I have been a fan of Wipeout series since the original Playstation era. If you are not familiar with the game, it’s basically a racing game, using futuristic hovering machines. While you are racing, you can pick up power-up to blast onto your opponents, giving you some advantages. What makes this game different from other racing games is the control. Not controller control but in terms of the aircraft’s movement. This is one game where you really need to understand the course before you can ace on it. How fast or how slow you turn during corners is the key to this game.

Wipeout Pure still retain all the goodness from the previous Wipeout, which makes it a very good thing. The mechanism of this game has probably reached it’s peak and an ‘overhaul’ would probably destroy the game. Of course the developers made some tweaking to balance out the game. As compared to WipeoutXL, this is what I have noticed:

• One hit kill power-up became one hit ‘more damage’ instead
• Electro bolt now gives random effect upon hit, no more homing
• Missiles can’t be fired backwards
• Auto-Pilot makes you go “WTF!? I can do better than that!”
• Pit-stop lane has been removed, power-ups can be consumed to increase life.
• Doing barrel-roll in midair will give extra boost upon landing

I might have left out some stuff but you get the picture, more or less. Anyway let’s move away from comparing and talk about the game by itself. For one thing, this is a pretty gorgeous game for a PSP. Graphics is great and it even has some bloom effect as you are about to exit a tunnel. That is something which I don’t see in any of the PSP games I have played so far. The only problem is the framerate, which can dip pretty low during intense moments. It can hurt sometimes especially when you have been so used to the smooth speed from WipeoutXL.

Control wise I have to say it’s good and responsive. This is a great plus as Wipeout requires accurate timing especially during corners. Half the time I ended up banging the wall because I was concentrating too much on other vehicles rather than on the track. As I have mentioned, you really need to know the tracks before you can dominate them.

There are a lot of unlock-able contents for Wipeout Pure, from vehicles to new tracks. Some can be unlocked by winning some medals while others can be downloaded from the internet. This is a pretty old game (released back in 2005) so I’m not really sure if those contents can still be downloaded.

I was lucky enough to pick this game up, considering it has been 2 years since its released. Playing this game really reminds me of the good ol’ days of WipeoutXL and it has become one of my favourite games for the PSP. Newcomers might not feel anything special but old fans will definitely find this game right at home. It a portable Wipeout, what more can I say?

Picture Source : Gamespot