10 Things I hate about WipEout Pulse

[Flashback Jack]

Suppose I'm one of the few that don't hate barrel rolls, largely because I have no difficulty pulling them off. However if we take the most insanely difficult "special" move to execute every in the history of games (my opinion), it would have to be Guile's Sommersault Justice in Super Street Fighter 2*

*Charge down back, quarter circle to down forward, quarter circle to down back, up-forward and kick.

- F

[zargz]

Plus, I think I'm in a minority of one of people on the team who dislike it.

damn! that's too bad but you had it going good in the middle there with some nice rhymes!


// lunar

I'd love to but it doesn't seem like I'm gonna make it .. prob'ly won't afford it.
coz no real job yet after 6+ months back in sweden - a boring place for me to be atm
makes me wish I didn't leave thailand half year ago ..

[Medusa]

Yeah, sadly I've come to realize there's likely no going back. No going forward either...so I'll just keep witching about BRs forever I guess.

[Dogg Thang]

Wow! Impressive rhyme! What do you mean by open sided track sections?

It's unfortunate that you're the only person on the team not liking the barrel rolls. But I would have thought liking them only has so much to do with it. I mean, they really do mess about with the mechanics and how a lap is approached in a negative way. Even if considered cool, that has to be a recognisable problem within the team, hence mag strip sections in certain places.

If adding one element requires patching the holes it created, it would seem obvious to remove that element. To me, I mean...

And while I'm at it, there are very few people on the face of this planet who don't name 2097 or WO3 as the best WO game. Surely that's got to point to something?

[infoxicated]

Wow! Impressive rhyme! What do you mean by open sided track sections?

I mean the likes of Sol 2, Tech de Ra, getting shunted off the sides during multiplayer and the weird and wonderful respawn points they bring by necessity.

[Dogg Thang]

Ah yes. I probably wouldn't mind them so much (or at all actually) if not for my own personal 'you ruined WO' rant - the aggression in the AI and the effect that weapons and getting knocked have on the craft. If that were toned down closer to WO1 levels and the craft didn't bounce off like rubber balls, I don't think it would be as much of a problem, even in multiplayer.

[Rapier Racer]

If adding one element requires patching the holes it created, it would seem obvious to remove that element. To me, I mean...

I would have to totally agree with you on that one.

And while I'm at it, there are very few people on the face of this planet who don't name 2097 or WO3 as the best WO game. Surely that's got to point to something?

Is that based on this forums member group, or a survey of people a certain age that have been around since the 2097/3 time? Lets say a new pilot comes along and starts out with Pure, Pulse or even HD and has say 8 months constant playtime under their belt with one of those games. You then come along and throw 2097/3 at this person, somehow I can't see them leaping from their chair exclaiming its the best Wipeout they ever played.

Also as much as I love Tech De Ra and Sol 2 I could do without the wall less sections, on that note why are Pulse walls so damn small.

[Dogg Thang]

I disagree. I think the problems in Pure and Pulse are apparent regardless of previous play and, while the earlier games would be at a disadvantage without nostalgia or graphical power, I think their merits would be obvious to anyone even now who gave them a good go. I'm talking 2097 and WO3 here. I think the unforgiving mechanics of WO1 wouldn't go down well with most new players.

[infoxicated]

The unforgiving aspects of Manic Miner wouldn't go down with most platform gamers nowadays.

[Dogg Thang]

Yep that's true. But Mario mechanics, which improved on that, still cut the mustard (odd expression) and, regardless of modern 3D platformers (some of which are a mess), 2D platform games can still hook people in. Sometimes more so.

Same with WO. I don't agree that people wouldn't see the merits in the 2097 or WO3 play systems just because they didn't play them back in the day.

[infoxicated]

It's a matter of patience, I think; Gamers no longer have it. Well, not the "mass market" holy grail type of gamer that every publisher panders to.

I blame EA, myself - their "vertical slice" philosophy of allowing the player to see pretty much everything the game has to offer in the first ten minutes of play has destroyed the perseverance in most casual gamers. Within a few minutes of playing Burnout Paradise I was drifting like a Pro and winning races and challenges like I'd been playing it for ever, despite the fact I haven't played Burnout in years.

Go back to WipEout 3 after a bit of time and the handling is unweildy to the point where most casual gamers would be running for the hills screaming for their copy of Need for Speed like the sky was falling.

