pure genius - the greatest wipeout?

[willsgb13]

i'm currently playing through pure and i wanted to try and explain why it's made of so much win. based on what i've observed about the game, it seems to return to many of the things that made wipeout, wipeout 2097 and wip3out so great, while carefully cherry picking a few positives from wipeout fusion and bringing them together under fresh graphics, new tracks, a contemporary, bouncy soundtrack perfect for such a game and a return to the core simplicity and playability, challenge and sleek focus of the older games meshed with the interactivity of online play - which i have yet to sample - and the expansive delights of downloadable content, which i have uploaded and am currently enjoying immensely.

anyway, in the interests of giving this subforum a worthy topic, here is my analysis of what makes pure such a purist wipeout experience, a return to the roots of the franchise, something i think they were aiming for in making it as far as i'm aware.

- the old system of modes and gold medal collecting, the simple and easy to engage stratum of modes including classic single race, tournament, time trial
- and zone, with 4 different tracks encouraging perfection with increasing speeds, a great idea for a wipeout mode from fusion and one that deserved to be retained, a shame that you can't do zone races on the other normal tracks, but not enough of a shame to be a detriment
- the return of familiar teams like auricom, ag systems, qirex and assegai who i believe were absent from fusion, along with feisar and piranha, and two new teams in harimau as a moderate ship to master and a new brute to plough through the opposition and pile through tracks in throwing your weight about in triakis
- the addition of the zone ship when zone mode is golded out, as well as that cool medieval team; and a shame there's no ghostly gimmicks or weirdness to go with it but it's still aesthetically cool and plays like a dream; both bonus ships challenging too due to low shields in competitive races
- 8 tracks with cool backgrounds and a range of environments, rain on a few tracks, a variety of viscera, and some great jumps and challenging twists and turns, a few near 180s and so forth, well designed and memorable tracks like vineta k, chenghou project, sol 2, sinucit, blue ridge etc. as well as 4 tracks from the playstation trio and fusion in techno vision as the prototypes in 3 were
- the lack of pit lanes, with the absorbtion of weapons and items compensating for energy replenishment, i think this makes racing pacier and more thrilling especially on flash and above as there's no screwing around trying to negotiate your way into pitlanes and out, it's just a dashing cruise around the tracks
- the downloadable content, i now have 8 different tournaments on here, over 16 different ships, something like 29 tracks, makes for a load of variety, an experience spanning most of the ships and crafts of the older games as well as this one, and a greatly elongated and extended experience as a result
- a good, user friendly, minimalist menu system, and on the progress screen, the reward of a cool image or bit of artwork or schematic for every gold medal achieved
- another excellent soundtrack, something they've always nailed, from dnb to house to trance, perfectly complementing the racing
- the lack of boosting speed in exchange for shield energy, which was an excellent addition in 3, but the lack of which makes racing here less about whizzing through, which is excellent in its own right and helps make wip3out a classic, and more about precision, sticking to the right racing line and cruising along, using speed pads and the boost powerup, also present in 3 and all the other wipeouts, instead. this is something the original wipeout was all about, with the stop-in-your-tracks wall collision physics making it imperative that you find the right racing line and have the reactions and nerve to stick to it. pure tries to return to that, to its benefit and triumph as an experience. all this is not to say wip3out wasn't about this, of course, it was. however, that game was geared to speed, and destruction, much like 2097.

i do have a few, tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiny drawbacks to mention, and they're simply pedantic nothings or greedy wishes for even more wipeout goodness >

- no eliminator mode from wip3out. given the online capability of pure, and the range of ships and tracks and of course weapons, as devastating and various and pivotal in competition as always, an eliminator mode would have elevated this title even further
- occasional framerate chopping - in the final turn of the excellent, winding, snowy sebenco climb, for example, there's a little bit of framerate slowdown. this is something i thought i'd mention purely to prevent this post from being a total celebration of the game, a bit of pedantry designed to encourage impartial analysis.
- this is a stretch, but perhaps the challenge modes from wip3out could have been welcome too.
- **** it, a couple of tracks which drifted onto natural or non-track terrain like in fusion would have been nice too. that's one thing i quite liked about fusion, even though it's not very wipeout. maybe even just one track, a epic journey through nature and industry in the future. maybe as downloadable contents.

anyway, do you all agree or disagree on any of the above? or have i missed anything which helps to make wipeout pure an outstanding piece of racing gaming? if you have anything to add or discuss, please don't hesitate. let's be friends etc.

[archman]

What I already said 10000 times here (I love to compare it with Pulse) is that it feels more like flying, like psx wipeouts. Pulse feels almost like some Need For Speed, responsive, and there's a feel you're on tires. But that, for me, is not a drawback. It's excellent for a gameplay. (Pulse is IMO much easier than Pure)
I love the flow on Pure when I reach top speeds, I have a feel like I'm cruising the air, flying, I loooove that feel. And that's IMO the main difference between Pure and Pulse. Pure is more Wipeout. Won't long anymore.
Btw, welcome here, Will! Enjoy your stay.

