I like the weapons. My only gripe is that I cannot customize my ship more.

What drew me to WipEout HD is the fact it reminded me so much of a game I used to love years ago called "Rock n' Roll Racing". So I like the weapons.

I should say though, that WipEout HD is my first WipEout game so I have no idea if the others have weapons or not. I got it with Sony's Welcome Back package and have been enjoying it. Only got into the online portion of the game just last week.