The Wipeout games are about going really really fast in a multitude of anti gravity ships across a variety of ridiculous tracks. Unfortunately there hasn’t been a new one in quite a few years but with the release of The Omega collection we can get our fix of supersonic racing with modern ports of Wipeout HD, Wipeout Fury and Wipeout 2048.
The Wipeout games are in my opinion utterly ridiculous. To allow you to get straight in the cockpit of ships capable of speeds far beyond understanding with nary a license challenge in sight is insane and extremely irresponsible.
This is the case with the games on offer here as you are thrown straight into racing with very little explanation on what to do and how to control your controllable bullet. This isn’t a massive problem if you’re someone who’s used to playing but could be a bit of a nightmare if you’re not used to utilising airbrakes and taking corners at insane speeds without hesitation. Although not a problem in itself, as playing a game and gradually getting better all on your own is always an exciting prospect, I do feel that this could affect the amount of fun someone completely new to the series could have.
Graphically the look is fantastic, bringing the most eyes watering futuristic cityscape in recent memory with ships blazing through the tracks at Mach 1 and backdrops with sublime level of intricate detail. Of course like all super speed games set in the future there are times when your eyes will have some difficulty working out where exactly the track is and what you should be avoiding but once you’ve played a few tracks you start to see a pattern of when and how tracks move and bend and these initial issues start to fade away.
Music wise the soundtrack is a solid trip into electronica boasting music that will keep you alert as you careen like a maniac. Once you get into to the swing of things it blends seamlessly into your own movements, creating a force that pushes you to go faster as the music itself picks up. Honestly it’s a great soundtrack but when compared to the originals originality does seem to be slightly lacking. The same can be said about the sound effects themselves which in my opinion have become far too synthy and fluid against the screechy industrial sounds of the original for PS1, even though you’re racing zero gravity rocket ships you should still hear the screech of metal on metal when two ships collide and unfortunately that just isn’t here.
With three games comes a vast wealth of content and you’ll find a lot in Omega to keep you coming back again and again. There are slight differences in between the games but you will start finding that they blend into one which isn’t exactly a bad thing as more stupid fast racing is always a plus. For me I did find more fun in Wipeout 2048 which seemed to have wider tracks which were slightly more forgiving if you made a slight miscalculation of trajectory, and then unforgiving once I had climbed my way into the final league.
Difficulty like that is one of the things that keeps it so interesting. I completely destroyed my first races with minimal knowledge and slow reactions, but once I got into the later levels I found myself leant fully forward teeth clenched while I restarted races over and over trying to get the perfect corner or beat the tracks hi score. Addictiveness like that is rare for me in games and to have it in a game I hadn’t played since the PS1 is a testament to just how fun Omega is.
For me it’s a little disheartening when you get a remake instead of a brand new game but in this case I can forgive that as I got three games for the cost of less than one and I’m now fully indoctrinated into the world of Zero G racing.
Author: Hal, Plymouth store
