Released in the US on September 25th, 2008, Wipeout HD is eighth installment of the WipeOut series, taking tracks from the Wipeout Pure and Wipeout Pulse entries, but bringing the content to gorgeous 1080p visuals running at silky smooth 60 frames per second. Next to F-Zero, this is one of the most stylish and beautifully realized sci-fi racers out there. Players can choose among several brands of spaceships, each with unique stats and appearance. And as with any sponsorship would have, the more races you win with a particular ship brand, the more models you'll unlock from that sponsor. There are five various modes to be enjoyed, from single races to tournaments (or grand prix), speed laps to time trials, and the never ending Zone mode. Zone mode is quite a unique mode among racing games in that players have no means of controlling the acceleration of their ship. They will slowly accelerate making lap after lap on a given race track, entering new zones and speed classes as they zoom along, altering the colors in trippy fashion. The goal is to see how far you can go before you eventually can no longer handle the speed and crash out of control.
Meanwhile, races and tournaments offer a satisfying balance of navigating the tracks and taking the offense with various item types. Each item is unique in its use and fits right at home with this stylish high-tech package, from missiles that lock-on to opponents, to auto-pilot navigation that will help steer your ship for several seconds. Better yet, if the item received seems impractical for the given moment, players can instead turn any item into energy to recharge their shields. Aside from protecting your ship, shields can also be used as extra pushes for boosts when going off large jumps. It's a delicate, high-speed dance to balance these mechanics and seize the lead, especially as you approach the later difficulties of speed classes.
Aside from the abundance of style that this game exhibits, it also features a stellar and thumping soundtrack. Even cooler in my opinion though, is the fact that this game allowed players to incorporate their own music into the game. Creating a playlist in your music library on the PS3, you can select the playlist in the options of the game and behold as your own personal tunes take charge in the races. The audio adapts to every boost, zone change, cliff drop, and more as you zip along at blazing speeds. It's like listening to your favorite tracks in a whole new way and makes for a most meditative gaming experience.
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| Some of the many stylish fictional branding designed for Wipeout. |
For those who missed out on this adrenaline-filled space racer, or who are just longing for a new F-Zero, you're in luck as the Wipeout Omega Collection released just this past June 2017. It includes this excellent Wipeout HD, the expansion Wipeout Fury, and their Vita brother Wipeout 2048, remastered for the PS4. So strap in, grab some groovy beats, and chill out with some thrilling bouts of the most gorgeous racer this side of the galaxy.
Bonus: I downloaded this game back in 2011 and loaded my own preferred playlist of music to jam and race to. So it has been particularly interesting to boot this back up and see what this time capsule of music held. If interested, here are a few of those tunes that still meld quite well:
- Star Fox (SNES) Corneria
- Castle Crashers - Race Around the World
- Ape Escape - Crumbling Castle
- Anything from F-Zero GX (of course)
- Portal 2 - Science is Fun
- The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again
- Jonsi - Sticks and Stones
- Haddaway - What is Love
- Nina Simone - Sinnerman
- Fatboy Slim - Wonderful Night
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