Sony’s futuristic racing game is remastered for the PS4, with a new compilation that proves WipEout is still a PlayStation classic.
Ask any British gamer about the WipEout series and they’re likely to respond enthusiastically about one of the most iconic PlayStation brands ever produced. As long as they’re old enough to remember, they’ll probably describe it as one of the titles that sold the PS1 – in terms of not just its technical ability but also its dance culture credibility.
In terms of sheer quantity the franchise has always sold more copies in America, but it never seems to have had anything like the impact as it did in Europe. Which is no doubt why there hasn’t been a proper home console retail release since 2002. Sony has never entirely forgotten about the franchise though, and this new compilation includes remastered versions of both WipEout HD Fury and WipEout 2048.
Like other recent Sony remasters – games such as PaRappa The Rapper and LocoRoco – the Omega Collection has been put together with a great deal of care, and obvious love for the original games. But as with those titles it’s unclear whether there are any current plans to create a brand-new sequel, or if that depends on the success of the remaster. It’s probably the latter, so if you’ve never played WipEout before this is the perfect chance to try out what is arguably the best the series has ever been.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzqUqrf2eFk
Although we consider WipEout HD Fury to be the best of the franchise, we can imagine some fans were probably hoping that this would be a remaster of the original PS1 games. It’s not that though, and instead the ultimate evolution of what started out in 2008 as a PlayStation 3 game called WipEout HD. Although that itself was an enhanced remaster of PSP games WipEout Pure and WipEout Pulse, incorporating all their tracks and adding in new content around them. The Fury expansion pack was released a year later and further transformed the game with new modes and tracks.
Absolved of the need for gimmicky new features WipEout HD is basically the sequel you always imagined way back in 1995. The basics are exactly the same as always, as you race your futuristic hovercraft around a series of neon-coloured race tracks while listening to painfully hip dance music. WipEout has always been a punishingly hard game, but to aid new players there’s now a driving assist which helps to nudge you away from corners and get used to the frictionless handling (well, they are anti-gravity cars).
In terms of multiplayer the game has both a two-player split screen mode and eight-player online, just like the originals. It’s a good remaster too, with notably improved textures and lighting, plus solid 60 frames per second gameplay. There’s even 4K support on PS4 Pro. The soundtrack is mostly new though, and the difficultly in re-licensing all the different tracks is probably why there’s never been a straight remaster of the original.
With 26 tracks (plus reversed versions of each), 46 different ships, and nine game modes, the Omega Collection certainly can’t be faulted for the volume of content. Apart from the soundtrack there’s very little that’s actually new, but then Sony shut down the original Liverpudlian developer and it’s not clear who’d take their reigns for a new game.
As it stands the last new game in the series is 2012’s PS Vita launch title WipEout 2048. Rather than being treated as a separate game it’s integrated in with all the rest of the tracks, just with an option to play them in HD or 2048 mode. All three career modes, for each of the thee releases, are also available separately.
2048 was set in the early days of the sports’ fictional history, so is the least sci-fi of them all, which adds a bit more variety to the backdrops. Originally it never ran at 60fps, and so despite being the newer game it benefits the most from the remaster and being released from the confines of the PS Vita.
If you’ve played both games before there’s technically very little new here. But thanks to the remaster WipEout has never looked or handled as well as this. The understandable problem for Sony is that the series has a passionate group of fans, but they’ve never been numerous enough to justify a more expensive modern sequel. In that sense the Omega Collection may represent the last best chance for WipEout to take its rightful place again, as one of Sony’s most important franchises.
WipEout Omega Collection
In Short: A very welcome return for Sony’s classic future racer, and while it doesn’t represent anything new it does show the WipEout series at its very best.
Pros: Excellent remaster, with pitch perfect presentation and ultra smooth graphics. Tons of tracks and modes, including online and split-screen. Driving assist helps mitigate high difficulty.
Cons: Very little new content, and everything from WipEout HD Fury is itself recycled and reconstituted from even earlier games. Perhaps a touch too expensive.
Score: 8/10
Formats: PlayStation 4
Price: £29.99
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Developer: Clever Beans, EPOS Games Studios, and Studio Liverpool
Release Date: 7th June 2017
Age Rating: 7
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