Remember the bit about WipEout having to be more accessible to attract the casual market recently? Well that's why we have an abundance of barrel rolls and craft that never really feel like they're cheating gravity. It helps the journalists at game shows feel better about themselves when they're playing it in front of a crowd of their peers, executing barrel rolls and slamming into the track at high speed without having to pitch up the nose or learn a greater degree of control. It makes them look cool - that's all that matters, regardless of the lack of effort required to do so.

They tell marketing that ease of entry and a vertical slice is what they want to see. Then marketing tells the producer that. Then the producer tells the designer that. Then the game is made more mass market, with more check-box features for the back of the box the game will end up in.

Then the game peaks at #19 in the PSP only charts, holds for a couple of weeks at #20 and then drops off the face of the Earth entirely. That's the mass market for you. Three years ago they were stampeding in the streets, knocking over grannies who happened to be standing in front of game stores - tins of cat food scattering everywhere in their wake as they surged to the counters clutching a copy of WipEout Pure.

In 2208, dripping with mass market features (you want your Project Gotham vehicle skinning? CHECK!), for whatever reason WipEout Pulse cant even inspire the grannies that survived to buy a copy for their grandsons.

That's the mass market driven games industry for you.

It's no wonder that we hanker for games from the past when the future holds none of the hope we thought it did.

[Rapier Racer]

Oh, the barrel rolls were put in as something for new players? How ironic then that they never use them.

[Sausehuhn]

Hah! That's too true

[TearsToShreds]

I wish I could quote you for truth, fox, but my PSP doesn't allow that much text.

[Triple Lei]

What's with all this hate for barrel rolls and love for anything Wipeout 3??

Barrel rolls make me pay attention to the terrain that much more, especially since some also require a Turbo... and who doesn't love doing all that while using Auto Pilot? It's not like they're guaranteed, either. Too many times I've landed before the full barrel roll and I didn't get the boost, but I still lost shield. That's as much risk & reward as anything else, right?

As for Wipeout 3, I've been meaning to make a "10 Things I hate about WipEout 3", but I don't want to get banned already... I wouldn't be posting about anything illegal; I just really, really hate that game. (Although I suppose I'd hate any Wipeout immediately following Wipeout XL...)

[omega329]

So, bye-bye, Anti-Gravity guy
Drove my AG in a TT
But missed a barrel roll try
And them good old boys were hopin' they could still fly
Singin' this'll be the day that it dies
This'll be the day that it dies

American pie with wipeout lyrics, that sounds familliar... hey! wait a second! I said I was trying to do that back on the wipeout song thread I made! No fair!

[Sausehuhn]

and who doesn't love doing all that while using Auto Pilot?

As far as I remember that's not possible in Pulse anymore.

[lunar]

It's not like they're guaranteed, either. Too many times I've landed before the full barrel roll and I didn't get the boost, but I still lost shield. That's as much risk & reward as anything else, right?

That aspect of it isn`t risk and reward in a positive sense, it`s just a random annoyance. It`s as if you decide to play your cards in a game of poker and they change into different ones when you put them on the table. You have to know what is going to happen for your assesment of the risk to be meaningful, and sometimes the BR just doesn`t work, or it works late so you don`t get your boost, although this is something less of a problem in Pulse than Pure. There is good risk and reward in the game, particularly through the absorb system where you sometimes have to gamble on using a weapon or taking the energy. I guess there is risk and reward if you`re on your last pixels of energy and need a BR to win the race, but the negative points of Barrel Rolling outweigh this, imo.

I don`t see why you shouldn`t start a "Ten things I hate about Wipeout 3" thread if you want to. I could post a couple, but would be hard pressed to get to ten.

[tapioca]

Then why not include a "classic mode" with no Barrel Rolls ? Although that would make more figures to navigate through on the wipeout-game tables, that could also make everybody happy…

Single race, zone, eliminator, speed lap, time trial, head to head, tournament and then : classic TT (and/or classic SL, but SL isn't so classic, even if i personnaly enjoy it more).
We could even get rid of TT for classic TT (there's still Speed Lap for BR's)

At least that could be an option for multiplayer (like weapons on/off). Doesn't sound to hard to include, right ?

And i don't have anything against barrel rolls, personnaly. The only points i'd like to see enhanced are the frame-based issue and the hazardous first person view (rotate the HUD only with a little shake, maybe, but not the full screen).

[Rapier Racer]

As far as I remember that's not possible in Pulse anymore.

Yeah thats a good thing, you can do a BR then quickly activate an Auto Pilot to control it though.