Is the original Wipeout the best?

[qirex-rd]

Maybe youre right. I couldnt wait to get my hands on
3out, but a 3rd part with the graphics of Fusion would
have been better. Imagine the SFX of Fusion in 3out.
Kick the design, ships and physics out of Fusion and
let the things of the 3rd part in - voila: WipEout Perfect for PS2.
I hope that WipEout 6 doesnt get to much train-controlling like in
3out. Fatal Inertia seems to be a more cartoon like FZero GX,
which feels like guiding the landscape around a bullet with a hand,
with stupid background music.
I think I know the future of WipEout: WipEout Underground with
Style points, time freezing and no Gameplay. Thats sad.
I want 100.000.000 € and pay each former Psygnosis programmer
one million to reunite again and make a REAL WipEout.
Its late now, and Im going to upload another WipEout movie
(Karbonis - Rapier - Qirex).

[Medusa]

YES. IT IS.

It is not my favourite wipeout in the series, likely very few would say it is their favourite, but I believe that WipEout was definitely the best of the series so far.

-As has been mentioned, it has the most realistic colouring and backgrounds. It doesn't stretch our limits of believing what the future has in store too much at a time.
-It is the most focused of the series. You cannot get lost on various goose chases. Unlock the game through Championship Race. Period.
-None of the other games requires such a perfection of racing line to get and maintain a fast speed in your ship. No wall bumps, no hyperthrust to make up for mistakes, no pit lane, no eliminating opponents...this game is PURE racing. Go fast and perfect or you are lost.
-There is no "supership" in this game and the ships are all fairly evenly matched. The Qirex with top speed has the lowest handling (turning is akin to having a dogsled hitched up to nitrous-oxide-fed dogs, except there is a moose carcass dragging along on either side of the dogsled...), even the slow FEISAR makes it up with top handling on Rapier class.
-The AI are not moving pylons like in XL. They block you a lot until you leave them in the dust.
-This game has my favourite/most hated sound effect in the whole series - the wall hit. A sickening "PHUNK" as your ship crashes to a stop on the track. Nothing is so real as that sound. Well done, I say.

So there's my reasons.

[infoxicated]

...turning is akin to having a dogsled hitched up to nitrous-oxide-fed dogs, except there is a moose carcass dragging along on either side of the dogsled...

You're becoming a regular quote machine.

[Medusa]

That was the only thing I thought could possibly resemble the way the nasty Qirex handles. Sadly I gave it a lot of thought.

[DawnFireDragoon]

i maintain that if you master the first WipEout, you'll be a pro at all the sequels. if you so much as skim a wall you stop dead, it makes you a good pilot.

[q_dmc12]

turning is akin to having a dogsled hitched up to nitrous-oxide-fed dogs, except there is a moose carcass dragging along on either side of the dogsled...

ROFL!!

That is my top quote for the week, I am going to pin this on my wall!

[Chill]

I agree with emerald dragoon, Wipeout is like a training simulator, which is actually harder than the sequals when it comes down to more detail in controlling your tight torque on turns, the turning get more sensitive the longer you hold it, giving this game the very good quality of being able to train on turning controls down to the tee before going fast.

[RJ O'Connell]

Of the PS1 trilogy, I'm going to state my reasons why this is the best in the series.

Challenge: Racing WO is absolutely nothing like XL and W3. Think about it. No shortcuts - the Wusswagon resets you almost immediately. No grinds - it's a dead stop if you scrape the wall, but a good pilot - even one who has absolute **** record times compared to Medusa or Lunar and has a primitive D-pad, like myself, can adapt in time. Even at Rapier Class I can manage a perfect run at tracks as hard as Arridos! It's definitely a rewarding challenge, the most rewarding in my opinion. Because anyone can race shortcuts and be fast in WipEout games, but few can run the track with the same success. And for those that can do both, that's cool.

Oh, and did I mention that single race mode is not just a timed run with 11 other craft, but an actual challenge?

Straightforward Play: W3 has the most tedious method of unlocking and achieving of any game I've played. But WO is just straight "win the championships, beat the game."

Balance: This is the most important aspect. No other game has a track where the fastest times are usually set by FEISAR craft. Unlike any game after it, you have to use different machines that suit the track the best to be #1 on the timesheets. It's not a test of simply picking the supership, or the one with the highest speed rating. So many other factors play in too.

Tracks: I could go on about how Silverstream is the hardest track ever concieved (and unlike Spilskinanke, doesn't always induce feelings of anger.) I could go on about how Altima VII is the most breathtaking and exciting first track in the history of the series. Terramax feels like a true work of art, Karbonis - as demonstrated in the TT challenge - has little intricate parts that make it a bigger challenge than people expect. Manor Top? Staten Park? P-Mar? You can have them. This is the best seven circuits in a WipEout game.

