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You want a SanDisk memory card, I think it's a "Duo Pro" or something. I'd say 1 Gig at least, 2 Gig would be better, 4 Gig would be whole bunches.
I bought an official Sony one and paid a bit too much, but it was all they had there at the time. I couldn't wait the day it would've taken to find the SanDisk elsewhere. 8 (
I bought my 1 GB at Wal Mart.
It was the generic Lexar brand. Only $40. Boo. Freaking. Ya. ^_~
Yes, and in a few months I will be racing zargz, stin and all the others on Wipeout: Pulse!!!!
Yes but I will need to find a 32mb for zargz and send it to him!.
stevie:)
He can have mine for all I'm concerned - I don't need it.
Oh, that's right, I dunno where that one is either. X_X
I am willing to part with mine too. 32mb memory stick, that is. My purchase back then was the following: PSP + 2gb SanDisk + Pure + Lumines. Although many may beg to differ, best thing I spent my money on in many years.
Whoever desperately needs it should drop me a message, one should consider though that it's too small for Pure's downloadable content
It`s ok guys, I have it here and ready to send it away within a hour.
stevie:)
Edit I did try my best for dl packs for you but it`s not enough space so it`s all down to you ;)
http://www.geocities.com/zargz/leenden/le.gif hehe thanx, bud! I need it so I can save my progress so I don't have to start all over again every time i wanna play.
now, since yesterday I left it (the psp) in sleep mode. wonder how long I can do that? :?
amt I'm looking for a 1G on the net! ;) cheers!
Man! is pures steering differnet from wo3 or is pures steering differnet from wo3!!? http://www.geocities.com/zargz/leenden/pjs.gif hmm!
another thing - I never had a portabe so I yesterday I had problem seeing the screen
coz I held it like I hold the psx controller the d-pad facing to the roof instead of standing 90¤ to face my eyes! http://www.geocities.com/zargz/leenden/lol.gif LOL!!!
I hold it like that on purpose when the sun's shining, you'll see nil otherwise.Quote:
the d-pad facing to the roof instead of standing 90¤ to face my eyes!
My PSP is always in sleep mode. Doesn't harm her (yes, it's female ;) ) in any way. Besides it takes an eternity to boot Pure anyway, might as well leave it on in the first place. Just make sure you always go into sleep mode on Pure's main menu. It's got a tendency to crash when you turn it back on.Quote:
since yesterday I left it (the psp) in sleep mode. wonder how long I can do that?
okay, thanks! :)
heh! Mine is always in sleep mode so that it can turn itself on in the morning and download all my podcasts before I go to work. Occasionally I forget the battery is low and it runs itself dead, though. :D
Mine does that with RSS feeders. Maybe this is a stupid question, but what is a "podcast"? :?
Yesterday I looked at the league menu to choose a track for free play and had some business elsewhere. So I left my PSP running. It took longer though than expected and when I came back like 5 hours later, my PSP was off obviously. I fed it some ac/dc and when it awoke there were only Alpha and Gamma displayed. Silence. After my initial shock (pulse ~180) I figured it MUST have hung up and hard resetted the thing. Luckily my savegame was fine...
So I think I've got Rapier fairly well now. I'd say I'm about as good at Rapier now as I was at Flash two months ago. 8 P
The difference between them is incredible. Vector and Venom are truly just training, Flash is where it starts to really happen, but Flash ain't anything compared to Rapier. And I still don't have a very tight grasp on Phantom, but at least I think I can play it without embarassing myself too badly now. 8 )
Still, I've finally got all the SR golds up to Rapier, and the tournament ones (minus Descension till I can get a solid half hour of no interruptions that I'm not working in), and most of the TT ones as well. There's always more work to be done in TT. I think I'm actually missing more Flash TT golds than I am Rapier TT golds, I really don't know why Flash is so difficult in TT. Probably because it's the first time barrel rolls are really doable and yet I'm not very good at doing them.
At this point in the game I think I'm finally familiar with all the tracks (racing and music), but I'm still not much of a pilot. The physics are still kind of strange to me and it's taking a long time to get used to them. I'm seeing a whole lot of the "flying off the track" going on now that I'm spending a lot of time on Rapier, and I'm definitely not liking that much at all. The last turn on Exostra, I point myself towards the finish line and fly sideways right off the track. It doesn't happen all the time, but every now and then. It's obviously the way I'm flying the corner, boosting up the hill and not turning early enough because I'm too close to the inside, but the low accelleration of the game really shows in instances like that.
I think my least favourite alteration is the effect of nose control. It has nothing to do with handling as far as I can tell, instead it's just an altitude control while flying and (this is the part I don't like) a speed increase while driving. If you nose down, you'll go faster. The biggest problem I have with this is that the AG craft should be optimized for least air resistance at an even keel. So when you nose down you should be giving youself a _worse_ profile, creating more friction with the atmosphere, and going _slower_. Not faster. I was able to take 2 seconds off my lap time just by holding down the nose. I really don't think that's the way it should be.
So, more TT work ahead of me and then... Phantom! I've already played a fair amount of Phantom, but I still haven't really tackled it full-force.
You describe it so well, I totally agree with you. I really enjoy reading about your progress, good luck.Quote:
Originally Posted by Task
It's been over a month since my last post in this thread, but not because I'm done with it. Oh no. It's just because I haven't been playing Pure a whole lot. I want to, no doubt about that. So why haven't I?
Well.
Now that I'm halfway competent in Phantom, the single-player experience just doesn't have the draw anymore. What I've learned about Pure in the past month or two is that the single-player portion of the game (which is likely what >95% of the purchasers were buying into) only has one purpose: To get you ready for multiplayer.
Now that I have tasted of the glory that is multi-player WO (and by multi-player I mean more than 2, something that unless you linked up SE and had 3 hardcore wipers nearby nobody had experienced before Pure) it's all I really want to play. The shine is gone from single player, I want to play against human opponents. Not just because of their skill either; after all, the AI can still beat me on most tracks at Phantom. Nah, it's because the human players are so much more _fun_ to play against! So much more interesting.
Have you ever had an AI opponent just lose it for a couple seconds and slam back and forth between the walls in front of you? No, of course not. I'll tell you though, it was pretty hilarious to watch my cousin do it! I could hardly fly straight myself I was laughing so hard.
Has an AI opponent seen that they can't catch up in the remaining lap and found a way to place SIX bombs in one treacherous area, pinning all their hopes on taking you out with a minefield? I'll bet not, but I flew through one of those minefields. Dodging all those mines and surviving the one I couldn't gave me FAR more satisfaction than beating someone by half a lap ever could have.
No AI opponent is going to pull out surprise tactics like that. There's a lot you can learn racing the AI, but it'll only take you so far. If you want to break your limits, you're going to have to take your game online and find out just how little you really know.
