Wipeout XL

"A landmark game."

Graphics: 9
Very nice graphics and tracks with Designers Republic's touch to been seen everywhere in this game. A super kick ass opening cinema starts things off on the right foot. I really liked the way they hid the pop up which was so horrible in Wipeout by putting up objects and signs at the horizon level.

Sound/Music: 10
An all star Techno soundtrack. It's basically a greatest hits album of some of the bigger names in Electronic music. Since many have bought this game just to have the music and because the soundtrack is such an important element to this game here's my thoughts on the tracks.
1. Herd Killing by Future Sound Of London - From the CD Dead Cities. This is the opening cinema track and is an excerpt from the 3 part track called Herd Killing .
2. We Have Explosive by Future Sound Of London - From the CD Dead Cities. Not one of the best songs from FSOL, but one of their more popular ones.
3. Landmass by Future Sound Of London - My 2nd favorite track in he game. This track is one of the better FSOL songs and is only available in this game.
4. Atombomb (Straight 6 Instrumental mix)by Fluke - Original version from the CD Risoto. Not one of the better remixes of this song.
5. V6 by Fluke - This track is only available in this game and is one of the better tracks.
6. Dust Up Beats by Chemical Brothers - A new remix of a track from the first Chemical Brothers CD Exit Planet Dust.
7. Loops Of Fury by Chemical Brothers - A very cool track by the Brothers. From the Loops Of Fury EP.
8. The Third Sequence by Photek - The only bum on the sountrack. Drum and Bass just doesn't work in this game.
9. Tin There(edit) by Underworld - Best track in the game and the best version of this song ever including the original Pearl's Girl version.
10. Firestarter (instrumental)by Prodigy - Original version from the album The Fat Of The Land. I like this instrumental version better.
11. Canada by Cold Storage - A great track from Tim Wright who wrote all the tracks on the original Wipeout(European) minus the Chemical Brothers tracks.
12. Body In Motion by Cold Storage - Another cool song from Cold Storage.

A seperate and different CD was released named Wipeout XL which contained 6 tracks from the game and 8 different ones.

Gameplay: 9
A big step up from the ultra unfair Wipeout. Much better control. Brushing up against a wall is no longer a dead stop. Now if you grind a wall you will hear a grinding noise but not lose much speed. I played hours and hours of this game in the link up mode and it was insanely cool. I really liked the tracks a lot this year and had no complaints there. The loading was no where near as long in XL as it was in the original which is a big bonus.

Challenge: 10
Unlocking everything in this game was nearly impossible.

Replay: 10
It's a racing game and time trial is a blast. Unlocking all the secrets in this game can take a long long time.

Overall: 9 A landmark game that rendered the original Wipeout almost unplayable.This game is actually featured in the Fluke music video for Atom Bomb.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/21/00, Updated 09/21/00