[RJ O'Connell]

It's a fantastic game, I do have nitpicks about the game - the speed pad bug, not every region gets all the extra content, no infrastructure (to be fair, it's a PSP launch title, but I'd enjoy seeing a Special Edition that adds online play), lame Zone tracks, and Medi-focking-Evil.

On the plus side, it offers more tracks and vehicles than any of the other games, the graphics are almost PS2 quality, it plays really well and it has the best intro. Regardless, it's still not my absolute favorite.

[lunar]

Pure is my second favourite Wipeout because it gave me such a great time playing it. So many game design decisions in it are just totally right It`s also so much more to my taste than that stunt/slot racer called Pulse

Jaytech kind of broke Pure for me though. My son did aswell when he thought the UMD disc itself had to be removed from the plastic casing before being put in the PSP. No, you`re never supposed to touch the actual disc.... The PSP nearly died too.

I think Pure saved Wipeout too. We are still living on the fat of Pure being a commercial success, I like to think.

[Xavier]

I think Pure saved Wipeout too. We are still living on the fat of Pure being a commercial success, I like to think.

I completely agree with this -- I'm a living example. I was never much good at the original Wipeouts and was drawn to F-Zero instead. Not until I tried Pure for the PSP did I get back into the series, and Pure's difficulty level is just right for the beginner.

If not for Pure, I wouldn't have gone back and bought WO1, 2, 3, and Fusion!

Pure is still so playable even now. Bright, colorful backgrounds that make you feel like you're in a very pleasant future; a simple, uncluttered display; timelessly-cool ships. I hooked my PSP up to my TV, and this game still looks great even on a big screen.

I liked the soundtrack more than that of Pulse. You can't beat Cold Storage, and you really can't beat his remixes of the original WO work like Cairodrome, Canada, etc.

Of course I've got nitpicks too -- one big one being the use of a font where not all the numbers are the same width (the "1" is very thin); when the time and speed change, as they do constantly, seeing the width of the numbers change is very distracting.

Another problem is how, when you're viewing your medal progress, you can't just see an event you want to try and click on it right then and there. Instead, you have to remember what it was, go back two or three screens, find it in the menu, etc. Pulse did a finejob of solving this.

Oh, and then there's the fact that you have to hit the X button 5 or 6 times just to get started after loading the game. What a hassle!

[Slacker]

So why do you think that they're making a PS2 rendition of Pulse instead of Pure? They'd better make one, or else I'm going to have to get a PSP...

[Sirius IV]

Bright, colorful backgrounds that make you feel like you're in a very pleasant future;

Yes, this is true! I've start to playing Pure from a week ago, and since the first moment I've played i feel the same sensations...
For me this is a true WipEout masterpiece, the ships are so fantastic (all! I especially like the new Van Uber model - don't kill me, but I think that Van Uber in this episode feels like a "powered" Feisar -, Harimau it's a very good ship for me - yes, I like it - , the new Tigron model represents a nice surprise and...Feisar...the new Feisar: what a fantastic ship is?), and the same is for the wonderful tracks.
The handling of the ship for me is the most particular ever...the general design is very cool and the soundtrack rules!!!!
The game mode it's another good surprise: a fantastic return to the first games of the series....
There's no doubt, for me WipEout Pure it's a TRUE masterpiece !
Sorry for the English errors ...

[willsgb13]

archman - thank you! i also own pulse and have given it a spin in the last few days to be able to comment on your comparison which is certainly a valid topic for an examination of pure, they being the two PSP titles in the franchise, and i must say i agree with you

pure feels like the 3 playstation wipeouts. the ships all float and are just as weighty and floaty and hoverworthy as the crafts in those games. i will assume that 64 had the same flight mechanics, having not experienced them first hand yet. the weird thing i found about the more fixed, rooted mechanics or pulse, was that they reminded me... of fusion. i have limited experience of fusion, but pulse seems a lot like it in racing dynamic.

so far i prefer pure because it is an absolutely pure wipeout experience in the vein of the playstation classics, but pulse certainly brings a lot more to the table and is a magnificent effort in its own right. the responsive controls aren't more responsive then pure's but... i found it difficult to adjust so far, crashing a fair bit, at least on phantom. i'm sure i'll get the hang of it though.

i'd be interested to know, all of you, give us a consensus for those like me who aren't aware - does HD handle like pulse, or pure, or something else entirely?

