Friday, July 31, 2009

Futuristic Racing gets Fury-ous... The WipEout HD Fury Review

Please note: Keep in mind... this is a review of a downloadable expansion as it will focus on that and not on the original game. Also, photos are courtesy of the NeoGAF Photo Mode Thread.


WipEout HD Fury is the long awaited downloadable expansion to one of the best racing games on the Playstation 3. It nearly took a year, but it is worth the long wait with loads of new content for players to mess with and make the return to the amazing that is WipEout HD. This ten dollar add-on expands the original game to new directions to a point that it is a completely new game than when it came out last year. As if the original game looked jaw-dropping enough, Fury steps it up a notch with more crazy colors and effects. The new tracks, modes, and presentation make Fury arguably one of the best downloadable content to come out ever.

Fury introduces some new tracks from the PSP WipEout games along with new modes Eliminator, Zone Battle, and Detonator. Eliminator makes the game less about the racing and more about the combat of taking out the opposition meaning the action gets way more intense almost like a deathmatch in a first-person shooter. Zone finally gets diversified with Zone Battle and Detonator adding more flavor to the vibrant color changes. Zone Battle is not your typical Zone action adding more racers and you to have to use the boost pads to gain Zone Boost to proceed towards faster speeds while laying out barriers in hopes of the opposition hitting them. What I like especially about this mode is the strategy involved in it where as would you like to throw out as many barriers as you can, save up for maximum zone boosting to win the game quicker, or heal up and shield yourself if low on health. With more players and especially online, Zone Battle becomes very intense like Eliminator and momentum can shift at an instant for players to achieve victory or defeat. Detonator turns WipEout into a shooter as your ship is in a zone firing a gun at mines to score points. Chain bonuses are also added for more points along with bombs, which are self-explanatory. Honestly, while Detonator is a nice diversion from all the racing, it is the weakest of the three new modes in this new expansion, but still fun regardless even though I had more fun in Eliminator and Zone Battle. All these new tracks and modes are played in a new campaign that is as long as the original campaign, but only the new tracks and their reverse versions are played along with the races, speed laps, zone, and tournaments. The new modes are also playable in the old tracks as well as online, which makes the game more crazy with human competition besides the computer A.I. even though they still provide a challenge on harder difficulties and later on in the campaign. Fury's new content is filled with more intense racing and action than the original game had as the new modes do indeed spice up the gameplay in new ways.


WipEout HD remains one of the best looking games on PS3 even as a downloadable title and Fury is proof that it still is and perhaps better-looking than when the game first came out. The new tracks look amazing along with the new zone effects in Zone Battle and Detonator. It totally feels like you're in the future or something like that. Even the presentation in terms of the menus received a facelift to fit along with the Fury theme being a dark tone with black and red colored menus. The menus themselves are also changed for simplicity reasons, which works especially when choosing your craft of choice. As for the sounds, the core sound effects remain the same and new music is added, but expect to hear the same tracks over and over again along with tracks from the original game. So if you have custom soundtracks, take advantage of it in Fury even though I still like the electronica-like soundtrack the game has.

If you still love WipEout HD, you should not hesitate and buy the Fury expansion. For ten dollars, you are getting loads of new content like a new campaign as long as the original game containing the new tracks and modes. Online play gets a resurgence with the new add-on, which is good for the community because Eliminator and Zone Battle are indeed fun with human competition even the computer A.I. is still there to provide a challenge. In addition, Fury makes WipEout HD a way better looking game as if the game looked amazing enough already when it came out last year. All in all, this is arguably the best downloadable content to come out since DLC started in this current generation of consoles, so if you have a PS3, you should not miss out on WipEout HD Fury as the game and DLC costs 30 bucks together as it still feels like a retail game as a download.

Score = 9.5/10

Pros:
  • Fury is filled with hours of new content...
  • New campaign as long as the original campaign
  • New modes spice up the gameplay to new directions with Eliminator, Zone Battle, and Detonator
  • Racing and action still as intense as it was all this time both off and online.
  • Still one of the best looking games on PS3
Cons:
  • Detonator is the weakest of the three new modes, but still a nice diversion
  • Expect to hear the same tracks over and over again unless you have custom soundtracks