WipEout HD

Buy wipEout HD. You shouldn’t be reading this review to judge as to whether or not you should, since it should already be on you PS3’s hard drive. You’re merely reading this to revel in the fact that you bought this console generation’s best downloadable title and giggle with glee whilst washing your skin with its liquid awesomeness.  

 WipEout HD is the jewel in Studio Liverpool’s crown- a gaming achievement other developers should look up to, admire and aspire to surpass. It is the racing game which has it all- a challenging and lengthy set of single player missions, a diverse set of modes, full online multiplayer and leaderboard support, complete with amazing visuals and 5.1 sound technology. No other game- minus The Orange Box- offers the amount of content for such a low price. Despite early disappointment at the revelation that the game’s content comes from the PSP titles, HD more than justifies its price tag.  

 The first features that get noticed in HD are the game’s visual aspects- this is no PSP game. A frame rate locked at the full 60 frames per second means that not only does the game glide along as smooth as butter, but the sense of speed is truly astounding. Previous titles in the franchise were fast, but nowhere near this level- getting up to the Supersonic speeds in Zone mode is nausea inducing, but in an awesome way.  The game is almost at F-Zero GX standards of speed at times, but with courses that demand more piloting skill and with competitors who seem to be determined to spread your face like jam onto the track. Thanks to the full 1080p visuals (an extremely rare feat this generation, especially for a game that looks this good and runs this well), you never feel overwhelmed or cheated- you can always see what’s ahead due to the insane levels of clarity. It’s strange to think that one of the best looking titles this gen is download only, but this certainly a game which needs a HD television- playing on a CRT is almost impossible on the higher speeds.  

 When games move this fast, it’s easy to overlook the amount of details that are put into the environment. It’s lucky, then, that HD provides a photo mode from the pause menu- players can pause the game, spin the camera around, admire the incredibly well designed scenery and take full HD screenshots. As an added bonus, you can apply post-processing effects like depth-of-field and motion blur, meaning images that are truly wallpaper worthy can be created.  

 While the audio of the game is certainly impressive, fans of the series may be slightly disappointed. All of the tracks included in the game’s soundtrack have featured on the PSP games. While they have been re-mastered into the full 5.1 surround experience, you won’t particularly care if you’re sick of them from playing the previous titles. Luckily, Studio Liverpool remedied this by allowing you to use any music on your console’s hard drive, whether they are specific tracks, albums or playlists. The game engine then warps these tracks depending on what’s happening in the race- going through a tunnel makes the music echo, while going over a jump will take all of the bass out, creating an airy atmosphere.  The developers further remedy themselves by making all of the sound effects top notch- ships engines hum as you pass them, and rockets whoosh by in 5.1 before giving beefy explosions in the distance.  

 All this would mean very little, however, if the game wasn’t fun or varied enough to hold your attention for very long. While the game provides no story, this just merely means that it never has an end. The single player missions are plentiful and more than challenging enough to keep the hardcore occupied for a fair while and every event on every track has an individual worldwide leaderboard where you can compare your times and scores with friends and strangers alike. Things are kept interesting with a variety of game modes- alongside the usual standard race, tournaments, time trials and speed laps the game also features the radically different Zone mode. While this was another feature taken from the PSP titles, it has been overhauled for HD.  The idea of Zone is that the player navigates around his chosen track until the repeated collisions with the side of the track make the ship explode. The twist is that not only can you not brake, but every ten seconds –or Zone- your speed increases, making piloting the ship safely increasingly more difficult. Every few Zones makes the track’s appearance radically different, with awesome colour schemes and epilepsy-inducing effects making it far more visually appealing than the drab brown shooters which have plagued the market recently. If you’re like me and are a sucker for crawling up leaderboards, Zone will sap your life away. 

 Yet another quality of WipEout HD is that it is the first PSN game to have a Platinum trophy available, but you’ll have to work ridiculously hard for it. These trophies are obscenely hard to get. To get one of them you have to reach Zone 75- a feat which you’ll think impossible when you start playing. When I eventually scraped into that zone after exploding I ended up 125th on the world leaderboards, which says something. 

 If one thing’s for sure then, WipEout HD is a game for the true gaming elite. To do well in it you truly have to live and breathe WipEout for dozens of hours on end, but that’s not really a bad thing when the game is this good. If you want a game that you can sink weeks into for just the price of a DVD, then this is the game for you. With a competitive online multiplayer, split screen and leaderboard system WipEout HD will have you coming back for months.

To read our review of the expansion to this game, click here.