Wipeout HD

"A fantastic looking futuristic racer that anyone who hasn't played the previous Wipeout games with some patience should play."

When I got my PSP, I watch the Wipeout trailer on the demo disc that came with the console, and though to myself "wow, that looks like a cool game!" I never bought it though - I had never heard of the series before and had no idea if it was any good or not. Then I heard that Wipeout HD was coming to the PS3 as an item on the PlayStation Store. I went "why not?" and bought it. And let me tell you, it was $27.95 AU well spent.

GRAPHICS: 10/10

Friggin' mind blowing. If you own a 1080p compatible TV, get ready for some crazy visuals as you blaze through futuristic tracks at 800 km/h. There is literally nothing wrong with the graphics IMO. They are simply fantastic. I would imagine that the graphics are a big step up from the PSP titles, and Studio Liverpool has done a fantastic job here. Even if you don't own a massive TV, the visuals are still awesome.

The vehicles all look great, and the effects to go with them also look stunning. The environments are also spectacular, and the GUI is pleasing to the eye as well. Seriously, there is NOTHING to complain about here. A warning though, if you are playing on a 4:3 TV (not a widescreen), the HUD will look squashed, as the game has been built from the ground up for widescreen TVs. But anyone who can fork out enough dough for a PS3 surely has a widescreen available - I know I do.

SOUND: 9/10

Again, fantastic. All the sounds are realistic and there are no glitches I have come across regarding the sound. The only gripe I have with the sound is the fact that there are only 8 songs in the game. However, providing you have your own music on your PS3, you can simply make your own playlist and put your own music in there to listen to whilst you play the game. Problem solved!

GAMEPLAY: 7/10

Here's where things slip up a little. if you've played the previous Wipeout titles on the PSP, there isn't much point of downloading Wipeout HD apart from the fact that you can play it on a decent sized screen with a comfortable controller. All the tracks, songs, vehicles and such are unchanged from previous versions. If you haven't played the previous titles before, this is one of the best futuristic racers out there, but it isn't without its flaws.

For one thing, this game gets HARD after a while. In the Campaign Mode, there are 8 tiers of races to do. The first and second are easy, much like a tutorial for the rest of the game, the 3rd and fourth get a lot more difficult, and everything beyond that is incredibly difficult. The races against AI opponents are fun and not to difficult. It's more the time trials and speed laps that are hard - there is literally NO room for error.

You miss as much as 2 speed pads or take that corner too wide, you usually miss out in the gold. If you're not a perfectionist, then you won't find this a problem, but I, being the greedy, angry person that I am, will not settle for anything less than gold, and that time is damn near impossible to achieve most of the time. Be prepared to yell and scream your way through the campaign. Thankfully, however, the developers have added Pilot Assist, which keeps you away from the walls on the edge of the track. This can be turned off for the 1337 pros out there.

There are 5 different race modes in Wipeout HD: Single Race, Tournaments of up to 12 races, Time Trial, Speed Lap and Zone. This is plenty of modes, but it gets a bit repetitive after a while. Most of these modes are self explanatory, except for Zone, where your ship accelerates automatically and you can only steer the ship. It gets faster and faster until your ship is finally destroyed with all the collisions you'll be having. It's the most enjoyable mode IMO.

For those of you who have buddies who also like crazy futuristic racing games, there's 2 player split screen for offline Multiplayer, and 8 player Online play via the PlayStation Network. Both these modes are fun to play, and games are always better when you're playing with others. Almost all the features from Single Player carry on to Multiplayer, except the Zone, Time Trial and Speed Lap racing modes, but those are 1 player modes anyway.

And to top it all off, this game has Trophies! Developers are actually taking notice of Sony's rip off of the Xbox Achievements System, hooray for plagiarism! There are a ton of trophies, and it'll take you quite a while to get Transcendence (the platinum trophy obtained when you get all the other trophies in the game).

OVERALL: 8/10

This is a great game that any fan of futuristic racing games and a PS3 with broadband and a PSN account should try out. It's a whole heap of fun in a $20.00 US package, but there isn't much incentive to buy this game if you already have previous Wipeout titles.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/29/08, Updated 09/30/08

Game Release: Wipeout HD (EU, 09/25/08)