Misc: With pilot avatars, it actually feels sometimes in SR and Championship like I'm racing actual racers. When I run against the anonymous machines in every other game, even Fusion, I feel like I'm racing bots. That's not the point of the game, obviously, but it is nice to know that there's a master pilot in the cockpit, and not some dude in a secret base running the thing with a remote control. (This is why I usually push for pilot avatars in future games, oh, but to no avail. )

There's mine. Let's continue to hear yours.

Ballistic AntiGravity Racing. WipEout. F3600 Racing League. Rock on.

[Chill]

Yet another post... but it's such a great game!! anyways...

The track design, absolutely brilliant, seem to coincide with the team avatars, music, and selection menu so well. The entire game give a brilliant atmospheric vibe, one more out of this world than any other of it's series. Perhaps because it was the first Wipeout I've ever felt in love with, but I still go back to it and fall in love with it all over again. This is one of those classics, that like the first Tomb-Raider and Resident Evil, will never lose it's depth. As said earlier, like something out of this world.

[Mark Of Insanity]

I want to add my own comments to this thread that is over a month into hibernation.

Wipeout is my favourite game of the series. Period.
But I disagree that being good at this game means that you are good at all the sequels.
I'm a fairly good WO1 player, but put me in command of a WO3 ship and I'll blow it up or come in last. Simple reason is that I cannot use Hyperthrust.

But that's why I love the original. It's so simple, no hyperthrust, no wallscraping, no weapon absorbing or dropping and no eliminations. The weapons help, but they're not obstrusive and you only need the buttons for accelerate, use weapon, left and right airbrakes, turning... and that's it.
But that doesn't mean that it's boring or unimaginative...

It has more realistic enviroments (bar Firestar), but they're exciting and interesting ones. Not much can beat powering down Altima's big dip, or cleanly sliding through the Silverstream Hairpins in a Qirex. Or, as you ride through the fast speed up pads of Korodera, your opponent flies into the wall from a powerful rocket you just fired, and you drive past their crashing racer with the lead in your hands. Through the diving chicanes of Karbonis and boosting over the jumps... it's a raw racing experience, and I love that.
It's a true test of racing skill, getting the right line to airbrake through a sweeping turn and hit every speed pad.
Oh and the ships are cool too.

[zargz]

I't s the best coz it's the hardest to beat!
why is this the hardest wo ever to beat?
coz of all of the reasons already mentioned above but ..
the main reason imo that somehow everyone missed
is that there's no autospitpilot to hold your hand through the hardest parts!

[RJ O'Connell]

Of course, the part about autopilot you forgot is...

...and especially in Wipeout XL and Wip3out...

...sure, it'll hold your hand through some tough corners, but if it's disengaging and you're coming up on one that'll require decel/airbrake, the deactivation will actually give you an annoying burst of speed into the wall before you can react, resulting in *THUD*. X_X

[zargz]

disengage it your self on a straight! you gotta plan those kinda things!
but yeh i don't like it ..

[Chill]

Ya, mabye if their was a training mode, but I don't wanna feel like a little kid on a bike with training wheels all the time...

[zargz]

LOL!!! this must be a worthy wo-quote!

chill about AP: Yeah, I'd use it .. but I don't wanna feel like a little kid on a bike with training wheels all the time!

[RJ O'Connell]

I know I can disengage the autopilot whenever I want.

Dropping the autopilot altogether is much easier.

But anyway, back to WO1...

[Mark Of Insanity]

Not having the Autopilot just makes WO1 even more of a pure test of skill than the others.

It's a great game because even sliding into the walls stops you dead, meaning that only players that can stay well within the limits of the tracks but still keep a good line can win. Weapons are used as tools, not to eliminate the opponent altogether (sp?), which really, is what they're good for. I don't fire rockets at opponents in XL to destroy them, but to slow them down. And that's what they're good for in WO1. The boost system is great too, no barrel rolls or hyperthrust to confuse, just a great big boost.

To keep good line, not crash, hit all the speed pads and use the boost weapon at the right places is a great combination for speed and thrill.

Besides those points, it feels alot more like a spectacle. Not too dark, so it feels like a real event, with the crowd and the announcer. The rivalries too, are small but make a difference. The ships that are customised to each pilot is a nice touch and makes more alot more diversity than would otherwise appear, as the ship designs are sleek, but with fewer cosmetic differences between teams.

I've spoken for too long again already.

[RJ O'Connell]

To add to the spectacle, there's other little nuances like fictional billboards of the future (as well as some cheap in-game promo billboards), and the distinct look of all the tracks, and the day/night switch for almost every track in class...

[blixabargeld]

a little remake for psp store of the first wipeout, with new hd graphic(just that, maybe in cell shading) would be really nice..

[Lance]

I would lOve to see cel-shaded WipEout 1. !!!! I've always been a huge fan of the near-abstract Prototype racing that was a bonus in W3O.