I wasn't so sure when I heard that "solo play has gone the way of the dinosaur", but now I see that there's a large amount of truth to that. If a game can be taken online, then it probably should be. And if it isn't, well, I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't sell well. Which will definitely have the end effect of making a ton of single player games obsolete as they're replaced by multi-player variants.
The really good news here is that WO seems to be doing very well in this regard. Pure was developed a bit limited in this area, but it's a bit of an older game I guess, and ways around some of those limitations have since been found. Pulse might very well have no limitations at all, and offer us the ultimate multiplayer WO experience. The same could easily be true of WOHD as well, and I'm sure we'll find out soon enough.
I've mostly been a solo-play gamer myself. A bit of hotseat Warlords in the distant past, and some Age Of Wonders in the recent past, are about my only forays into real-time multiplayer. For the first time _ever_, I really want to take my game online, to the expense of my solo play time.
And that, right there, is (to me) an incredible achievement. WO has changed me.
Again. 8 )
very eloquent :)
and I can totally relate to the sentiments you express.
and not that this point is relevant to wipeout in any way that I can really determine, but cooperative play makes developing a single player campaign worth it in a lot of games. it's something that is sadly missing from too many games now. Halo3 impresses in that regard
I can't really see that working in wipeout except in teamplay multiplayer. a blocker and a runner could be great (like an F1 teams championship)
Yeah, just think of some of the unstoppable teams that could be formed....:o
ohhh a pure killer added to a crazy racer sound like a poisonous mixture team for the other fellow pilots :cold
Jay : amen again to what you said, multiplayer is the essence of multiple feelings that is hard to find in one race vs AI. From the rage of global fury being eliminated by your dear mate to the explosion of happiness when you beat him by the smallest margin possible after a deep intense battle during 5 laps. Only multiplayer (through kai or gathering/convention) can give you this . Complitely in agreement with you
100% agreement with you, Task! You know exactly how to describe it.
I find this Wipeout (Pure) such a big departure from the others in this regard, because I find the other wipeouts very satisfying to play alone. They each have a remarkable addictiveness while flying solo that I just don't find in Pure. I still can't nail down the exact reason but Pure just seems to be quite boring (dare I say it??) most of the time when playing Single Player. Perhaps it isn't as immersive in Single Player mode compared to the other games, I don't know what it is.
I find myself playing on Phantom most of the time on Kai instead of by myself (which still isn't that often unfortunately!). Consequently I still don't even have all of the packs unlocked in Phantom, no Ascension gold yet. Just find it hard to convince myself I should sit down that long to play Pure by myself...
Absolutely, it is NOT as immersive.
I think the reason for that... is the controls and the environment.
The earlier wipeouts (the ones responsible for building the franchise) had a very strict control scheme, the craft would only do exactly what you told it to do, immediately and without limitation. If you told the craft to fly at maximum speed off in yonder direction, that's what it would do. If you told it to slam into a wall at full accelleration, you could hear the "whang!" and really feel the rebound. The controls in Pure are more... slippy. Tenuous. Vague, even. There's a lot of sliding, and I do love the sliding, but it's more the lack of reality to it. It's somehow "off by a bit", so it definitely feels like a simulated world, it doesn't have the physics of the real world exactly. You can't suspend your disbelief that you're actually in an AG craft because it just doesn't react quite exactly the way you'd expect. It's really close, and I'm hoping they get even closer in Pulse, but that small difference makes it difficult to really immerse yourself into the game.
Or so I've determined. YMMV.
And then there's the environment. It's pretty. Beautiful, even. Artistry like was in Fusion, only glitzier! Rich sounds, too. That's a lot of information to process. Track surfaces are different, track shapes vary, the differences from track to track are huge compared to the earlier games. It was easier to focus on the track when all the tracks were the same channel shape, the same width everywhere, and the graphics were severely limited by number of polys and simple textures. Now they've got this beautiful environment trying to convince us we're looking through a window into the real future... And the difference between the control inputs you give and what you'd expect to happen is made even more jarring by it.
So I think it's the difference between simulation and reality that leads to a less immersive experience, and a less satisfying solo play.
It's just off by that little bit, and it shakes me out of the zone.
Ah well, it's a long weekend! That means I'll have time for some WO! A bit of multiplayer up at the cottage and hopefully some more Phantom practice, get the golds in those tournaments...
Oooh, and then the next Toronto Gathering!
It's a good future that has Wipeout in it. 8 )
I really like the ever so slightly random or "vague" controls in Pure. It`s very hard to fly the same lap twice, which makes it addictive. But, as you say, you also don`t really get the zen like immersion of the old games.
Your description of multi v single player is very apt. Kai finally killed off my last vestiges of interest in single player games. Before that I had been tweaking Madden AI sliders to try and get a good game out of it. After playing on Kai I realised that I no longer saw any point in just trying to beat a computer program, in any game really. Offline play is just practice for the real thing, or indirect competition with other humans via time trial. Having said that, I wouldn`t mind tweaking Arnaud`s sliders down a bit.
@RR - the ultimate team would surely be ASA as the speed merchant and yourself as his wingman/protector/enforcer. That would be a deadly Scottish/French duo indeed. :o You could reverse the roles on Sinucit though, and maybe one or two others. ;)
So now that I've got the game beat and I've taken a good crack at some TT records, I'm at a point where I think I've played the game enough to give it a bit of a review. So let's do that.
ZONE - The place to start
Zone mode in Pure is, IMO, the best introduction to Pure. It's visually beautiful, and it'll really get you used to the control scheme. This is the very first thing you should play when you're starting a new game, and I think focussing on it until you beat it will prepare you well for the journey ahead.
Also, it'll give you the awesome Zone craft to assist you in the TT challenges and learning all the tracks you're going to have to get used to. It'll probably only take you 2 hours to beat it, but the challenge looks enormous and insurmountable until you've spent the 2 hours at it. Getting all 4 golds here is a definite achievement, well worth the time spent.
Unfortunately, there isn't really any reason to go back to Zone once you've beaten it, so after you've gotten those 4 golds you'll probably never play it again.
Pro: Very well designed, fantastic introduction to the game, likely the most immersive experience you'll get off this UMD.
Con: No multiplayer means no replayability, and these tracks are only used for Zone mode and you'll never see them again. Very sad. Zone mode carries the ball to the 10 yard line with fantastic speed and style and grace and then falls over with a heart attack.
TEAMS - Choose your boat!
