Hacker X's WOF Review

- Alwright guys, I originally posted this at IGN's PS2, and Wipeout Fusion.com boards, that's why I put the "History" part, and also, if you see some markup code, just ignore it, it may not work on this website. I just registered on this board, but it was mainly to discuss my opinion on this game. This board has a lot of negativity towards it, and while it is different peoples opinions, this is still an otherwise good game. Hope you enjoy the review. - Hacker X

Wipeout History:

Let me start off by saying that I have been a diehard Wipeout fan since the first one launched on the PSX back in 95/96. I had first enjoyed FZERO for the SNES, and got hooked on anti gravity racing immediately. When I played Wipeout for PSX, it introduced me to a brand new, innovative, upgraded style of racing that I had never expected. It also introduced me to Electronic Music which I also followed up on, and became a big fan of. Let me say also, that the futuristic look (Billboards, signs, insignias, etc.) of Wipeout by a design company called The Designers Republic added majorly to the look and overall atmosphere of the game.


Followed after Wipeout came Wipeout XL which built upon the physics, and gameplay aspects of the WO universe, and also pumped up the adrenaline flow of it's fans with even more aggressive style Electronic Music. With The Designers Republic still adding there graphic niches to the game, Wipeout XL ended up becoming the most favored version of the Wipeout games.

And finally on the PSX, came Wipeout 3. While I like WO3, a lot of fans of the genre did not. While the track design was nice, it had a few quirks about it that made it seem more lackluster compared to Wipeout XL, and ended up falling into mediocrity amongst a lot of gamers, and some WO fans. But it still maintained the key elements to keep most WO fans satisfied. This would also be the last game to feature The Designers Republics graphic touches to the genre.

Wipeout Fusion Review

Wipeout Fusion has finally made it to the US after 2 years of major delays, and while the UK, and Australia have had it for a couple of months now, with mixed opinions about the game, the overall majority agrees that it was well worth the wait (could have came out sooner, but better late than never).

Well, being the bigtime Wipeout fan that I am, I actually had scheduled the day off yesterday so that I could get into the game. This is how things went.

After getting home from the store with the game, I eagerly ripped the plastic off the game, and while I was so overexcited, I also managed to rip off a big corner of the plastic on the front of the DVD case! I popped the game in, and waited for the opening to see what it would be like this time (WO opening are always pretty wild). From the strobe-like flicker of the images popping up on the screen, the sped up prerendered, blue-tinged video of Wipeout vehicles, and pilots racing each other, and the techno music playing, the opening was very cool.

Then, after creating my WO file on my memory card, and configuring all opitions I wanted in the options menu, I proceeded right to the arcade mode. After choosing my ship, and track to race on, I noticed that the game has incredibly long load times. I was a little dissapointed at that, but as the track started up, and I noticed the smoothness, and colors of the graphic quality compared to the previous PSX versions, I was immediately awe-struck, and didn't care about the load time much anymore. As I played the track, I noticed that I kept blowing up very easily compared to the older games, and knew I was in for a good challenge. Also note that The Designers Republic didn't do art for this game, so the billboards, and such are kind of generic now.

Well, like I said I played the game a lot yesterday, and while I was a bit dissapointed at the slow speed (it was slow to me at first cause I played the older games which started out really fast, and got faster) I learned that as you progress, and upgrade your ships, and pilots, the game gets faster, and faster, and faster. While I've noticed a few gliches here and there (like getting hit by a projectile so hard, I slammed through the track, and had to be put back on as if I had jumped off), the game is overly impressive. The music selecion in this one is right on par with the genre, and keeps the flow going. One thing I did do with the sound is play different Electronic Music that I have stored on my XBOX. I have my GC, XBOX, PS2, and DVD player going through a switch box for sound, for my tv, and my computer surround sound system, so I can play sound effects of one system, and music from another. I ended up playing WOXL music, as well as some Crystal Method, Chemical Brothers, Orbital, etc. while ripping down the race tracks of FUSION, and when all the sound were adjusted to the same level, it added immensely to the experience. If you have the equipement to do this, I highly suggest it.

So in closing, I really love this game! It is highly addictive, and keeps you coming back for more. If you like racers, give it a rent, and see if you'd want to purchase it. If your a Wipeout fan buy this game, it is your duty. You most likely will not be disappointed.

Gameplay: 9.0 The game is highly addictive. Not to mention with the multiple modes like Arcade, AG League, Challenge, Zone, Multiplayer, a whole lot of stuff to unlock,etc., the game will keep you playing for a long time. My only gripe with the gameplay is how they changed the physics of the Wipeout crafts on the track. They use to pivot from the rear of the craft, now the pivot is in the middle of them, which makes them feel a bit "floaty", which for a Wipeout fan like me brings the score from a 10 to a 9. Plus you stick to the track more like FZERO than Wipeout, but these are just minor gripes for an otherwise very nice game.

Graphics: 8.0 This game is not for graphics whores. They are outdated for todays standards, but they are still very, very good! There are jaggies, clipping, etc, but there are superb lighting effects, good ship disign, and awesome track design. But the dated graphics bring the score down a bit. Also, without THE Designers Republic, the art design isn't as spectacular on the billboards anymore.

Sound: 9.5 The sound in this game is damn near perfect. The sound of the hovercrafts, the sounds of the weapons, and the soundtrack keep make this a high rating. Only reason it's not a 10 is cause as a Wipeout fan, I hate the front end music. It's not on par with the rest of the game.

Replay Value: 10 Like I said before, the game is fun, and extremely addictive. There's a lot of modes to play, and a lot of stuff to be unlocked.

Overall Score: 9.1 If your in to racers, or like FZERO, you'll most likely like WOF, even if you've never played a WO game before. If your a Wipeout fan, although there is some readjustment to the control that you'll have to adapt to you won't be dissapointed. Now, I eagerly wait for Wipeout 5.

yeh, I just loathe the menu music :roll:

Quite a comprehensive review there - good effort. :)

Well, being that this game series is my favorite of all time, I'm trying to get others to keep up the support so that Studio Liverpool feels enthralled to keep em' coming. :roll:

I'm pretty sure there will be more games in the series, but it's very unlikely we'll see another for the PS2. Maybe if the game had made its orginal release date of a year ago... perhaps, but for there to be another game now it would mean starting from scratch... they probably wouldn't use much of the existing code if they did it again. :)

The graphics are definitely better on the pal version, but not enough to change a final score.