Wipeout Omega Collection review

Right, just for a change I figured I would do a review on a video game for a change and since I've not been gaming much lately and with the great news of the release of the HD remastered Wipeout Omega Collection on the PS4, I figured its time to purchase, play and then review them.  So, having played the game(s) for a few days I figured I might aswell put a review up.

So, how do they fair??? Well let's find out....

Well the first thing that is worth mentioning is that no matter what the differences are, each game follows essentially the same format in which the players will pilot anti-gravity ships around futuristic race tracks....and that's it!

But anyway let's take a quick look at the three games (well technically its two as Wipeout Fury is an expansion pack of Wipeout HD).

WIPEOUT 2048 

Well starting off with Wipeout 2048, which is actually supposed to be a prequel to Wipeout HD and is set in the years 2048, 2049 and 2050 and it was originally released on the Playstation Vita console.  In this game, the races are depicted as taking place on the streets as dedicated race tracks have yet to have been built and this helps add a different element to the gameplay, which is rather nice.

The game also has four different types of ships that are speed ships, figher ships, agility ships and prototype ships.  The speed ships tend to be lighter and offer great acceleration and maximum speed for time trials or races.  The agility ships on the other hand offer greater manoeuvaribility and handling, which are great for navigating sharps bends and winding tracks.  And lastly there are the fighter ships, which are slower but offer greater build and are heavily armed for combat races.

In the game during the races, the ships can pick up various weapons by flying over different coloured weapon pads.  The weapons available to players include missiles and canons that can be used to destroy other ships and there are also defensive weapons such as mines, sheilds and speed boosts.

The game also has different modes of play such as one on one races, time trials, tournament races, speed laps and also the zone mode.  The zone mode was an addition to Wipeout HD that is featured here again and it tests the player's limits to navigate a track at increasing speeds, while the track rapidly changes colours as your progress through the zones.

As for the medal system in Wipeout 2048 it is also a little different as 1st, 2nd and 3rd place still applies but this time round you don't get gold, silver or bronze, you either get a pass for coming in anything from 5th place to 2nd place or for 1st place you get an elite pass.  The points and awards system however is pretty much the same as the more points you are awarded it will enable for more advanced ships to be made available.  

WIPEOUT HD & FURY 

As Wipeout Fury is an expansion pack of Wipeout HD, I figured I might as well put them together in this review.  

Wipeout HD features five racing modes, which include a standard single race tournament in which the player will race against other opponents in order to try and gain a gold medal but silver and bronze medals are also awarded for 2nd and 3rd place.  Tournament mode consists of four single races in each tournament and the player who earns the most points during the tournament will win.  Time trials and speed laps involve the player trying to get the fastest time on a track in either a single lap or several laps.  And finally there is the Zone mode, which is again the same as the mode in Wipeout 2048, which is basically a survival mode where a player's ship accelerates to extreme speeds.

Similar to Wipeout 2048 (and Fury also) each ship has its own built-in energy shield, which absorbs damage sustained during a race although if the shield is depleted then the ship will be destroyed.  Energy however can also be replenished by absorbing pick ups as the ship flies around the track, which can restore or save the ship from being destroyed although of course players will take damage from other ships in combat races.

Another addition to the game is of course the air breaks, which is a staple of all the Wipeout games and they are used to manoeuvre around corners at high speeds.  And there is also the auto-pilot pick-up that lasts only a few seconds but does allow to pilot the ship smoothly for a brief time.  And lastly there is the barrel roll move, which allows your ship to do a quick spin in mid-air but is only effective when the ship ramps off in the air and also using reduces your ship's shield, so its not always advisable to use it.  

As for Wipeout Fury, it added 8 new tracks, 13 new ship models and three new game modes, which are the eliminator, zone battle and detonator. The Eliminator mode simply involves trying to destroy other opponents during races to gain points, whereas the Zone battle mode is a multiplayer version of the original Zone mode.  And lastly the detonator mode is where a player scores points by shooting mines that are scattered throughout the racetrack.