RJ - speed pad bug? i am not aware of one, please elaborate? as far as extra content, i suppose i don't feel that since i'm in europe which got most of it as far as i know, but there's plenty in the main game to keep you going? although it is a valid complaint, admittedly. i didn't know about infrastructure, i thought online play was possible? i stand corrected if it isn't. i liked the zone tracks - as well as there being more than one - although they are bland, they are a bit of a rush when you get + 20, and what's the matter with medieval? they're nothing special, but you seem quite despondent with the team, interested to know more

as for your positive points, i agree that the graphics are really impressive. so clear and full of detail and clarity. one of the things i like about it. i'd say it's PS2 quality, i've certainly seen a lot worse on the PS2. the massive range of crafts and ships is certainly a big positive too

i like piranha, zone, icaras, goteki, tigron and puma1 ships in particular so far, while triakis and medieval are not favourites but great fun nonetheless in their own rights. no real dislikes for any of the other teams thus far. haven't tried the omega ships yet. i love the alpha and beta tracks and enjoy the winding bumpy various challenges they provide, giving this game it's own identity as a well designed racer. both classic packs are fantastic revisits to and reimaginings of great tracks, wonderful sense of satisfying nostalgia cruising familiar turns with new environments or wider tracks to negotiate or whatever. the puma delta tracks are well designed and challenging in their own right, the gamma ones are as good as anything from alpha or beta and fit right in, the omega ones are wonderfully crazy additions and so is the exclusive sci fi track

lunar - i am sure that pure did reestablish the wipeout franchise, as after fusion it had no other PS2 titles, nor titles for the gamecube or dreamcast to my knowledge, whereas the playstation wipeouts had ports, and a whole new installment on the 64 to accompany them. pure still sells well in game stores and seems to be one of the most popular titles on here, although it's difficult to find fault in almost all of them to be fair. but it certainly should take credit for injecting new life into wipeout. the evidence is in the community here, and in another PSP title and the PS3 title and more planned for the future if i am correct as the franchise flourishes once again in the wake of this return to the aesthetics and design and simplicities and speedlust and perfectionism that made it great in the first place

xavier - i agree about the environments of pure, it feels like a more defined and bustling future otherwise similar to the one depicted in 3, for me, which goes with the somewhat minimalist menu system as well which also resembled 3 for me

the music is also excellent, across the board, plump djs, cold storage - onyx is perfect and wonderful - freq nasty etc. the oblivion tracks seemed a little clubby and generic trance, but they work after a few listens, while the furry tongue rock records do seem a little out of place. the classic tracks are so ****ing welcome though

i do agree about the medal display, it did suck slightly that when picking a track it didn't display any medals you'd previously obtained on it, instead requiring you to go to your progress screen if you couldn't remember or weren't sure. the game loads pretty quickly though, even if you have to jackhammer the x

slacker - are they really making a PS2 pulse? i think it's a little redundant as the PS2 market is dying, at least for new releases, and it works pretty well on the PSP. the 2 GTA stories games, i got the PS2 versions, fair play, control on the PSP was dodgy for them. but wipeout? it almost seems made for the PSP at times playing through pure and also pulse from what i've seen from it so far.

sirius - welcome, and i see you're a conoussieur of the average ships, keen to challenge yourself with the less favourable statistics and performance to master the game... something a lot of you seem to do, something i must try. and i do love the handling of pure. the sounds and the collision physics also lend a lot of weight and float to it which rounds it off nicely too.

in its purest essence, it is the wipeout experience as nature intended it. it feels, looks and develops naturally as a game. excellent

[WolfKill01]

BUMP!! This thread didn't get the attention it deserved. There's alot 'o Pure love here that schould be brought up again.

WipEout Pure, in my opinion, is one of the greatest wipeout experiences this side of Wip3out SE. It has every team that exsited prior to pure including several new ones, and brought back sveral of the classic tracks as well as introducing us to countless new ones. The physics were floatly and both surreal and realistic all at once. The result is something astonishing. It had both a classic and fresh feeling in the way you would take on turns or pull out onto straight aways. And although Pure is by no means the fastest wipeout, there's just something about hitting several speed pads followed by a turbo jump and barrel roll that just gave you a sense of awe and satisfaction. As if the gameplay wasn't enough, the classic/futuristic style of the game, which harkens back to the days of wo3 and fusion, was incredible. And it was everywhere. On huge animated billboards, on the side of the track, in statues toering above the circuits, right down to the details of the race craft; every nook and cranny of the game screamed wipeout. And on top of all this there's an artwork gallery, medals, unlockables, FREE downloadable content, multiplayer, and one of the best soundtracks in any wipeout (the third best in my opinion, right behind wo3 and XL) the high energy beats matched the aesthetics of the atmosphere the game projected in a way not really describable with words. WipEout PURE couldn't have been a better name for this game.

P.S. - has anyone heard from mr. willsgb? He was a great writer and fellow Pure/wo3 lover. Be a shame if he dissapeared like countless others before him.