Out of the box, with all the download packs, Pure comes with a huge selection of AG craft! These are the ones that you should look at closely:
Van Uber - Very similar to the FEISAR, but a little bit faster, this is a good ship for learning how to play. It's got great handling, good acceleration, and reasonable sheilds and top speed. Once you've gotten used to the airbrakes you probably won't need such a tight-handling craft and you can try out:
Tigron/Triakis - These craft have the highest shield rating, and that's something you might very well want and need for Tournament mode and perhaps even Single Race. The Triakis is much faster than it should be due to a programming error, otherwise the Tigron would be the faster ship. After racing these "fattie" ships for a while you'll appreciate what their mass does to the way they fly, but you'll start wanting something a little lighter and with more acceleration. At that point, have a look at:
Goteki - A midweight craft with one of the best accelerating engines in the game along with strong shields and reasonable speed and handling, this is one of my top 3 favourite craft in the game. I would call this the Ironman Craft, because you can take it into almost any situation and it won't let you down. There are definitely a couple more "specialized" craft that you'll want to remember though, for special circumstances:
AG Systems - This light craft has the best acceleration in the game. If you've got a tricky technical track with more corners than straights, and if you can survive on just 2 points of shield, then you can really make this ship perform. Boosts are all based on the acceleration of the ship, not the top speed, so if you can just keep hitting those boost pads you can maintain a high speed like a Tigron on a straight. Difficult to use, but the expert pilots won't trade the experience for anything. Lastly, there are some ships that are really made for Time Trial:
Zone - Don't fly it in a weapons-on race, that 1 shield won't last long, but with weapons off this speed craft can post some really great times. The high handling makes for an excellent craft when you're learning a track, and the high thrust means mistakes don't cost you very much.
Icaras - If you really don't like the low shield of the Zone, Icaras might be for you. One of the fastest ships in the game, I would say that this craft is one of the best offerings in Pure. If Triakis didn't overshadow it, I'm sure it would be used a lot more. A good pilot could probably use this ship for any kind of race at all, and do very well.
Pro: There are 18 craft in all, and while some are very similar to each other, no two are alike. With all this choice, you're bound to find a ship that fits you perfectly. No other WO has offered such breadth of choice, and when you add in the "livery" option there's even a bit of customization possible. The power of downloaded content shows strongly here before you've even started your first race.
Con: Only 4 stats are shown, but you can tell that craft seperate into light, medium, and heavy weight. Also, craft ratings are "rough values", far from exact measures. It would be nice if the stats on each craft could be a bit more detailed. Perhaps by pressing [] and switching to detailed reports on the craft or something. It would mean less "playing around" to find the craft that's right for you.
(continued next post)
SINGLE RACE - Jump right in
Normally I wouldn't recommend going straight to SR. In most WO's you'll want to do some TT before you go into a full weapons-on race, get some track practice in before "the real deal", but in Pure it's different. So go ahead, choose Single Race and have yourself a blast racing the 7 killer AI opponents until you manage to come in first. This will teach you to absorb, a critical skill. You'll probably also try a couple different craft this way, eventually finding one that fits you well. If you keep getting eliminated, change craft! Work your way through all the tracks in a league till you've gotten gold in all of them. Now you're ready for a tournament!
Pro: The AI opponents have access to all the same weapons as you do, and you can get some surprisingly intense races out of them because of it. They're good at shield management, so getting an elimination is difficult, but if two Quakes rip through the group then chances are you're going to hear "Contender Eliminated!" at least once.
Con: These are supposed to be professional-level pilots, but you're the only one on the track that can get the good start? They race like demons for the first lap, and then turn into slackers? The end result is that you get a good race through the pack, and winning is a bit of a challenge but isn't too difficult, but I would have hoped that it was high time for an improvement in the AI.
TOURNAMENT - Test your skills
If you can get a SR gold in each track in the league, then you can win the tournament. So do so! Not just because you can, but also because winning tournaments is how you unlock the game. Beat Alpha to unlock Beta, beat Beta to unlock Ascension, beat Ascension to unlock the next speed class. Rinse and repeat 4 more times. Tournaments are a lot of fun, and this is where the majority of the multiplayer action will be. Set it up once, race for 20 minutes solid. Very nice packaged racing.
Pro: The scoring system only rewards placement, there's no additional reward for eliminations (one of Fusions best features many would say, but whether this is a good or a bad feature is obviously opinion-based), and repeatedly coming in 1st can give you enough of a lead so that you can win even if you get eliminated in a race. Solid piloting skills overwhelm small patches of bad luck. This is probably the core functionality of the game, so it's good that it's been well designed.
Con: Leagues are static. If you like 3 tracks in a league and hate 1, you still have to race all 4. Also, the Descension tournament is prone to crashing your PSP when you're 3/4 of the way through this "gruelling 12 race monster". If anything in this game is going to make you want to push the PSP through a wall, that'll be it.
FREE PLAY - From "cruising" to "hotlap madness"
New in Pure is the "Free Play" mode, something that many have wanted for a long time. Want to "walk the track" and have a look at certain corners from any and all possible angles? Want to see if you can ride along the top of that wall over there? Want to try and figure out how tight you can cut that corner before the game decides you've gone off-track? Want to try and generate the fastest possible lap time? That's what this mode is for. Your shields slowly regenerate, so there's no need to exit and restart just to refill your "barrel roll energy".
Pro: Mission accomplished, you can do all of that any anything else you can dream up!
Con: None. You can ignore this mode entirely if you want, or you can spend most of your playtime in it. It's up to you. Like it should be.
TIME TRIAL - A brand-new challenge?
It used to be that TT mode was just there for you to practice on. No longer! Now there are posted goals, times you have to achieve before you can say that you've "beaten" a track. The time to beat varies from "no real challenge" to "serious challenge". This portion of the game can be skipped entirely (only tournaments are necessary to unlock the game), but completionists and race record makers will be focussing on this area. The posted time to beat gives you a good signpost, a way to know when you're "good enough" on the track. You can always lower your time more via practice, but once you've gotten the TT gold you know that you've got at least a basic understanding of the track and you can move on if you want.
Pro: Totally optional, but set up to be a rewarding experience. The ghost ship is "best lap" based, so every lap you've got a fresh ghost to follow. These ghosts are totally sharable, too! So if you want to see how a sub-20 second lap is possible just get someone else's ghost and put it in your PSP and follow it around the track. A fantastic addition to a required game mode, it's good to see that they were looking to make improvements in all aspects of the game. I think here they've really done it.
Con: To get the high speeds necessary to beat this mode, you're going to need a fast ship. If you're particularly attached to, say, FEISAR, you're not going to be able to get through all of these. This is nothing new to practiced TT pilots, who think that finding the best ship for this particular class and track is half the fun, but you might have to get into a ship you don't like in order to beat the challenge. Addionally, while having a "lap based" ghost is a very nice thing, there's no ability at all to have a "race based" ghost. If someone has a really nice lap time you can get their ghost and follow it, but you'll never be able to see their full race. Neither of these things is a big deal to most people, but it's probably enough to turn some off entirely.
