Going over a speed boost panel it's as if I can feel the speed trying to peel the skin off my face. Approaching the sound barrier causes my vision to blur, making the rave-inspired pattern of the track blend into a grayish soup. I must maintain a decently long eye-lead time because the turns that seem so far off in the distance are actually only half a second away. Blinking? I can blink when I cross the finish li--BOOM!!! …start>down>restart race> yes.
It's not the intense combat, or wonderful graphics, or wild track designs, or insane speed, or the hypnotic electronica soundtrack that makes WipEout HD good enough to make Capt. Falcon crap his pants. It's the combination of those things all running in 1080p gorgeousness at 60 frames per second. Puns and irony aside, the game was delayed because it failed epilepsy testing. By now it's basically scientific fact, but the game is so fast and full of bright lights it causes seizures. If you were travelling around the track at meager 100km/h you wouldn't notice, but when you start nearing the 750km/h-mark a strobe effect is created that's so beautiful it causes you to froth at the mouth. There have been multi-billion dollar studies that proved it. It's like the game is trying to ignite a bomb full of awesome inside your brains. That's right, WipEout HD is a time bomb and it's set to blow. your. mind!
I'm gonna digress a bit here, but WipEout HD is a great example of why file size limitation on downloadable games should have never existed. You see, WipEout HD isn't an entirely new game. It actually takes all the best tracks from the PSP games (which both borrowed from previous WipEout titles) and polishes the experience to the point of putting a lot of this generation's racing games (especially combat racing games) to shame. Because the game is essentially a director's cut - a purer version comprised of the best aspects of previous incarnations - it may have been hard to justify giving it a full blu-ray release. Of course the game is so good that it should have a disc release, but I'd imagine Sony initially having a hard time greenlighting the mass production of a game that, on paper, is essentially a rehash sold for $20.
Fortunately for us it's so much more than that, though. Coming from a skeptic that didn't think they'd be able to top Pure or Pulse, the staff at Studio Liverpool has really outdone themselves with WipEout HD. In fact, I'd argue that a testament to Studio Liverpool's skill is that even without anything exceptionally new, they still managed to make WipEout HD amazing... And it's dirt cheap.
There are five game modes which should be familiar to anyone who's played a previous game - Single Race, Tournament, Time Trail, Speed Lap, and Zone. The only mode that isn't straightforward is Zone, where the vehicle automatically and constantly accelerates towards destruction as you hang on for dear life. It's a basic premise, but delivered with teeth-grinding intensity.
In much the same way as Rez, WipEout's music does an insanely good job of keeping you in its death grip. Composed of an assortment of techno, trance, and electronica from some major players in their respective scenes (Stanton Warriors, KraftWerk, DJ Fresh, the list goes on), you almost can't help but be drawn into the game further by its soundtrack. You'll swear every song was created with the sole intention of conjuring thoughts of speed and going fast. You may not have this type of music on your iPod, but I think the reason it works so well is that it's very much in the peripheral of your mind while you play since you'll be focusing all of your attention on the race and what you're seeing... Kind of like quasi-subliminal messaging; a song's rhythm can stick in your head even without you actively listening to it (go to the www.WipEout HD.com to get a taste). Of course, if you absolutely loathe the game's full 5.1 soundtrack, WipEout HD is one of the first titles that supports custom soundtracks on the PS3.
WipEout HD isn't perfect - no really, it's not. It has actually fallen victim to a few technical issues causing it to crash for a number of users (e.g. online play would crash if you had over 50 people on your friends list). I was lucky enough to have randomly avoided such problems, but others were not. A recently released patch has addressed the problems, though, so it would seem all's well that ends well, which is good, because the 8-player online is where the game will get a lot of its longevity (that and almost 40 trophies to collect). Oh, and speaking of online, WipEout HD has leader boards in a similar fashion to GT5p; after a race you can switch over to see how well your time compares to the rest of the world. Cool!
At this point, WipEout is a known quantity; those that have grown up loving it, will undoubtedly love WipEout HD. Those new to the franchise might find the learning curve a tad difficult, but WipEout HD is the perfect place to start playing the franchise - not only is it by far the best looking and sounding, but it also contains over a decade's worth of evolution and polish. You'll have a hard time finding an arcade or combat racer that is anywhere close to being able to catch up to WipEout HD and when you factor in the price WipEout HD is in a league of its own.
