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GAME:
The celebrated Wipeout
series is now portable in Sony’s Wipeout Pure for the PSP
handheld system. The racer pits you against up to 8 opponents on the
racing circuit of the future in an all-out battle for domination
through multiple modes.
With 16 base tracks and 8
starting racers, Wipeout Pure is a huge game to explore, and
one of the most intriguing aspects of the game is how it eases you
into the faster races through a series of slow tracks.
The 4 main game modes of
play are Single Race, Tournament, Time Trial and Zone…and
I’m sure you can figure out the concept behind Single Race and
Zone fairly easily.
Tournament mode
is the bread and butter of the game, offering you a good amount of
unlockable content for winning a series of races against computer
opponents. As you progress, you unlock faster modes of play, while Zone
play is a solo race against your best # of laps. The more zones you
pass through, the faster and more difficult it becomes.
In the game, you have the
ability to power slide and to pick up items that are used as either
weapons, enhancements or as energy. The strategy of the race is to
slow down your opponents through weapons, to boost your own
performance with energy (press Circle when you have an item) or
speed increases.
And if the deep single
player mode was not enough to get you excited, Wipeout Pure
has one of most impressive multiplayer mode for a handheld system to
date…giving you the option of wireless LAN play with up to 7
friends, and all the great options of the single player game.
Not only this, but the
game has downloadable content available such as new tracks and new
vehicles for an even richer game experience.
Wipeout Pure
is definitely the most complete and impressive handheld racer ever
designed, and it’s a lot of fun to boot.
TECHNOLOGY:
Graphically, I would have
to count Wipeout Pure as the most impressive PSP title of the
launch, with some outstanding 3D landscapes as well as the nicely
designed models themselves. Everything runs at a smooth 30 fps or
so, even with a full complement of competitors on the track.
Additionally, the
soundtrack for the game is aesthetically pleasing…and consists of
some mellow techno tracks enhanced by the sound effects of the game.
The volume is at reasonable level, which is more than you can say of
most of the UMD movie titles thus far.
Unfortunately Wipeout
doesn’t utilize the wireless access as much as it really could,
but LAN play is terrific all the same…and the ability to download
new content (2 updates to date) makes this game experience
priceless.
OVERALL:
Terrific job from the
people at Sony and Studio Liverpool, who have both made an
excellent handheld product out of the Wipeout series…and
give you one of the best reasons to purchase the unit thus far. The
single player mode is deep and highly intuitive, and the multiplayer
is adequately proportioned to bring you a fairly light but addictive
game experience.
Game: A- (Racer…OF THE
FUTURE!)
Technology: A
(Handheld…OF THE FUTURE!)
Overall: A-
(FUTURE…ahem…good stuff)
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