WipEout HD review

In the intervening years, WipEout has struggled to remain relevant, a predicament worsened by the ill-received WipEout Fusion. The cultural landscape has changed and the series has held onto its remaining fanbase with some admittedly rather good portable entries. But for WipEout to retain its impact, it needs to think big. Enter WipEout HD.WipEout HD is big in many ways. It's the first entry in the series to be available solely as a downloadable title, and the first to be budget-priced from launch. It's big in resolution, too, outputting a 1080p picture that renders at 60 frames per second. It's big in features, with full online play supported over the PlayStation Network and a comprehensive campaign mode to get stuck into. It's big in appeal, too, with beginner-friendly 'pilot assist' making the handling easier to grow accustomed to. The only thing that isn't big about it is the quantity of tracks, which is a fairly meagre eight (not including reverse alternatives), mostly stripped right out of WipEout PurE, with more almost certainly due to appear as downloadable content sometime in the future. Still, for less than twelve of your hard-earned pounds (or whatever regional equivalent it's going for), this is fantastic value for money.If you're properly hooked up to an HD telly, this is a feast for the senses; a technical showcase of full-size, full-speed proportions, and a testament to Studio Liverpool's talent and resources. Even without the benefit of a hi-def setup, WipEout HD is quite the looker. More than just an upscaled PSP game, the redesigned tracks feature all manner of detail to ogle at - glimmering reflections, sunlight, shadows, and detailed backgrounds. But to focus on what it achieves realistically is to miss what it achieves in fantastical spectacle, not least of which is found in the game's 'zone mode' - a colourful virtual recreation of the regular tracks that zip by at an ever-increasing rate, light pulsing in time to the music, the colour scheme changing from one to the next. Wonderful things are done with the sound, too; explosions leave you temporarily deafened, shields hum delightfully while muffling exterior noise, and tunnels echo even the background music. Synthetic-sounding voices announce your progress and alert you of upcoming dangers. It's very futuristic, very slick. Through and through, the presentation is first class.When you first take control of a ship (selecting from an array of manufacturers), WipEout is immediately welcoming, the subtle bobbing of the ship feels natural and it responds well to your inputs, tilting and turning around corners (or into them!). WipEout is one of those series that maintains an arcade-like appeal, but it has very technical handling at anything above a beginner level. It's simply not enough to have quick reactions and reflexes; you soon need a topographical memory of every bend, straight and ramp of the tracks, and that means practice, practice, practice! With this in mind, the fact that there are only eight tracks is quite handy, as you'll be repeating them a lot and learning their layouts well enough to know just when to airbrake, how hard to turn, where to line up for a jump and how to string together boost pads. The four classes of ship in WipEout HD are progressively faster; while the Venom class rarely needs you to apply the airbrakes, at Phantom class the track is a blur and every single part of it needs to be approached with a perfect technique.Collisions cause damage, though unless you're spectacularly useless, this alone won't ever be enough to eliminate you from the race. Ships can launch weapons at each other, some designed to slow, others to cripple, and these are picked up one at a time from the weapon pads that litter the tracks. Other power-ups can provide a short burst of speed, a shield or a temporary auto-pilot. Whether you aim for these pads is up to you, but they're often at the expense of missing a boost pad or diverting away from your racing line. You can also absorb a power-up to repair some of your ship's damage, so there are many trade-offs that keep things interesting. Not so much a gimmick, the power-ups help balance races, with those lagging behind given more powerful or useful methods to catch up. This is important, as there is no artificial 'rubber-banding' to keep the races close.The campaign mode features more than just races; there are time trials, speed laps and zone mode events too, all arranged into grids. Once the cells in each grid are filled (with a medal in that event), more open up, with harder events and faster classes available. Generally, progression is quite steady, although a few of the time trials present difficulty spikes with very harsh target times. This isn't helped by the fact the default sensitivity of the acceleration is set too low (as the buttons are analogue-sensitive, this can mean you're not getting your maximum speed unless you press it really hard), but this setting can be altered.WipEout HD's online modes are simple but effective, with lists of available hosts and several filtering options available (including region). You can even have games open just for players on your friends list, multi-race tournaments can be set up too, and voice chat is supported in-game. Races tend to run smoothly, with little in the way of juddering or noticeable latency. Collisions are disabled for the first few seconds of a race to keep things smooth, after which you're able to blow the opposition off the track if you want. Races can get a tad aggressive, but they're usually fun.PlayStation Trophies have been incorporated into WipEout HD for various achievements. Most are awarded for your progress through the campaign or for beating certain times, but there are ones for pulling off barrel rolls, blowing up other ships, collecting loyalty points for your ship manufacturer and even for using the photo mode to take a picture. Speaking of which, the photo mode is a great way to show off just how pretty WipEout HD is, and all pictures taken are saved to your images folder so you can make yourself a custom wallpaper if you like. There are options for motion blur and depth of field, amongst others. Sadly, there are no game replays, so if you don't capture a good shot as it happens, the moment is lost forever. Another handy feature is the custom soundtrack; although the included music is pretty good, it can start to wear a bit thin, so you can swap it for an album of your choice on your hard drive. Try the original WipEout soundtrack for a bit of nostalgia.WipEout HD may not make the huge industry-changing impact it once did, but this is the most accessible entry to date (delivery method aside), and easily one of the most impressive technical demonstrations on the PS3. As a game, it is harsh and demanding, but addictively replayable, and you may be surprised how far you're able to go with it before your eyes melt out of your head. Still, whatever your tolerance for WipEout is, however long it retains your interest, at 11.99, it easily earns its keep.