Price: $5.99
Original Release Date: November 21, 1995
Recommended.
There's very little reason to pick up Wipeout from the PS Store, especially with Wipeout Pure already available on the console (at a budget price as well!). Regardless, the original PlayStation Wipeout still manages to entertain, withstanding the test of time. The presentation is certainly not as sleek as that found in Pure, but the easy-to-navigate menus and brisk load times (when disc acceleration is used) are quite appreciated. The game has aged well visually: the framerate is smooth and the art style does a lot to compensate for the lack of polygons. The draw distance might not be what players expect from a modern game, and in a game that moves this quickly, that can be a problem. On both the PSP and PS3, the game still looks quite nice, with the PS3's upscaling doing a miraculous job.
The controls are a bit too loose in this first iteration of the franchise, and hitting walls is unforgiving. However, with a pretty undemanding AI to compete against, the only racer you should really consider is yourself. That's a shame, considering it makes the plethora of weapons rather useless.
Ultimately, the game's true shortcoming is well ... how short it is. With so few tracks and ships to choose from, one can't help but think that $6 is the absolute most you should pay for this trip down memory lane. A solid game -- but there's far better options (at least for PSP owners).
Retro Review: 6.5
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-05-2007 @ 2:17PM
Nick said...
Wipeout doesn't even come close to holding a candle to the much, MUCH superior XL. If this was XL, I'd consider people stupid for not downloading it, for the music alone (hello, Firestarter?), no games outside of that have come close to matching the quality and energy of XL. Wipeout original was sloppy, frustrating and too finicky. XL defined the genre and was, in my opinon, even superior to 3. So if you're thinking it would rock, wait until XL or um...
Reply
11-05-2007 @ 2:17PM
Nick said...
Wipeout doesn't even come close to holding a candle to the much, MUCH superior XL. If this was XL, I'd consider people stupid for not downloading it, for the music alone (hello, Firestarter?), no games outside of that have come close to matching the quality and energy of XL. Wipeout original was sloppy, frustrating and too finicky. XL defined the genre and was, in my opinon, even superior to 3. So if you're thinking it would rock, wait until XL or um...
Reply