GRAPHICS 

As for all three games graphics, well they are pretty uniform looking overall and frankly their PS4 remaster looks absolutely stunning as the game tracks are richly detailed and the ships all look great with their own unique designs.  And there is little to separate them although Wipeout 2048 does offer some slight changes in its design due to the setting of the tracks being on the streets and not on specially engineered racetracks as is the case in Wipeout HD and Fury.  Overall though, regardless any differences, the Wipeout Omega Collection looks friggin awesome.

MUSIC

As for the music well it features the usual mix of techo tracks and electronica, which are actually not too bad however overall the soundtrack does have a rather lacklustre feel to it, as it does suffer from a lack of any killer tracks.  Although the soundtrack does still feature some notable techno artists such as The Chemical Brothers, who provides a good track "Boys Noize" and The Prodigy, who also provides one of the soundtrack's more standout tunes "Invaders must die".  Other good tracks also include Emika's "Double Edge" and DJ Kentaro's "North, South, East, West".  However despite these strong tracks, you still get the feel that while its a pretty decent soundtrack it could still be better.  

FLAWS

As for flaws....well the collection overall is pretty good but I would have to say there only one or two snags with them overall.


And to kick off one of the problems I had with the games was to do with a rather inconsistent level of difficulty as Wipeout 2048 is notably trickier that either Wipeout HD or Fury, although this may have something to do with maybe the level of difficulty getting tougher in the latter two games in the later events.  However in Wipeout 2048, I was finding myself frequently in races failing to even get a 2nd or 3rd place (or maybe I'm just a crap racer!) but it was much easier to do in the other two games, although the medal system is a bit different since you only get a pass or an elite pass for 1st place. 

Another issue I had was to do with Wipeout 2048 and how remarkably stingy they are at releasing the number of ships available.  I mean there are tonnes of them but as you win events it is really stingy in terms of the ships you can access and its probably only a couple to start off with and you must need to win alot more points or get a bunch of elite passes before you can access the really good ships.  So, for the most part you are stuck looking at most of the ships greyed out with the lock symbol on them, which is a real pain in the ass, yet you have fuller access to the other different types of ship available in the other two games.  Not a fair shake to be honest, shame on you Wipeout 2048!!  

I also felt that another issue I had was to do with the whole Zone mode feature of the three games as the point of it as I mentioned already was to survive the track as the speeds getting faster and faster, however as does this you are subjected to some strong psychedelic colours, which can be very distracting to look at.  In fact it was said during testing that the Zone mode's colour and visuals had to be toned down as it failed epilepsy testing and being someone with epilepsy myself its easy to see why!! (Although I have never suffered from any game-induced seizures myself).  So, basically I feel if there is any mode in the game that could be expendable then it would be the Zone mode.

In fact...I found the perfect way to play the Zone mode tracks without getting a headache or risk any potential seizures (well not sure about the last bit) and that way is this....turn down the colour on your TV to make it black and white!  Yep, that's the best way to deal with this problem if you are finding the Zone mode colours are a bit overkill and let's face it they are! 

You could also argue that quite a few of the tracks have a very samey feel to them in their design, so when you are racing around them it could easily be just the same track as the last one with only the odd bit of visual reshuffling here and there!  In fact Wipeout 2048 offered some nice differences in its visuals by utilising the street racing idea rather than the custom built, high-tech race courses of the future games.

Anyway that's it for the flaws (well for now in case I think of anymore!).

SUM UP

So in summary, Wipeout Omega Collection is a great buy for anyone, who is a Wipeout fan and its great too see the series get its visual update and release on the PS4 and for £30 you are certainly getting your money's worth here with three games to choose from.  The games are not short on race-tracks, ships, features or indeed on stunning visuals even though it does have one or two flaws and the soundtrack could have been alot than it is.

However putting that all aside, Wipeout Omega Collection is an essential purchase if you are a fan of the Wipeout series and its a great welcome back for the franchise to the PS4.

Right, so that's it for now and I will be back soon with maybe another review just before the end of the month.

So, till the next one, its bye for now!