Pod-racing is for lousy child-actors. Wipeout is for everyone else – if you like speed, adrenaline, and heavy weaponry then you need some Wipeout in your life. If you’ve never played any of the previous games in the series you’re in for a treat. If you’re already familiar with the antics of a Wipeout game, prepare to be dazzled by the game you know and love in glorious full HD.

Wipeout HD is a futuristic racer featuring anti-gravity vehicles that compete on various tracks at break-neck speeds. The game has you choose a unique vehicle and then pits you against other pilots who will do everything they can to order to win the race with some help of a hefty arsenal of weapons. Navigating the track relies on your use of air brakes and ability to hit the speed ramps which will accelerate you faster. Littered around the course are pick-ups – flashing red crosses that dispense a random weapon or power-up.

The controls in Wipeout HD are relatively straight-forward, meaning anyone can really get the hang of it quickly, but great skill is required to make the most of the ship’s controls. ‘X’ is your accelerator, ‘L2′ and ‘R2′ are your left and right air-brakes, respectively, ‘SQUARE’ is fire, ‘CIRCLE’ is absorb (trade your current weapon for some health) ,and the D-Pad, or left stick, controls your movement. Most players, myself included, find that the D-Pad is best for these sort of racing games since it is more precise than the D-pad and  accuracy is needed. ‘R1′ gives you your rear-view. The controls work well and it’s easy to get a feel for the ships after a few games.

The campaign mode for Wipeout HD is a series of events that are made up of cells that you compete in, earning medals to progress further and unlock stuff. There are five types of events to take part in across any of the eight tracks. The first is Single Race, which is where you battle against seven other ships in a bid to come first. Tournament is a series of these races where you earn points depending on your position in the end of the race – the winner being the pilot with the most points. Time Trial is where you try to complete several laps of a track against a best time. Speed Lap is a similar solo event  where you have to get the target time for a designated lap. Finally, Zone is a trippy assault on the visual senses where you rocket around a track on your own attempting to hit the required speed class without hitting the track walls and totaling your flashy ride.

When you collect a pick-up, you’ll get either a weapon or a power-up. Weapons are missiles, rockets, cannons, leech-beams, plasma bursts, quakes, bombs and mines. Missiles lock on to the vehicle ahead and take a significant lump of health. Rockets are three powerful projectiles that can prove deadly if all three connect with a target. Cannons riddle the vehicles ahead with bullets. Leech-beam is a device that transfers enemy energy to your ship. Plasma is a very powerful burst of energy that is difficult to aim but devastating to other road-users. Quakes are the rarest weapons to get, and for good reason – they trigger an earthquake that blasts ahead of you, destroying mines, bombs and enemies that are low on health. Bombs are powerful traps that are best used in narrow track sections, as are mines – which trigger a set of small obstacles behind you. Mines won’t last long but can really cause havoc for someone on your tail.

The three power-ups include an auto-pilot which is dead useful when maneuvering tight corners, Boost whic will give you a quick burst of thrust, and Shield which will protect you briefly against other attackers. Putting these items to clever use can help you thrash the opposition. If you don’t want to use the power-up or weapon you have collected, it can be absorbed in exchange to some health boost instead.

The tracks in the game are Anulpha Pass, Chengou Project, Metropia, Moa Therma, Sebenco Climb, Sol 2, Ubermall and Vineta K. These tracks should be familiar to those who played Wipeout’s PSP outings. Success in Wipeout is in part down to the ability to memories track layouts and the location of speed ramps. Reverse versions of each track make this harder to do, as do the speed classes. Each race has a speed class, either Venom, Flash, Rapier or Phantom. The speed of the race will affect your reaction time and the amount of time that is required to brake. The speed class effectively changes the difficulty of the course.

Also affecting the game’s difficulty is the difficulty setting itself and the pilot assist option. Adjusting the difficulty to Novice will allow players to progress and enjoy the game even when racing the harder courses. Don’t forget though – Elite gold medals are marked differently, so if you want the prestige medals you will have to work for it.

The ships in the game are sleeker than a pole-dancer with differing stats and unlockable liveries. Each ship is from a different racing team;  AG Systems, Assegai, Auricom , EG-X, Feisar, Goteki 45, Harimau, Icarus, Mirage, Piranha, Qirex and Triakis. Different speed, thrust, handling and shield stats add a nice balance to the list of vehicles, meaning that when playing with friends online or split-screen you’ll probably choose different ships to suit your personal tastes. The Assegai is probably the best all-rounder, ideal for those new to the game.

Graphically, Wipeout HD is astounding. It’s one of the few next gen games to fully use 1080p naively with the action blasting at 60 frames per second. Everything looks fantastic and the tracks and vehicles are unquestionably stunning. It’s not the most realistic looking game out there, if you want that get Motorstorm, Forza or Gran Turismo.  Instead, Wipeout is pure escapism at it’s best. It’s futuristic beauty is matched by phenomenal detail to every area of the game’s design. Indeed, it’s hard to believe that this game is a downloadable game.

A nice little feature is the ability to take photographs at any point during a race and immediately save them to your PS3’s HDD. These can make great backgrounds and retain the game’s 1920 x 1080 resolution in JPEG format. The pictures on this review are taken with the in-game camera.

The sound is one of the best features of Wipeout HD. The engine noises, weapons and environments are all perfect, but where Wipeout HD truly exceeds is with the soundtracks. I’m not a big fan of the synth-heavy styling of the game’s soundtrack but that doesn’t matter. Choosing a custom playlist or album makes the game your own. The lack of custom music on PlayStation 3 titles is a big disadvantage, but Wipeout not only allows you to pump your own frenzied tunes during the game, it uses and plays with them. As you hurtle through a tunnel the music echoes, as you boost off a ramp the music distorts and if you take too much damage the music quietens so you can hear the warning alarms. The music will also only kick in when the race has started, which certainly adds to the excitement. Wipeout HD’s sound design makes the argument that it is more beneficial to have the music played through the game itself than in the background.

Trophy support is also present, of course. If you read our Top Ten Hardest Trophies article you will see that Wipeout HD holds two of the slots, but some trophies are easier to get than others. One involves simply taking a photo with the in-game camera but most are truly challenging. It is rather fitting that the Platinum is therefore called “Transcendence” and is one of the most sought-after trophies.

The real fun is to be had online or with friends. Wipeout HD boasts a great online mode where more trophies can be won. It’s also brilliant fun to destroy friends during a tournament as they struggle to climb back while you send them mocking messages or texts. Split screen is also present and works beautifully with no slow-down or major damage to the graphical beauty of the game.

Every element in Wipeout HD is perfection. From the unmatched beauty of the game to the tracks and vehicles to the sound design – each part makes the game an incredible experience. An essential purchase to anyone who loves racing or just appreciates good games. You’re PlayStation 3 games collection is not complete without it.

There’s very little to criticize here since the game is pretty much flawless. Some tracks and game modes are missing from the PSP versions but those can be added with the Wipeout Fury DLC.upgrade.

Score: 97