Wow, that was a lot of typing. Did you know that there's a 10,000 character limit per post? I didn't know that.
Anyway, I was planning on having a look at each track next. The tracks are the most important part of a WO game, so I figured I'd review each one seperately. Later though.
Yes, I'm crazy, I know. 8 )
hehe! I was thinking doing a review too .. when i got all the golds!
got just the phantom tournament's and a TT gold left to get 8)
don't think my review will hit the 10.000 words limit though.
:D
nice one J :+
Good review! I'd add one thing to the single race section, you list that the AI having access to all weapons is a Pro, I'd argue this based on the notion that while they can hit you with a disruptor and completely ruin your race with a steering reversal (unless you happen to be carrying an autopilot), hitting an AI with a disruptor has no discernable impact on their flight.
Are you planning to review each of the weapons as well?
Thanks! Glad you liked it.
Lion: Yeah, I was thinking that if I was going to do all the tracks I might do all the weapons as well. You're definitely right about the Disruptor, but the issue there is that Disruptor is implemented really badly, not that the AI shouldn't have it. Pure would be better with no disruptor at all.
that's right! I don't like the AP version and hate the revcon but the forth and back camera is just on the spot!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Task
it's just about as difficult that you can manage to stay on track being careful but if on multiplayer and the pressure there
for sure you'll end up making a misstake! :D
Had it been just that, that would have been the perfect Disruptor! .. imo. 8)
As requested, the weapon review is next! 8 )
WEAPONS - Open up a can of whoopass
This is the first WO where spending time in SR can teach you the track better than spending it in TT. The reason for this being that in TT, there are no weapon pads. Knowing where the speed pads are will definitely help you go fast (knowing when to take them and when to avoid them is another topic entirely, I'll get into that below) but you're going to need to hit weapon pads if you want to stay alive! There's no pitlane, so when you lose shield energy (which you're going to do whether it's enemy weapon fire or barrel rolls draining it) you have to hit the weapon pads and absorb. This is a fantastic mechanic added to the game, pun totally intended.
I'm fairly certain that weapons are all the same when absorbed, but they're definitely all different when used. Well, mostly different anyway.
One definite issue with all offensive weapons though is "weapon effect". The level of "realism" they're going for in WOPure is very high, gravity effects and mass/inertia effects and thrust and the list goes on. Generally, the game does quite well in the "simulation" area. Nowhere near an actual simulator of course (not the experience being aimed for anyway, so hardly a realistic expectation) but the world presented in-game tries to be consistent. The effect of weapons on your craft is a gaping hole in this simulation. If you get hit from behind with a Missile (or Rockets, or Quake, or VorpalBunny) the absolute LAST direction it should throw you is backwards in the direction of the attack. But this is quite often what happens. The reason for this is, I'm sure, that they don't want you getting a speed boost when you get shot, you're supposed to slow down when you get shot. That's one of the core concepts of the game, and I can certainly see why they wouldn't want to mess with that. Still, a more imporant feature of the game is "going stupid fast", and being brought to a standstill twice a lap is, in my opinion, a much worse violation of the core concept. What's the solution here? Well, I think it would be great if getting hit by a weapon did give you a shove in the incoming direction. This would mean that getting hit from behind by a Missile would give you a slight shove forward. This would also mean that if you drove over a bunch of Mines each one would shove you backwards and up a small amount, perhaps enough up that you'd clear the last one or two in the set. Landing on top of a bomb might give you enough air to do a barrel roll! I could be wrong, but I think that would be totally awesome. Of course, we're still left with the whole "you just got hit, the last thing you get from that is a speed boost" problem, and I think we can solve that by making the shield on the ship go wonky for a bit and the thrusters on your ship cut out until the whole AG field stabilizes. So small amounts of damage (which would give you a very gentle push in the impacting direction, likely not even changing the vector for a heavier ship) would cut out your thrust for just a moment, and heavy damage like Quake or Plasma could cut out your thrust for perhaps a whole second. Maybe two. But that would probably be too long. This could be a general effect, any time you take shield damage your thrust cuts out, or even just lessens for very small amounts of damage. Without the acceleration, air friction will slow you down, and overall you lose speed. I think I would call that an awesome implementation of weapon damage. What we get with Pure... well, it really needs work. The best feture of TT mode is that you don't have to worry about weapon damage effects anymore, and that's quite telling.
Track Garbage - Mines & Bombs
Mines stick around for 5 seconds, Bombs stick around until destroyed. Mines are small and come in a pack of 5, Bombs are large and singular. Excellent implementation on these weapons, including the small "detection radius" they have. You don't have to hit them, a mere sideswipe will set them off. If you're not in front, you have to learn how to dodge these. If you are in front, you have to learn how to best deploy these. These defensive weapons are going to be the bulk of what you'll have to handle in a race, get used to them.
Protection - Shield & Autopilot
The shield is another very well implemented weapon. Not only does it look cool when deployed, it looks even better if you're absorbing while you've got a shield up. Also, the Shield doesn't always last the same amount of time! If you hit (or get hit by) some serious weaponry (usually the previously mentioned Mines & Bombs, but a Plasma can easily do it too) it can blow your Shield out early! Very nice addition to this classic weapon.
Autopilot is, unfortunately, a bit of a disappointment. Sometimes it'll drive you into a wall, or take you off-track, the only way you can be sure that it won't fly worse than you is if you use it on a straight. And what's the point in that? No longer will Autopilot always save you from a crash (probably a good change, WO3 Autopilot would take you through buildings if that was what was required to prevent a crash, amazingly useful but not very realistic) but sometimes the Autopilot can fly a section of track (chicane, I'm talking to you!) faster than you'd believe possible. This would be a better weapon if it was more reliable, as it is it's probably best to absorb unless you know for sure that the upcoming section can be properly handled by an Autopilot when you're travelling at this speed with this entry angle.
Unguided Offense - Rockets & Plasma & Disruption Bolt
Rockets are back to being the great 3 rocket spread attack, Plasma is still the devestating charge-up weapon. Nothing's new or changed here, but can you improve on greatness like this?
The return of the Disruption Bolt is not such a happy story however.
It sounds like such a nifty idea "Let's have a weapon with random effects! You won't know what it'll do till you get hit by it!". In practice, that randomness is a good part of what makes it so awful. Like much of what we saw in Fusion, it sounds really cool, but it plays really bad. Part of the problem is the inconsistent levels of effect. Perhaps it'll give you an autopilot through a tough section and you'll be glad you got hit by it. Or maybe it'll just disable your airbrakes and have little discernible effect. Or perhaps it'll reverse your controls and you'll go straight into the wall and from 1st place to 8th. By the time you've realized what's happened, it's too late. Likely the greatest improvement from Pure to Pulse is that we won't see this weapon again. The bright spot here is that since this mistake has now been made, we shouldn't see weapons with random effects happen again. Ever.
