WipEout Thread v1
Because WipEout HD is out soonish for PS3 owners, and I've been playing a lot of WipEout Pulse and it's easily one of the best racing games ever.
What is WipEout?
Long answer: It's a fast-paced action-based arcade racer with an emphasis on reaction times, tactical weapons use and smooth cornering. It's like F-Zero made cool and given missiles, or maybe it's Mario Kart on E. It's like crystal meth in a game. It's like crystal meth. It is crystal meth. WipEout is crystal meth.
What games have their been?
WipEout (PS1, PSN, PC, Mac)
The very first game in the series, it came out in 94ish and thanks to some very clever marketing got 20somethings playing games again. This immeditely destroyed the games industry and all hope it once held.
Wait, no it didn't. It sold about a billion copies, made people care about game soundtracks and graphic design again and got the PS1 into millions of homes that wouldn't have bought one otherwise.
WipEout 2097 (PS1, Saturn, PC, Mac)
Called WipEout XL in the states, where people are scared of big numbers but curiously find "XL" appeals to them.
Argued by some (idiots) to be the best in the series. It isn't, but it also sold a million copies and officially began the rush toward licensed soundtracks, seeing as it features the Prodigy, Orbital and a few others I'm forgetting.
Wip3out (PS1)
God, just look at it. The Designers Republic really pulled out the stops for this one, and with a soundtrack composed by Sasha it sounded incredible too.
Sadly the sales weren't too hot, largely because the menus and casing were perhaps a bit overdesigned and not in-your-face-cool enough. A real shame, though it is made up for by:
WipEout 3: Special Edition (PS1, Eu only)
This wasn't released in the states, and frankly you missed out on what is possibly my favourite game ever. There is literally not a single thing wrong with this game. Not one. The design is immaculate, there's enough here to play forever, the ships are perfectly balanced and all different enough (Qirex for life though I do envy Icaras pilots) Words cannot fully express my love of doing a perfect lap round Manor Top in a Qirex at Rapier class.
Pure unconcentrated bliss.
WipEout Fusion (don't bother)
Okay, your last game didn't sell so great, but you have a dedicated fanbase who love high speed, smooth racing lines and clean design.
Yes, throw all that shit out the window and give the design to some idiots-with-InDesign. Throw away the perfected handling. Throw away the course design.
Now you're left with utter wank. Ignore this rubbish.
WipEout Pure (PSP)
A proper return to form, this almost gets it right. A few iffy decisions, but essentially the best racer on the PSP. At least until:
WipEout Pulse (PSP)
The current love of my life (sorry Nela, but you don't go 600km/h or have a Quake Disrupter). It's not W3 SE, but nothing is.
I'm still not in love with the mag-strips thingy (I can see the tactical uses for it, and it perks up the course design), or Eliminator (which is silly. The old style was much better.) But it's well worth the coin.
WipEout HD (PS3 PSN)
I know literaly nothing about this, but I believe it to be a selection of classic tracks and ships in glorious HD, using a perked-up Pulse engine.
And if that's true, I'm buying a PS3.
Posts
Also, no WipEout thread is complete without the best WipEout controller ever made.
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197970666737/
Is there not one I should play on the PS2? No PS3 or PSP...
W3 SE or 2097. Don't bother with Fusion.
It's been a long time.
Afterwards (like two years ago) I got the PS1 version on ebay.
That's about it.
I am curious what the PS3 version will do, though.
And why not bring it to pc. (sorry )
luckily going out of my way to grab it won't involve so much as leaving the couch
I also have the original PS1 game, which I agree is better by far.
Isn't it owned by Sony these days?
At the very least, published by them.
It needs to be good. Please, be good!
also there was some garbage N64 game you forgot to mention.
I personally think 3 (at least the version we got over here) was just missing something. It just felt so bland.
Ditto. 2097 sold me the PS1, and I didn't end up picking up a PS2 because Fusion was apparently shite.
WipeOut HD and MGS4 might be enough to push me to the dark side.
