Wipeout Pure PSP review

Lucky for those already lucky PSP owners out there, Wipeout Pure is the best incarnation of the series yet; boasting a mix of beautifully carved old and new tracks, some ultimately sexy ships and a pace to put a stimulant addict in Thrust SSC to shame.

The Wipeout franchise has been around for a long time now. Not many people are aware of it, but those who are generally worship the ground it floats on. And so they should, it may not be most innovative game in the genre any more, but I'll be damned if it isn't the originator and a wholly determined series. In the duration of videogames being a widely respected form of media, this is one title that never stops trying to impress.

What's it all WipeOut.

The gameplay modes consist of Single Race, Tournament, Time Trial, Zone and Free Play. The Tournament mode sees you progressing through WOP's colossal selection of tracks, each with a faster pace and deadlier A.I than that which precedes it. However, moving forward in the game is a harder task than you would think. WOP throws you in at the deep end, then expects you to perform on the most intricate of tracks. I found myself playing the Free Play mode more than the tournaments because it seemed essential to know every track like the back of your hand before you even contemplate taking on the bulk of the game. It's debatable whether this is just a ploy to lengthen the fun or just the developer having a high-opinion of its consumers.

And the latter seems the most likely. Although WOP is a hugely rewarding game – perfect laps, desecrating your opposition seconds before the finish line, all make you feel warm inside – to fail in the game is to lose all love of life. Simple mistakes can see the loss of a race, and it's pressure such as that that keeps you going. It's remarkable just how addictive this game is, and although you might lose a few hairs during the experience, you'll be glad to collect them up and make a WOP Ship replica in honour of your love and respect for its stamina and raw ability to antagonise.

And many-a ship does this game have, eight to be precise, each varying in Speed, Shield, Thrust and Handling to accommodate for all ranges of gamer. Of course, choosing which type you'd prefer is a difficult game in itself. Trial and error is your friend during the first few hours of WOP, you can't change ship mid-tournament, but it is possible if you reload. It's preferable to stick to one ship throughout the game though, but for the learning process, it's nice to try each one out.

The overall balance of WOP is an astonishing achievement alone. Like very little titles of the genre, it manages to hold not only a wide variety of ships, but also a collection of weaponry that never renders the game unstable in terms of player advantage. Naturally, the fire-power comes in all shapes and sizes; spanning simple rockets to catastrophic Quakes and Disruption Bolts. Some are obviously of greater effect, but each has distinct utility during play.

You don't always have to use the weapons in the customary way, though. Once an item is picked up, it can be absorbed into your ship to replenish your energy. Now although this would seem to make you almost indestructible, it's easily forgotten in the heat of the moment. Plus, if you're using your power-ups to stay alive, you've got less of a chance of destroying your opponents.

Pure Beauty

Graphically, WOP is yet again far from a let down. As the speed increases and you progress further through the game, the rendering capabilities of the PSP really do flaunt themselves. The ships and terrain display some jagged edges, but considering just how fast the game gets without an iota of slowdown, you'll be quick to forgive and forget.

The particle effects produced by explosions and certain weapons in general are a real jaw-dropping experience. StudioL iverpool has taken Sony's hardware and squeezed every ounce of power it can possible muster, then delivered it with unparalleled efficiency and awe.

The awe extends as far as the GUI as well; in the same vein as the game itself, the user interface looks very futuristic and streamline, and with a little help from some downloadable content, the entire presentation outside of gameplay can be skinned to your liking.

At the Helm

The constant smooth frame rate adds nothing but glee to the control system and fluidity of play. Upon your successful coherence of the controls, you'll be winging around corners and overtaking opponents with the grace of a thousand ballet dancers, and although it can all get a little frenetic at times, that liquid motion is rarely absent.

The actual layout of the controls is deserving of applaud; besides X, the square and circle buttons will be the most used, and the PSP itself makes for simple transition between either. The triangle button is obviously a little hard to depress during play without mashing the others, but considering its purpose is only to temporarily look behind you, it'll pose little discomfort as the last thing on your mind when you're tearing round a bend at 500k/kph is looking to see who's shooting you up the arse.

The joystick's use – or lack of – is possibly the only negative side of WOP's controls. It's a nice idea for those people who start to get blisters from excessive use of a D-pad, but in practice it's just not suitable for the style of game. WOP throws some pretty tough corners at you, and attempting to navigate them without denting your chassis is tough. The joystick gives you too slow-a directional change, and that just doesn't cut the mustard.

Sound of Speed?

The downright mind-blowing speed of WOP needs to have a good music selection to drown out the sounds of your ship colliding with the side barriers, and no matter how hard you hit, it delivers.

WOP contains a massive selection of dance music that not only prevents the audio realisation of your initial failure, but boosts your morale in a strange energizing way. Call me pretentious, but, like its predecessors, WOP has an outstanding soundtrack that does nothing less than make the game that much more enjoyable to play.

I'm genuinely struggling to overcome just how amazing WOP really is. To cram top-notch graphics, an enviably smooth control system, a soundtrack that would stand alone as a CD release and raw, unadulterated fun into a handheld game is beyond my comprehension. From the previous WipeOuts, Studio Liverpool has taken the best and the worst, added a few new bits and baked one hell of an experience.

If you own a PSP and this title isn't in your selection, I suggest you start to seriously consider the error of your ways, because in a battle of the games, you'll never stop playing this one.