Guided Offense - Missile & Quake
The lock-on Missile can't be fired backwards easily (a shame, always loved that WOXL feature!), but we've all heard how if you just do a quick 180'...
These weapons do have a problem though, and it's a problem shared by all "fired" weapons in the game. The speed they travel at. If you're going really fast when you fire your Quake, you're going to keep up with it. This is not good! I'm of the firm belief that all weaponry, when fired, should have a speed which is the speed it was fired at plus a constant value, or perhaps an acceleration value. Either way, you'd have a much faster Quake/Missile/whatever when you need it to be faster. Of course, that might seem to make them a bit too strong. A faster missile is harder to dodge, right? And a faster Quake can't be outrun. A faster missile should have a tougher time following the curves in the track, so a slow missile should be able to track its target around a corner, and a fast missile should explode against the wall. Also, as it is you can't dodge a Quake except by tracking out and getting teleported behind the Quake. That also seems a little extreme. If I'm high enough in the air, a Quake shouldn't hurt me if it passes under me while I have enough altitude. And higher altitude should somewhat reduce the damage you take. Perhaps you aren't high enough to avoid it entirely, but you're only being whacked by the top part of the quake, not the whole length of it. So a slightly different implementation of fired weapons would, I believe, but a definite improvement in many ways.
Speed - Turbo
A classic pickup, but not as good as it should've been. For one thing, turbos don't play well with boosts. Hit the turbo, then hit a boost pad, and you'll actually slow down. I'd call that a fairly serious bug, myself. It means that if you're going for the best time possible, you have to hit all the boost pads you can, but not hit boost pads while you're turboed. Counter-intuitive. Also, using the turbo is likely going to make you fly. This is good, flying is a part of WO, we're not stuck to the track if we don't want to be. Unfortunately, there's this magical unmarked zone called "on track" and if we ever cross this boundary line we get teleported back to before we used our turbo and the dream of flight dies a horrible death. Not very nice.
So the turbo itself is just as good as it always was, but the game doesn't seem well designed for its use. As such, instead of being "the ultimate speed tool", it's more of a "recover from crippling stall-outs tool". Which isn't really what turbo is supposed to be for.
And again, that's enough typing for a little while. More to come later!
You know, if your eyes haven't turned into squares from reading reams of my pixellated text... 8 )
cheers, a couple of small addendums. you seem pretty down on the AP, but it's probably worth noting that (if you are carrying one at the time) it's an effective anti-disruptor. AP can instantly adjust to reversed steering.
personally I think the pure AP is a worthwhile item, it's simply a matter of correctly choosing when to use it
also worth noting that the shield acts as a reflector against the disruptor. it's possible for someone to bone themselves by shooting a shielded opponent with a disruptor
Eh, I already mentioned that the AP is best used in situations where you know it'll work for you, I don't think elaboration is really necessary.
Hmm, so you're saying the Disruptor is even worse than I've detailed? I'm not sure I can rate it any lower! 8 D
Central to any WO is the track listing. Pure introduces banked track sections to a high degree, so much so that you'll have a tough time finding a section of straight and flat anywhere in the game. Each track can be run in either no-weapon (TT) or race (serious weapons) mode, and this changes the way you attack the track to a high degree. So let's have a look at each one...
ALPHA - This is where it all begins
This initial set of tracks has a high average quality level, but you will start to see some of the small annoyances here and there. A very good pick of tracks to get you started in the game.
Vineta K
The first track has always been a quality speed track, and Pure does not disappoint. Close to the water, mild jumps, a light chicane, some tricky-but-not-too-challenging corners, this track is an obvious evolution of the WO3 Porto Kora and a worthy successor to Talon's Reach.
SR: Turbos rule on this track, Bomb and Mines in the chicane and that blind corner can cause you difficulty. Rating: Easy and fun.
TT: A simple track like this poses little challenge, but it's still a lot of fun to race and the scenery is great. There's a good chance that if and when you decide to really try for some good times on a track, it'll be this one. Rating: Easy and fun.
Modesto Heights
The second track usually tries to crank it up, throw some real challenge at you while maintaining a high speed level. Not as fast as track 1, but all the difficult sections are amplified. Modesto maintains this standard well, but "the bump jump" and its corresponding "evil sign of doom" are serious traps for the unwary. You'll have to be a good pilot and also avoid the pitfalls to do well here. This track is a good introduction to the challenges of racing Pure, but that sign will eventually annoy you no end.
SR: The downhill section is a shooting range, go through it quickly or get targeted. The hairpin leaves you wide open for a broadside. The chicane is a dumping ground for track garbage. Turbo over the bump only if you've put a lot of practice into landing it. Rating: Challenging and difficult to master.
TT: Once you've mastered the hairpin and the chicane (it's all about entry), you've pretty much got this track beat. The bump is your free BR, but using it effectively is the biggest challenge here. Rating: A low annoyance level + a high reward level = worth the time you'll put into it.
Chenghou Project
With a good hairpin and a double jump and an inverse-banked curve, this track really bring the different! The big drop gives you a chance to make a BR no matter how long it takes you to pull it off. One of the best tracks in the game, if only because it really shows you how much Pure is capable of.
The biggest downfall of the track is that the inverse-banked curve has amazing propensity to make you turtle. Spending time upside down really kills your race time.
SR: The hairpin is a killing area as usual, and Bombs and Mines can be placed in the double jump landing zone for scary effectiveness: Beware! Rating: Avoid the dangers and unearth the fun!
TT: The hairpin and double-jump are the big challenge here. Learn how to do them properly and the track is easy. The big drop is your free BR, learn how to enter the chicane with the speed you get from it. Rating: Learn the secrets of the track and rise to the next level!
Blue Ridge
The final track of the Alpha league, the difficulty level really rises here. Sharp corners linked together into deep chicanes provide serious challenge to all but the best pilots. If you can beat this track, you're ready for the Beta league.
SR: Autopilot might be the best way to navigate the beginning and ending sections until you've learned how to pull off those moves yourself. Till then, serious airbrakes and sideshift will reduce the amount of time you spend in the wall. The chicane is still a good place for Bombs and Mines, but it's wide enough that they're not a show-stopping impediment. Rating: Difficult.
TT: Likely the best track to use as technical practice, the long straightish section after the big jump is your speed lane to break the challenge of navigating all those difficult corners. Rating: One of the best-designed technical tracks ever.
