With Liverpool gone and Omega Collection seemingly not doing amazing numbers, WipEout's future is quite uncertain. While I'm a believer in a new game being made to show off the PS5's speed, the best thing people could do now is assume that WipEout is gone. So it's probably fair to ask, "out of all the WipEout games released, which was the best one?". Here's my top 3:
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3- WipEout 2097
Hating a game only to love it later is a thing that hasn't really happened to me much, and the truth is that the first time I played this game, I hated it. The dark graphics and scary, heavy music coupled with unconventional gameplay made for an experience that kid me did not like at all. It wasn't until I played it again, a few years later, that the atmosphere and physics just "clicked", and suddenly I was racing in an almost trance-like state through dark pathways, nailing every corner, all to the beat of heavy electronic music. WipEout 2097 is one of the best and most influential racing games ever, and what it did to solidifying videogames as a whole as a serious medium can't be overstated.
My only real gripes with the game are that it's not as stylish as WipEout 3 or the later games, and that while the dark tracks are atmospheric, it can be a little dull-looking at times. It's still a game that holds up wonderfully today, though.
WipEout 3 is pretty much perfect for what it's trying to do. Not only does it fix all of the problems I had with 2097 by having a great variety of tracks, they went all out on style with some of the best ship design in the entire series. OST-wise it's also better than 2097 in my opinion, and content-wise with the Special Edition it's the classic WipEout game with the most content, for a PlayStation game it's super impressive how much content they crammed into a disc. In terms of gameplay it also benefits from being the third entry in the same formula, making it super polished with a bit of extra depth and strategy in play thanks to the hyper-thrust, just like 2097 it holds up very well nowadays.
Watching someone nail HD Fury is beautiful. It's like if an arcade racer and a sim racer had a kid, there is simply so much stuff to keep track of gameplay-wise:
It's a huge shame that Liverpool got killed before they could top this on the PS4. I can't even imagine what crazy track ideas they could've come up with or how mind-meltingly insane the game would've looked. But oh well, I'm still keeping up hopes that it someday can be revived.
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3- WipEout 2097
Hating a game only to love it later is a thing that hasn't really happened to me much, and the truth is that the first time I played this game, I hated it. The dark graphics and scary, heavy music coupled with unconventional gameplay made for an experience that kid me did not like at all. It wasn't until I played it again, a few years later, that the atmosphere and physics just "clicked", and suddenly I was racing in an almost trance-like state through dark pathways, nailing every corner, all to the beat of heavy electronic music. WipEout 2097 is one of the best and most influential racing games ever, and what it did to solidifying videogames as a whole as a serious medium can't be overstated.
My only real gripes with the game are that it's not as stylish as WipEout 3 or the later games, and that while the dark tracks are atmospheric, it can be a little dull-looking at times. It's still a game that holds up wonderfully today, though.
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2- WipEout 3
2- WipEout 3
WipEout 3 is pretty much perfect for what it's trying to do. Not only does it fix all of the problems I had with 2097 by having a great variety of tracks, they went all out on style with some of the best ship design in the entire series. OST-wise it's also better than 2097 in my opinion, and content-wise with the Special Edition it's the classic WipEout game with the most content, for a PlayStation game it's super impressive how much content they crammed into a disc. In terms of gameplay it also benefits from being the third entry in the same formula, making it super polished with a bit of extra depth and strategy in play thanks to the hyper-thrust, just like 2097 it holds up very well nowadays.
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1- WipEout HD Fury
WipEout HD felt like a game from the future. The generational jump between Pulse on the PS2 and HD on the PS3 was simply unbelievable; I've never owned a PS3, so I could only play it sporadically, but every time I tried it somehow managed to look better than the previous time. The smooth 60FPS, the depth of the gameplay, the incredible graphics, the stylish UI, the music, it's like gaming ecstacy. Add on the Fury expansion, and now you have the WipEout game with the most content ever, the best ship designs in the series (imo), and this bangin' Main Menu theme:1- WipEout HD Fury
Watching someone nail HD Fury is beautiful. It's like if an arcade racer and a sim racer had a kid, there is simply so much stuff to keep track of gameplay-wise:
It's a huge shame that Liverpool got killed before they could top this on the PS4. I can't even imagine what crazy track ideas they could've come up with or how mind-meltingly insane the game would've looked. But oh well, I'm still keeping up hopes that it someday can be revived.
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So, Era, what's your favorite WipEout game? Are you keeping up hopes that a new one could happen?
