It took me awhile write this up, but here it is. In my eyes, Wipeout HD is the ideal racer and one of the best deals on the PlayStation Network. It’s fast paced, action packed and a real looker of game. It rewards precision and risk taking while still offering a bit chance to turn the race around. It’s the kind of racing mixture which I gravitate towards. Not to mention the fact that you can just hold acceleration throughout the entire track and use air braking to take corners. So it’s not too surprising to know that I was stoked for the Fury expansion pack. More Wipeout HD is always a plus. Even if it means dozens and dozens of retries out of frustration.
New tracks, new ship variants and new game modes are to be expected out of an expansion. No doubt about it, the new tracks and vehicles are gorgeous with the “Fury” aesthetic. But I can’t say I was fond of all the game modes. Both “Eliminator” and “Zone Battle” modes are the very definition of crapshoot. There’s virtually no skill involved; some tries are a breeze while another sees me eating “Zone shields” left, right and center. I could lay some of the blame on the same “Elite” difficulty which made the original campaign’s single races random like this, but these game modes exacerbate the problem ten fold. As for “Detonator” and its mine elimination? It’s a fair mode which I can tolerate when it doesn’t require obscene scores for “Elite” gold medals.
Game mode gripes aside, there were a few niggling issues which bothered me as well. While it’s still 1080p, the frame rate drops and screen tears were more prevalent in this expansion. And while I did find the soundtrack to be solid overall, there was one cringe worthy song that made me want to tears my ears off. It’s truly the worst.
All in all, for $9.99 I got more Wipeout HD. It may not be perfect and it will definitely not bring in new players, but for that low price? The issues I mentioned are easily overlooked. I guess you could also not play on “Elite” difficulty to mitigate the problem, but that’s your prerogative. Just make sure you pick this expansion up if you’re a fan.
Verdict:
For Fans Only
Check the Ratings Guide
For more information on Wipeout HD: Fury, check out the PlayStation.Blog post.
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