8
Apr
2009
WipEout HD Review
Overview
WipEout HD developed by the masterminds over at Sony Liverpool is another title of the classic WipEout franchise, which is known for its excellence and quality. The game is a downloadable only title but it has enough content to be a full retail title; with 8 tracks, online modes and a decent lasting campaign, this game offers a great package for just $20.
Controls
The developer gives you two ways of controlling your ship, you can use the Sixaxis or the analog sticks, obviously it is much easier to play with the analog stick, it is far more responsive. You can use your weapons with the square button and use your airbrakes with L2 and R2, this comes very useful when you need to take really tight turns at high speeds. Overall, the control configuration of WipEout HD is really good and the motion controls are one of the best in the PS3.
Graphics
The Wipeout games are known for the quality of their graphics and this does not change in this version, supporting native 1080p resolution and 60FPS, the game features stunning graphics that can be compared and may even surpass most full retail games. This game renders high resolution textures combined with beautiful backgrounds. While you are racing you can see a lot of things happening on the screen, missiles exploding in front of you, ships flying on the background, an impressive quantitiy of lights and a tracks full of colours. All of this makes WipEout HD one of the most visually stunning game not just only on the PSN but on the PS3.
Gameplay and Story
The graphics are not the only good thing in this game, the gameplay is great, with intuitive controls and a decent camera. For many people the difficulty of this game is going to be tough, so it requires a lot of practice to refine your skills and advance in the campaign mode. In the campaign mode there are 8 grids, each with different types of events, like Tournaments, Single Race, Speed Lap and Time Trial. In each grid you need to earn a specified number of points to advance to the next grid, sometimes this becomes tedious because you might not have sufficient skills to earn more points. In “tournament” and “single race” you will face other opponents and you will have a lot of different weapons to take them down, you can also refill your energy lost by absorbing the weapons instead of using them against the enemies. There is also the option to race online with your friends or other people from around the world. (it works really well) It has a lobby system where you can setup your own games with a lot of options to customize.
The Bottom Line
9.0/10
WipEout HD is an awesome experience that every PS3 owner should play, it has enough content to be a 60 dollars game. It comes highly recommended by me.