Go Speed Racer! (Wipeout 3 (PS))

Member Name: MykReeve

Product:	Wipeout 3 (PS)
Date:	10/12/00 (54 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great music, superb presentation, fast gameplay, quick to load, tons of options

Disadvantages: Slow to save/load data

In a genre of gaming that is increasingly striving for realism, both in terms of control and appearance, the Wipeout series has always provided a refreshing change. Set in the future, the Wipeout games neatly circumvent the drive for realism, and involve you piloting hovering spacecraft over fast-paced, graphically rich tracks. Each new game in the series has added additional, well-implemented features, and Wipeout 3 is no exception.

One of the main selling features of the Wipeout series of games has always been the thumping techno music that's accompanied it, and Wipeout 3 is no exception in this regard, featuring contributions by musicians including DJ Sasha, the Chemical Brothers, the Propellerheads, Orbital, Underworld and Paul Van Dyk.

Certainly one of the main advantages Wipeout 3 has over the earlier games in the series, is the inclusion of a two-player gaming mode. The second game in the series, Wipeout 2097, did include this feature, but required you to have two consoles, two copies of the game, and two televisions, whereas Wipeout 3 can be played with two players on a single system, splitting the screen either horizontally or vertically.

When you play the game, you have a limited period of time in which to complete the races. Extra time is granted when you pass through checkpoints dotted around the tracks. Also, as you travel round the track, you pass over tiles on the track, which either speed you up, or give you power-ups. The power-ups can be divided into two categories – offensive and defensive. Offensive power-ups include missiles, rockets and mines. Defensive power-ups include an auto-pilot, and a cloaking device. As well as basically accelerating your way round the track, you have access to hyperthrust – which provides a massive speed boost at a cost to your ship's shield energy. Shield energy is also depleted by collisions, and can only be restored by passing through the pit lane, or by using the energy drain
power-up on an opponent. All of the ships also come equipped with left and right airbrakes, making those sharp corners a lot easier to deal with!

There are several gaming modes to choose between in Wipeout 3.

The first gaming mode is the "single race" mode. This allows you to race against computer-controlled opponents, on a single track. When you first start the game, you can only choose between three classes of race – Vector, Venom and Rapier. The class that you select determines how well your opponents drive, and the length of the race. By completing these three racing classes, you unlock a fourth class – Phantom. After selecting class, you have to select the track that you wish to race on. When you first start, you can only choose from four tracks, but by winning races, you can unlock a further four. After selecting the track, you have to choose which team you want to race for. This determines the attributes of your craft – which can vary from sluggish, heavily shielded ships, through to incredibly fast, but unresponsive ships. As with the track choice, there are only four teams available when you first start the game, but by winning races, you can unlock a further four.

The second gaming mode is "time trial". In this mode, there are no power-ups, checkpoints or enemy craft – the challenge is just to get through the track as quickly as possible. A "ghost" ship will fly alongside you, allowing you to see the path of your previous best race. The path of your ship on a time trial race can be saved to a memory card block, and used as a source for the "ghost ship" data.

The third gaming mode is the "challenge" mode. There are several different types of challenges in Wipeout 3; the race challenge – where the aim is simply to come first; the time challenge – where you have to complete tracks in a certain period of time; and the weapon challenge – where you have to eliminate your opponents! By
completing these three challenges, a fourth – the combo challenge – is unlocked. The combo challenge requires you to win, beat the clock, and eliminate a certain number of your opponents.

The fourth gaming mode is "eliminator". In this mode, you set yourself a target score, and then try to beat your opponents to it. Points are awarded for both eliminating opponents, and completing laps. Any eliminated craft start again from the starting line, and the pit lane is deactivated, so the only way to recharge your shields is with the "energy drain" power-up.

The fifth gaming mode is "tournament", in which you race for points. The higher your final position is in each race, the more points you receive. The racer with the most points at the end of the four tracks in the tournament wins.

Finally, the sixth gaming mode, "prototypes", only becomes available once you have completed all of the track/team combinations in a racing class in the "single race" mode. Basically, this allows you to try out tracks that were designed for the game but never implemented. As with the single race mode, you can play the prototype tracks at any class, and as any of the teams. The graphics on the prototype tracks are notably spartan, but the race designs are just as good as those in the rest of the game.

The main thing I have been impressed by in Wipeout 3 was just how good the game's presentation is. The Designers Republic are responsible for the graphic design of the game, which is stunningly good throughout – from the simple but elegant menu system to the fake advertisements on billboards around the tracks.

The game is also very quick to load, which is a blessed relief from a lot of other driving games on the Playstation – waiting to race in "V Rally" and "Micro Machines" are definitely among the most painfully tedious experiences I've had in console gaming. The game's control system is also excellent, and the game is impress
ively responsive. Also, the game has retained the main advantage Wipeout 2097 had over the original – scraping the sides of the track does not bring your craft to a complete stand-still, but instead results a screeching noise, and a shower of sparks!

The game keeps track of your best times for all of the class/track combinations in "single player" mode, and for all of the tracks in "time trial" mode, and this data can be stored on a memory card. The game can also store which races you have been awarded a gold, silver or bronze medal for in "single player" mode. The only problem with this is that you have to remember to go into the options menu and save the data – it isn't saved automatically after each race, as in other games. I also found that loading and saving this data seemed to take an inordinately long period of time, but perhaps it just seemed that way because every other aspect of the game is so fast!

Overall, Wipeout 3 is one of the best racing games I've played on the Playstation. It offers a wide range of features, it's an impressive game to look at, it's responsive, it's very fast, and a lot of fun! I picked up an ex-rental copy of the game from my local Blockbuster Video for £4.99, which is certainly one of my best purchases of the year!

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