What can I say about this game? Well as soon as found out that it was in development for the PlayStation2 I knew I had to get the bloody system.
Wipeout Fusion is a game for gamers not normal humans who do not get the nuances of this take on the genre.
Wipeout is a spiritual descendant of Nintendo 16-bit classic F-Zero made in England by Psygnosis then Sony Europe. It is a racing game that is unlike other racing games that it exists in an immerseive cyberpunk world with a design ethic that places fun over realism. While Wipeout has never been in the arcade it is spiritually and arcade-style racing game.
Stylistically Lucasart’s Episode One Racer and Racer’s Revenge tries to be Wipeout but sorta falls short compared to the real thing.
This time around they had a different design firm make design and graphics to be used in the game instead of The Designers Republic but this other firm Good Technology.
The new company doesn’t drop the ball and the game still has the Wipeout smell and look of the PS1 games. They even have a PDF case study of how the work they did on this game. COOL
Now I am sure you are asking how the game plays.
It is fun. super fun. They tweaked the button layout bit but when I found out you can lock on to ships behind you with your missiles I blessed the changes.
The look and feel of the game is probably the best out there of this genre. I would rather play this than Grand Tourismo 3. It is games like this I am happy that I have a PS2. Sony may not have the most powerful software but if they keep cranking out software titles of this caliber it should be just a matter of time until the Xbox becomes the Jaguar.
It looks like they were finally able to have more than one starburst per ship. That was one little bit of eye candy that the developers always wanted to do on the PS1 games.
The music like always. is top notch techno. I will try to import the soundtrack if it doesn’t come out domestically.
Now should you buy this game?
Did you like the first 3 and F-Zero? Then hell yeah.
If you have never played them you can get Whipout3 on PS1 for around 12 bucks. a bargain considering how good THAT game is.
I give this a 10 perfect. but not for everyone.
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