BETA - Both extremes in one package
Your reward for beating Alpha league is... Beta league! Betcha didn't see that one coming. This league will throw you from one extreme to the other. I really think they could have done better here with a slightly different set of tracks, raising the bar from Alpha only a bit instead of a whole bunch. Unfortunately they probably couldn't count on everyone having all the download packs and had to make Pure stand alone without them. Which meant putting some of the most difficult and annoying track sections in Beta.
Sinucit
Welcome to sin city, let's race!
I guarantee, your first race here you're going to take the first corner and fall into the pit. Sorry, but that's how it goes. This is your introduction to "no walls! Augh!", get used to it. Stick to the track if you want to live.
SR: If you can do enough damage to an opponent to bring them to a standstill at the first track split around the pit, they'll likely end up falling into the pit simply due to lack of momentum. Chances are, you'll never see them again after that. Don't let that happen to you. The final section of track (big sweeping left, chicane, jump, landing area) is very dangerous, be careful. If you want to slow down the competition, those are good places to drop garbage. Rating: Don't fall in the pit and you can really enjoy this track.
TT: This track is really just straight sections linked by corners, with the weapons gone the difficulty level really drops. Rating: Not difficult.
Citta Nuova
The biggest technical challenge in the game, this track was designed with the explicit purpose of annoying you. Wow, does it ever achieve. It will teach you to come off the accelerator, ride a rollercoaster, and it will teach you how to do a 180' turn. It's method of teaching is equivalent to kicking you in the head every time you get it wrong. Effective, but not a barrel of laughs.
SR: Just try to stay on the track and off the walls. If you can get good at this track, you'll be able to easily gain a 10 second lead per lap over all those who aren't. Rating: Far from everyone's cup of tea.
TT: Once you've learned what this track has to teach you, it's really not difficult. The difficult part is sticking with the track until you've learned it. Rating: Not much fun, somewhat rewarding.
Sebenco Climb
The Escher Track: How can a race with multiple laps be constantly going uphill?
The downhill section of this track is the long narrow straightaway. It looks flat, but the speed you'll take it at is a telling indicator of a downhill run.
The first half (hill climb portion) of the track is all about taking the corners smoothly and hitting the offered boost pads. The second half is all about managing the speed and the challenging sections. The right-hander-inna-pit is a tricky turn, and you can easily do an unintentional turn onto your side or roof. Not healthy. The chicane is tricky because it's tight, Stanza Inter fans should like it.
SR: The uphill section is slow with straight sections, so weapon fire is a danger. The downhill straight is long and starts with weapon pads, so it's even more dangerous. The chicane is tight and the landing is almost blind, so track garbage can be deadly effective there. You might want to use a Quake just to clear a path. Rating: Dangerous and tricky, you'll earn your win here.
TT: As you should be getting used to by now, this track is very challenging until you've learned it's secrets, and then it becomes relatively easy. This track ages well, and maintains at least a bit of a challenge no matter your experience level. Rating: Both the slow and the fast section require skill and precision.
Sol 2
Oh! Your ultimate reward! Truly, the track designers outdid themselves on this one. This might be the first "ultimate track" in WO to really live up to expectations. It's not based on Mars or the moon, merely up in the stratosphere, but the style and elegance definitely reach a peak here. A racetrack might always be just straights linked by corners, but here you'll see how that can come together into something far greater than the sum of its parts.
SR: The section with no walls requires the greatest of care, taking damage here is almost guaranteed to throw you off the track and into last position. You might be able to gain it back in the rest of the track with smooth piloting since very high speeds are achievable, but the walls make a lot of the corners almost blind, and driving into track garbage will take all that speed away. Rating: Totally awesome.
TT: Maintaining speed through corners is the repeating mantra of this track. Link up the boost pads and fly. Rating: Not a big challenge, but it flows beautifully.
Next time: MOAR LEAGUES!
The most impressive feature of Pure is how much bigger the game got with the free downloadable content. Literally doubling your game in size with 3 new leagues and just more of everything, the Gamma and Delta packs are shining examples of just how good it can be.
GAMMA - Even better?!?
This set of tracks are of superior quality, the only problem you'll generally find with them is that you'll get going so fast that leaving the track area is way too easy. You could hardly ask for a better set of tracks, I could race this tournament all day.
Exostra Run
The first one is the speed track, and very fast! This track has many walls to keep you from tracking out. The only tricky part is the final right turn, too much speed and you can fly off the left side.
SR: The double boost pads are as usual excellent places for Bombs, using a turbo to cross the finish line can easily win you the race. Rating: Easy and fun!
TT: Not as challenging to master as Staten Park, but if you're looking for an experience of speed you can get there quickly here. At higher speeds the downhill left and uphill right can be tricky, but this track is fairly simple. Rating: Not challenging. Until you try and beat Jack on it. 8 )
Ubermall
A longer track with many challenging sections, you'll have to put a lot of practice into the corners on this track before you'll master it.
SR: The big hill is a nasty corridor, be very careful not only navigating it but also on landing! This track will challenge you, but you can gain a lot of time by turboing up the hill and barrel rolling over the finish line. Rating: Very difficult and highly rewarding to fly properly.
TT: This track seems easy at Vector, but every time you crank up the speed class you'll find new challenges. Rating: You'll learn a lot from this track, and have fun doing it.
Staten Park
A speed track that'll take some practice to get used to the corners, but once you can fly it it's a serious rush. There are boost pads in all the right places, and doubles to boot! Turboing up the hill gives you an easy BR, but landing it is very tricky. Very similar to Exostra Run, but not as fast and a little more challenging.
SR: You can out-race a lot of weapons here, and the track is wide enough that Bombs and Mines are easily avoidable, so this is a test of your racing skills more than anything. Rating: Fast and fun!
TT: You're going to need good laps to maintain the high average speed required, on Phantom this track can be very difficult. Rating: Keep the speed up, and no problem.
Sebenco Peak
The worst thing about this track is that while "Sebenco" is a fine name for a track, we really don't need two of them. Besides that minor point, it's an excellent and very sneaky track. It starts out easily enough, with a left turn onto three (3!) boost pads, and that fires you with great speed into a murderous S. If you can manage to come out of that on the left side and catch the boost pad you can quickly get to the dangerous downhill left. Serious airbrakes are necessary, but your timing is what's really being tested here.
SR: All the wide turns make for killing fields if you don't get through them quick enough. Hitting in the S or on the downhill left can kill your speed and make you a sitting duck. Rating: Practice this one till you nail it! You'll be a better pilot for it.
TT: Assuming you've got your timing down pat, you shouldn't have much difficulty here. There's really only one line, the only challenge is to follow it. Rating: Really good airbrake practice.
DELTA - Throwing some new tricks into the mix!
