Wipeout Fusion

Posted Jun 28, 2002 by TBO.com

Updated Feb 14, 2008 at 02:33 PM

System: Sony PlayStation 2

Publisher: Bam! Entertainment

Reviewer’s rating: B

ESRB rating: Everyone

Game type: Racing

Kind of like: “F-Zero” (1991), “XG3: Extreme G Racing” (2001)

Best feature: Thumping techno soundtrack (Orbital, Future Sound of London, BT, Utah Saints, etc.) gets the adrenaline flowing sufficiently.

Worst feature: Questionable code — the game locked up twice before we raced our first lap.

The bottom line: Back in the day, there was no better reason for owning a PlayStation. Firing up the original “Wipeout” and its successors (1996’s “Wipeout XL” and 1999’s “Wipeout 3”) was like putting the machine on steroids. Or acid. Or speed. Or all three at once.

Where we expected automobiles, we got anti-gravity hovercraft. Instead of paved, circular tracks, we found ourselves racing along colorful courses that wound, looped and coiled around richly detailed, futuristic cityscapes. And our opponents didn’t just cut us off — they blew us up.

This sequel’s strength is also its weakness: “Wipeout Fusion” is more of the same. You can’t help feeling you’ve played it before, even if the tracks are longer and, in some cases, tougher; the weapons are more plentiful and powerful; and there are more drivers per race.

It’s definitely a case of “more is less.”

Where previous installments were known primarily for their exhilarating sense of speed, “Fusion” tends to be a bit more stop-and-go. The tracks are clogged with computer-controlled drivers, each one hell-bent on slowing you (and each other) down with proton cannons, plasma bolts and gravity bombs.

As if handling a hovercraft traveling at 700 mph along a serpentine course wasn’t challenging enough.