After problems nabbing a copy last week, I finally picked up WipEout Pulse this afternoon. I’m having a blast playing it and, though I’m only about two hours in, I think it’s safe to say that any fan of WipEout Pure will love Pulse.
The gameplay remains largely the same as in previous installments. For those unfamiliar with the series, think of WipEout as the illegitimate child of F-Zero and Mario Kart – futuristic racing blended with intense combat elements. Pulse controls just as well on the PSP as Pure did, and it’s been given a minor yet noticeable graphical tweak. The soundtrack contains much of the same electronica stylings of Pure, which fits the franchise well. But if you’re not familiar with any of the licensed artists, the music will blend together and you’ll unconsciously drown it out to pay attention to some necessary audio cues that signal when an opponent is firing at you.
The biggest change I’ve noticed so far is a revamped career mode. Rather than just selecting an event from a predetermined list, Pulse adopts a grid-based system similar to that of Ridge Racer 6. As you complete events (single races, time trials, speed laps, zone modes, etc.), you’ll earn credits towards unlocking new events on the grid. It offers far more variety than Pure, and it has a flexible difficulty curve that you’ll need to take advantage of while you memorize the track layouts.
The game’s online component is well-implemented. Infrastructure mode works nicely, and you can access the official WipEout Pulse website directly from the PSP’s browser, which launches from within the game. Once there, you can download wallpapers for your PSP, content packs containing new tracks and vehicles, and new skins for your ships. Visiting WipEout-Game.com let’s you design your own ship skins which become linked to your PlayStation Network account for download to the game later. You can also upload your profile to see where you rank on world-wide leaderboards.
One of the features I’ve been unexpectedly spending a lot of time with (as you can see in this post) is the screenshot tool. After you finish an event, the game will replay your race. At any time during the replay, you can hit the select button to freeze the frame and turn on the camera mode. You can then use the analog stick to rotate the camera and take a picture of your ship. The picture gets saved as a jpeg file on your memory stick, which you can then transfer to your computer. I’ve uploaded a few of the screenshots I’ve taken to flickr. Take a look if you’re interested.
I can already tell I’ll be spending a great deal of time with this game, just as I did with Pure. My only immediate concern is that, unlike Pure, Pulse’s downloadable content will probably not be free. Although a PR e-mail I received from Sony states that content is already available to download on the PlayStation PC store, a quick look over there turns up nothing. I think the first DLC pack is already available in Europe for around $7, which is a bit ridiculous. Unfortunately, I may be willing to pay that much for more WipEout tracks.
Posted by brianfishman 
