Wipeout (video game)

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Wipeout (also WipEout) is a racing game developed and published by Psygnosis, which was released in 1995 for the Sony PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and PCs running MS-DOS.

Set in the year 2052, players compete the F3600 anti-gravity racing league, piloting one of a selection of craft in races on several different tracks. There are four different racing teams, and two pilots on each team, from which the player chooses; each ship has distinct characteristics of acceleration, top speed, mass, and turning radius. By piloting his craft over power-up pads found on the tracks, the player can pick up shields, turbo boosts, mines, shock waves, rockets, or missiles, which protect the player's craft or disrupt the competitors' crafts.

Wipeout was launched alongside the Sony PlayStation in Europe in September 1995, and was the first non-Japanese game for the console. Two months later in November 1995, it was released in the US. The game went to number one in the all format charts, with over 1.5 million units of the franchise having been sold to date throughout Europe and North America. A number of marketing hooks were built into the product, including music tracks licensed from non-mainstream dance acts and the hiring of cult design agency The Designers Republic to work on the game packing, manual, and in-game branding. The intention was to place Wipeout firmly within the context of the fashionable, club-going, music-buying audience; a somewhat older audience than what were traditional gamers at the time.

Launch activities for the game included installation of PlayStation consoles running Wipeout in popular night clubs, the release of an accompanying soundtrack music CD, and the sale of a range of Wipeout clubwear. The soundtrack featured popular electronica groups such as Orbital, Chemical Brothers and Leftfield.

An early concept video of the game was featured prominently in the 1995 film Hackers, in which the character Dade beats character Kate's high score in a Wipeout match.

The game makes frequent use of billboards along the sides of the racetracks that reference other Psygnosis games such as Krazy Ivan and G-Police. One billboard reads, "Stuff explodes in Wipeout: The Movie."

The Saturn version lacked some of the visual flair due to its more advanced but difficult dual-processor setup that made 3D graphics more challenging, along with the two-player mode of its PlayStation cousin, although some claimed it was easier to control. However, like the Playstation version, the Saturn version features a link-up mode (2 Saturns and 2 TVs) to play two-player.

Teams

Screenshot of Wipeout

Each team has two pilots, the lead and second, from which the player can choose.

• FEISAR Consortium (Federal European Industrial Science And Research)
• *Sophia de la Renté (lead)
• *Paul Jackson
• AG Systems
• *John Dekka (lead)
• *Daniel Chang
• Auricom
• *Arial Tetsuo (lead)
• *Anastasia Cherovoski
• Qireж
• *Kel Solarr (lead)
• *Arian Tetsuo
• *New Edition Pilot Added in 2006: Marie Freswer In a new team: Electres

Tracks

• Altima VII
• Karbonis V
• Terramax
• Korodera
• Aridos IV
• Silverstream
• Firestar (Hidden track)

Music tracks

• CoLD SToRAGE: "Cairodrome"
• CoLD SToRAGE: "Cardinal Dancer"
• CoLD SToRAGE: "Cold Comfort"
• CoLD SToRAGE: "Doh T"
• CoLD SToRAGE: "Messij"
• CoLD SToRAGE: "Operatique"
• CoLD SToRAGE: "Whip it up"
• TransNation: "Reversal Eye"
• CoLD SToRAGE: "Transvaal"
• PC Music: "Brickbat" (Saturn exclusive)
• PC Music: "Planet 9" (Saturn exclusive)
• PC Music: "Poison" (Saturn exclusive)
• Leftfield: "Afro-Ride" (PlayStation exclusive)
• Chemical Brothers: "Chemical Beats" (PlayStation exclusive)
• Orbital: "Petrol (Wipeout mix)" (PlayStation exclusive)

Reviews

• Official PlayStation Magazine UK: 8 out of 10 (80%)
• IGN: 8.0 out of 10 (80%) (PlayStation version reviewed)
• Edge (magazine): 8 out of 10 (80%) (PlayStation version reviewed)

See also

• Wipeout (video game series)
• Wipeout teams