This was the final set of 4 tracks released for the NA game, the most notable feature of them is how new and different some of these tracks are. After releasing 20 tracks for the game, they still managed to keep it fresh. A remarkable feat!
Iridia
As usual, we start with a speed track. It all starts out wide and flat, with an interesting wide left turn leading into an uphill section, but shortly turns into narrow, banked, and twisting. If you haven't already learned how to follow a straight line on a banked turn, this track will try and teach you.
SR: The narrow sections can be very dangerous, fly with caution through them. By the time you get to this track, you'll likely have no problem with it. Rating: The most challenging of the "easy" tracks.
TT: With no weapons, this track can almost look boring. At the lower speed classes, it really is that simple. At higher speed classes, it gets more difficult. Rating: Follow the line, how hard can it be? ; )
Anulpha Pass
Introducing The Skill Cut!
Bringing something really different to the game, this track features a very dangerous shortcut that will save you a ton of time on your lap... If you're good enough to fly it. I don't think we've seen this track feature since Silverstream, and that one was unintentional. You'll need to put a lot of practice into this one, because generally it's a choice of taking the shortcut or losing the race.
SR: The track bottlenecks after the first downhill, you'll have trouble avoiding track garbage here. So will your opponents. Whether or not you take the shortcut will depend on a lot of factors, but the winning formula is to try and block your opponents from being able to use it. Rating: Probably the most strategic track Wipeout has ever seen.
TT: You're going to need consistently good laps, but as long as you take the shortcut beating this track isn't too difficult. Of course, taking that shortcut can be tough at higher speeds. Doing 5 straight laps of it without tracking out once is easily the biggest challenge here. Getting this Phantom gold is a serious achievement. Rating: Fly in a straight line, WAY more challenging than it sounds.
Koltiwa
Featuring two drops for easy barrel rolling, this is a speed track of few boost pads. Your biggest difficulty is going to be landing the BR and not wasting it with your nose in the air. Learn that trick and you've got the track beat.
SR: The chicane has a narrow straight line through it, this high-traffic strip can get very dangerous. The hard left turn before the final drop is, as usual, a great place to turn yourself into a sitting duck if you don't fly it well. Rating: Tricky, so learn your line.
TT: Maintain your speed through the corners, use the few boost pads available to maximum effect, and grab the BR when the opportunity presents itself. A simple formula that applies for all tracks, but is really emphasized here. Once you get up to Phantom, you might need Triakis to pull it off. Rating: Basic, a good track to learn the BR on.
Khara Descent
This track is very difficult, in many ways. It can also be extremely annoying. The track starts with a nasty chicane section, and that leads into a hard right that'll just kill your speed. After that are two areas (the steps and the banked right) that are very easy to track out on. The steps are toughest at the higher speeds, the banked right is toughest at the slow speeds, so the difficulty remains roughly even over all speed classes. Inbetween them is a double boost pad that you might be better off avoiding, it all depends on your line. The annoyance factor often comes from tracking out, because you're almost guaranteed to track out again when you teleport back onto the track. This can lead to a vicious cycle that might end with you throwing the PSP at the wall, so attack this track with patience and caution.
SR: Your main opponent here is the track itself, the weaponry by itself just isn't as dangerous. The track is wide enough and there are usually multiple lines available. Choose wisely. Rating: Just plain difficult, a win on this track is earned.
TT: At Phantom, getting a BR off the steps isn't too tough. At Venom and Vector, it's not even required. At Flash and Rapier you'll be banging your head against the wall trying to beat this track. The slowest section is the hard right before the steps, so that's where you turbo. That additional speed is what you'll need to get the BR. Now you just have to put in a hundred laps of practice so you can have some consistency. Rating: The most difficult gold medal in the game is right here, are you fast enough to get it?
Next up: The blast from the past!
The classic tracks come in two sets. The first set comes with the game and you slowly unlock it as you play. The second set is more free downloadable content. In the first set all the tracks are done in a "Tron" style, in the second set each track has it's own (simple) style. Overall, the second set show real polish and the first set show signs of being rushed. It's obvious that there wasn't really time to get them done right, we're probably lucky to have them at all.
CLASSIC - The revenge of green
W3O showed us that a very simplistic style (the prototypes) could still be excellent, and made for fantastic unlockable content. The lesson to be learned here is that "the prototype style" really belongs on prototype tracks, totally new tracks that weren't quite good enough to make the main game. If an old track is remade, it's best to really remake it, either with a new and unique style or with the style it was originally presented with. Still, there's definitely some good racing to be found in this league.
Karbonis
More of a pain than anything else, you'll be hard pressed just to stay on the track. If you can stay on the track, your next challenge is to keep off the walls. Karbonis (WO1) was originally a fairly large track, this miniaturized version bears little in resemblance to it. Bad Lead Designer, no biscuit.
SR: On this tight track, high handling is going to be more imporant than anything. You've got a lot of corners to make, and multiple difficult chicanes to get through. A lightweight high-thrust craft can really shine here, but can you survive long enough to win the race? Rating: Frustratingly difficult.
TT: This is one of the only courses that I would suggest training on TT for. Most tracks, training on SR is likely a better usage of your time, but on this track having opponents pushes the annoyance factor way over the line. If you're going to tackle this track, make it easy on yourself and learn it in TT mode. Overall, less hair-pulling will be involved. Rating: Constrictive.
Sagarmatha
This is actually an excellent remake of the 2nd WOXL speed track, and a great joy to race after the near-torture of Karbonis. One of the few tracks in the game with multiple long, flat, straight sections; if you can make the 90' turns nicely then great speed is possible. All that's missing is the snow-capped mountains of Canada...
SR: Be sure to hit the double boost pads and you shouldn't have much problem here. If you're already familiar with this track, you should take to it quickly. Rating: An excellent balance of speed and challenge, and also part of your complete breakfast.
TT: Taking the opponents out of the equation makes this track very simple. Just hit the boost pads, and fly... Rating: A fun run.
Manor Top
The most technical track from W3O returns!
The harsh 90's are terrible places to take damage, if you're slowed down then the low acceleration means you won't be able to make it from one section to the next. Not a nice way to track-out. The other serious danger is going too fast and airbraking too late and slamming sideways into the wall after one of the many hard corners, there just aren't enough boost pads for you to recover easily from something like that.
SR: Another good track for a high-handling craft, being able to fly a 90' turn smoothly is more necessary than anything else here. Even if you flew this track in W3O, it's little preparation for flying it in Pure. Rating: Highly challenging.
TT: Overcoming your own inertia is the only trick here, so it's rather straightforward at slower speeds but can be difficult at Phantom. Rating: Excellent corner training.
