Previews

GC: Hands on with PSP's anti-grav racer WipEout Pulse

The new screens alone should convince you

GC: Hands on with PSP's anti-grav racer WipEout Pulse
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PSP
| WipEout Pulse

Sony Liverpool has found its formula and it's sticking to it. At least that's the impression we got during our most recent hands-on with WipEout Pulse at the Leipzig Games Convention.

That's not to say, however, that it's a straightforward rehash of WipEout Pure. Far from it. WipEout Pulse hones and refines what is arguably one of the PSP's most enduring classics.

On loading the game, the first thing that struck us was the presentation. The front-end is perhaps even more minimalist than its predecessor – everything from the animated backdrop graphics to the elegantly organised menus impresses with a high level of polish from the get-go.

The build we played offered eight ship classes to choose from, including old faves such as Feisar, Quirex and Triakis, together with the new EG-R variant, EG-X.

Opting for the Piranha team, we strapped in.

Only two races were initially available, but securing bronze or better on those unlocked six more, all of which take place on three courses; Moa Therma White, Talon's Junction White and Metropia White.

Rather than force you to plough through the various speed classes and race types sequentially, Pulse mixes things up, throwing time trial events in between straight battle races. It's an interesting rhythm, as you can learn a course during the single-ship time trial bouts and then put that experience to good use during an actual race against seven other craft.

The courses themselves seemed to be a marked change of direction over those in Wipeout Pure. Gone are the unforgiving hairpins and zigzag chicanes. In their place come a collection of sweeping curves and loop-the-loop upside down sections that are geared more towards pace and rollercoaster-like thrills than scraping your wings off.

Things are more familiar in terms of weapons. There doesn't appear to be much that's different apart from a new homing mine – which gave us a surprise – and the welcome reintroduction of the timer-based machine gun (WipEout 2097 veterans will no doubt approve).

Weapons can also still be absorbed to reclaim any damage done to your vessel but during our run through, impact and weapon damage seemed more forgiving than in WipEout Pure.

Visually, the game remains a predictably stunning affair. The tracks and ships themselves sport a noticeable increase in detail, with plenty of shiny, reflective surfaces. The head-up display is less intrusive, and when all the aesthetic elements such as the explosions and particle effects are combined, the overall effect is intoxicating.

The only issue we noticed was some graphical glitches when manoeuvring heavily, which resulted in a visible boundary line between misaligned track sections. But we're confident that's the sort of issue Sony's quality assurance teams will pick before release.

WipEout Pulse is released September 28th. Click 'Track It!' to catch our forthcoming review.