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.