I personally think 2097 is better than Wip3out - better soundtrack and tracks IMHO
I never played the ps2 one but it doesnt sound like I missed anything. I really, really need to pick it up for my psp.
It feels so different from driving. Is there something I'm missing. Does anyone have a guide to wipeout racing physics for a noob. I'd love to learn to drive in this game, but since I'm so bad and get no enjoyment and I'm only playing it to kill time on long trips I tend to take something else.
And play about in Time Trials to find thw right ship for you. For beginners I recommend the FEISAR. You won't get great lap times but you will actually finish!
edit for Basticle: W3 Normal Edition is missing something - about 8 tracks and a bunch of Prototypes. But the physics are probably the best yet.
Should I be thinking of this as like, elongated drifting, in that I start airbraking before I normally do?
The only exception are 90 degree turns, which happen rarely but when they do they only advice I can give to you is to panic and keep practicing.
I'll try feathering using my normal line in some time trial using the FEISAR and see how it goes. Thanks for the advices.
Not that different. A lot nearer the inside and without so much correction afterwards or before. WipEout ships are much faster in a straight line, so the trick is to keep as straigh a line as possible.
Now I let myself get too goddam close to the outside corner that my head is screaming "the brake wont stop me from hitting" but hey it does. That's neat. Thanks ben.
Also the inside line helped too. These things handle much more sharply than they seem like they would, being hovercars. Pretty neat.
edit: Haha I just cut my ghost time by eight seconds as I picked up the correct line to take over the laps. Go Ben.
Because theres no way to stop, you've gotta take the line that conserves the most speed. If you're slamming on both airbrakes before a corner, you're going about it the wrong way. Its about taking the corner wide, easing in your craft with regular controls where you're going slight wide of the apex, then nipping in with the inner airbrake to kiss the apex and get a good angle to release all turning variables and go straight.
Like regular racing, its all about getting the late apex You've just gotta go about getting there differently.
My love affair with Red Bull began then.
I seem to remember Future Sound of London being a big part of the soundtrack.
Maybe, I don't really know.
But Sony makes pc's, I have on of those vaio bastards, they can't deny it.
They bought out Psygnosis just after 2097. WO hgames are made by the same team, but now known as SCEE Liverpool now.
I tried out a Triakis last night. Jesus fuck is it fast than the Qirex I'm used to. My laps are all about 2 seconds faster now.
oh fuck yeah that looks awesome
I don't know what it is about WipEout as a whole - I mean, speed laps/time trials basically equate to "fly X perfect laps while hitting every single speed pad on the track and finding racing lines you wouldn't dream existed" and I loathe Burning Laps in Burnout. I loathe games demanding perfection and not admitting they're demanding perfection, I loathe games that force you to race at breakneck, inhuman, 99.9% uncontrollable speeds, I loathe games that turn into "USE THE FORCE, LUKE" the moment you hit the throttle... But somehow when I do sit down with WipEout I get sucked into chipping away at my times before I even realise it. :P
Read my book. (It has a robot in it.)
Yeah. I can race my own ghost in wipeout pure. Standard feature and all that, but I don't actually play that many racing games.
Now that I found that out, I'm basically doomed.
To be hIp and edGy.
Let me tell you about Demon's Souls....
puh l3ase
:x
Comfortable, permanent
Undisputed, every tense
Not a trace of what went left
More equal than the best
Unparalleled success
Everybody, V-impressed
But man... that and Colony Wars... and FF7.. and MGS. Jesus christ I miss those days. Even that shitty Wing Commander game that had Luke Skywalker.
Yep, if you doubt the age, if you watch the old movie Hackers back when angelina was still attractive, the game she 'plays' was an early pre-render concept for the original wipeout game.
I should really try out a copy of wipeout se, I've only ever had XL and the original for my ps. It's still my favourite racing game, it handles like a dream, it actually felt fast, and drifting/sliding along rails is awesome. Nothing like that KSHHH sound when you're leaving a turn and kiss the railing near max speed.