Mandrashee
You may or may not recognize this as being from Fusion, but all that's really important is that it's a good racetrack. The first set of corners is challenging to get through unscathed, and from there it's a speed run to a downhill jump and then two 90's to the finish line.
SR: The straight screwy section is full of weapon and boost pads, expect a firestorm every time you go through it. Getting the double boost pad before the finish line will often give you the win. Rating: A bit of challenge plus bit of fast always equals fun.
TT: It might take you a while to get used to this track, it does start out a little tricky, but once you've learned it it's pretty easy. Rating: A good showcase for all the basic track elements of Pure.
CLASSIC 2 - Continuing the proud tradition
They were able to put some good time and effort into this pack, and the quality really shows. Each track has a single colour theme to it, and it's surprising how well the design works. If you can't have an exact replica of the original track, this is definitely an excellent way to go. The tracks in this set are generally large and full of jumps you can BR off of, so craft with high shield and speed ratings will dominate.
Altima VII
The red track.
Similar to the WO1 original, but with imporant differences. This is a sprawling track with many hidden challenges. Like hitting all 3 boost pads on the sweeping left turn after the start line. What path to take on the downhill run. And avoiding hitting that low-hanging thing after the jump at Phantom.
SR: There's a lot of room on this track, and there's lots of time for weapons to play a big factor here. If you're having trouble flying the track, you might be able to win on weapon usage abilities alone. Rating: Surprisingly deep for what could've been a simple speed track.
TT: The challenge here isn't the time to beat (which is fairly easy), but more being happy with the line you've developed. There are lots of options available, and always room for improvement. Rating: If TT is your thing, you can spend a lot of time on this one.
Odessa Keys
The silver and blue track.
I hardly recognize this as having anything to do with the WOXL original, but I couldn't care less. Whatever method they used to create this track, they ended up with a beautiful racing experience. In no other track is the line you take so critically important. If your timing is perfect, you can turn your race into a high-speed rush. If you miss it, you're going to spend a lot of time slowly rebuilding your speed. Yes, it punishes you hard for failure, but it rewards you so nicely for success. For example, if your line is right, you can get a quadruple boost pad. You won't find another track like that!
SR: There are lots of opportunities for barrel rolls here, but you're probably better off conserving your shields for the assault you'll take in the corners you lose speed in. Since losing speed will be your biggest concern, boost pads are more likely to be your path to victory than weapon pads. Rating: Highly challenging and extremely rewarding.
TT: There's a lot of flexibility in the time to beat for this track, so you don't have to be on the perfect line every lap. Really blowing away the challenge time is easily possible. Rating: Easy to beat, but very difficult to truly master.
Porto Kora
The brown track.
Probably the best re-creation track in the whole game, very faithful to the original. It flies very differently in Pure from the W3O version though. There are a ridiculous number of opportunities for barrel rolls, so many so that you probably can't take them all: who has enough shield for that? If you like airtime, this track is for you.
SR: Do a lot of absorbing and a lot of barrel rolling and you really can't lose. Which doesn't necessarily make it an easy track to fly, but it's an uncomplicated path to victory at least. Rating: High-flying fun!
TT: All it takes here is consistent good laps. There are lots of boost pads, you can pretty much use that turbo anywhere you like. The wide right turn and the following downhill-left-uphill are the trickiest parts. Find a line that works for you and take it. Rating: Simple, but good.
Vohl Square
The dark blue track.
Definitely the trickiest track of the bunch, it gives you one technical challenge after another. Twice a lap it'll have you landing a jump inside a chicane, and this isn't W3O so you can't just "skip over" the chicane. There are lots of opportunities to track-out, be sure to avoid them all. Surprisingly tough is the final right-hand corner before the finish line, if you don't fly it right you track out off the left side. That final corner is very reminiscent of Exostra Run. There are several jumps, but none of them is a free BR, you'll have to be good to get it.
SR: The straight wavy track at the start has weapon pads and that makes the hard left at the end a shooting gallery. The chicane is a dangerous place for Bombs and Mines since there's a straight line through the middle. This track gives lots of opportunity for weapon attacks, so have a target and try to avoid being someone else's. Rating: Highly challenging and lots of fun.
TT: This technical track can really show its stripes in TT. With some effort and perfect laps, you can beat the track, but not by much! In Rapier especially, I found it tough to take that last second off my time. Rating: Quite challenging!
And that's all the tracks.
Or is it?
Next time: More tracks?!?
Arnaud's the man here, but alas for those that try -- only 0.08 separates our best times (Phantom) so there's not much room to maneuver. Single Race might be another story if one is especially clever with their use of weapons (and boost pads). :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Task
- F
woo, i can now say that i too have the pure and a spanking new white slim and lite psp, havent played wipeout for a while so im a little rusty, now i can say something here too, i feel like im in a big family ^_^
im gonna sweet talk our lass into getting me pulse for christmas
why is it now that piranha is the floating brick?, qirex seem quite nimble :S
I'm all with you. It doesn't make the game a bad one, but I don't like how they changed the characteristics of our beloved ships.Quote:
Originally Posted by piranha wiper
Maybe we should look at it in terms of what AG racing is - an evolution of Formula One. There, too, the cars of certain teams change from good to bad, from fast engines to more agile ones and so on...
Yet still... *g*
Ben
Well, I've now gotten my EU Pure to 317 golds. And I don't think I'm going to get it any further. Not because I'm done with it, but simply because I picked up Pulse today. I'll be unwrapping that tomorrow, and it'll probably be a long, long time before I attempt to "finish" EU Pure.
For anyone interested, here it is:
Total game play time: 39:27.01
Single Race: 18:10.08
Time Trial: 11:43.39
Tournament: 9:12.52
Zone: 20.22
Free Play: 0
Multiplayer: 12.47
275 PLs, 628 golds, 130 silvers, 44 bronze, 1819 tournament points.
Overall, my favourite things about EU Pulse are that Quakes work on Khara, the extra ships are awesome, the extra tracks are unique and have excellent design, and the only problem I found with it is that in every track except Sinucit there's this bug where you start at the back of the pack and behind a bunch of ships that don't know how to turbo. This however is better than NA version where that bug exists on all tracks including Sinucit. I'm not sure how that bug got through QA, why does only one track put you in the correct starting position? 8 )
Pure was good. Here comes the next challenger!
Thanks, and good night.
Thanks for making this thread. Good discriptions of tracks, weapons and items and stuff!
A good read for newcomers.
8 ) Thanks. Glad you liked it!
Those 12 mins were probably from the US tour aren't they ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Task
8 D Of course they were!
That was the only time I've done any multi with the EU version, and that was before I even owned the EU version. We just didn't have quite enough copies of the game for everyone to play the same. I ended up being the guy that had to be able to play either so that fewer people would have to change UMDs.