Ten things I rather quite like about wipEoutFusion

[Seek100]

As you can probably imagine, this thread is meant partially as a riposte to the '10 things i hate about wipeout fusion' thread, and partly in jest, I don't know if I'll be able to think of 10 proper things that I liked in Fusion, so there may be some scrounging going on but lets get started Roman Numeral stylee:

I. The second version of the F.E.I.S.A.R. design, I can't remember the specific model number, but you know the one I'm talking about, it has the classic FEISAR lines, the sleek fuselage, the externally mounted engine exhausts (taken from the original FEISAR from wipE'out"), the most important feature that makes it look infinitely superior to the third 'canonical' variant of the FEISAR is the swept back winglets. The third FEISAR looked like someone had bolted two giant surfboards to the wings, or like a Snowspeeder rip-off, and the fourth version horribly re-inforced this Snowspeeder appearance. The second version though is a work of art, blending the seminal 2097 body shape with the original FEISAR's external engine design - bootifuw' as they say where I live.

II. The soundtrack. Fie on those who deny the brilliance of the music in Fusion, I've seen people mention it and I get the feeling that it's merely a case of throwing the baby out with the bath water. Fusion has some of the best music to grace the series including two of my absolute fave electronic songs in our outside of wipE'out" - Papua New Guinea by FSOL and Sick by the Utah Saints.

III. The locations. This doesn't mean the tracks themselves, which due to the cocked up physics are pretty much all for the bin IMO. I'm refering to the settings, Mandrashee, Vohl Square and Cubiss Float in particular are some stunning locations to just cruise in the 'time trial' mode to take in the scenery. If it weren't for those bloody awful tunnel sections I would add Temtesh Bay, it had fantastic potential, but was sullied by the mine complex with those fracking doors! Katmoda 12 was the only outright dissapointment for me in terms of the settings, going to the moon is a bad idea cause it has to be spectacular or it just won't work, Katmoda 12 felt like a wasted oppurtunity to me.

IV. The playlist creator. A must for future wipE'out" games, especially when there are duff songs in there, like the vast majority of purE's soundtrack to me, I appreciate the ability to turn them off, but the ability to arrange the songs I do want to hear would be a welcome addition, indeed it was welcome in Fusion and I don't know why it was dropped in purE.

V. The art gallery. I love art galleries in computer games, absolutely love 'em. Can't get enough of the concept art and renders. And the concept art at least shows us that as far as the ship designs go - it could have been much, much worse. Could have done with some more 'intermediate' renders of designs that were rejected during development - the pics are still floating around the net, including a really nifty looking Van-Über/Auricom cross-breed.

VI. Erm, ah... Oh yeah! The ability to turn weapons off, sure it was available in 2097 single race, but in a game as ludicrously biaseed in favour of weapons as Fusion or purE this was an absolute godsend, as was the ability to remove localised damage, a most ridiculous concept for craft with sci-fi energy shields to fall apart at the seams when their 'shields' are nearly full.

VII. Err... Hmm... Well I guess the fact that the advertising was at least trying to be subtle, I don't even notice the Kappa adverts now (Eugh, I'm gonna have to wash the fingers that typed those words). What I meant was in comparison to purE Fusion had ssomething approaching integrity when it came to Sony whoring the IP out to companies completely unrelated to the game's content. Can anyone say 'Coca-Cola-teams'? Please not in front of any small children of course.

VIII. The challenge mode. I'm serious I enjoyed those challenges more than I did the Zone mode, except the Tigron and G-Tech ones, those heffers just don't turn a bend. In any case I think the challenges should make a comeback, just maybe with less of the weapon ones, bloody annoying those were.

IX. Clearly scraping the barrel here but nearly there, erm... I guess I liked that they at least tried to shuffle the team lineup a bit, I know all the AG-5Y5, Qireж, Assegai, Icaras and Goteki-45 fans will scream heresy but no company lasts forever, I mean look at the current F1 team lineup - do you see Jaguar anywhere? Or Lotus? (If either has gone back to F1 since I stopped watching the dreary thing then I'm pleading ignorance in advance). Obviously they could have done it in a more sensitive way, like having teams you could actually stomach replacing the old ones - Tigron and G-Tech were hardly of the same stature as Qireж and AG-5Y5 were they?

X. Hmm, I really don't know about a tenth thing that I can honestly say I liked about Fusion, If I can go back to the craft design again and bring this full circle then I would have to say I loved the Van-Über and EG.r designs, the EG.r really should have been resurrected for purE I think the design was that good, certainly better than the aborted-MiG stylings of the Tigron. As for Van-Über, they suffered a bit to much from the Episode I design school and sill retro Messerschmitt like features - especially the canopy, but a very original layout. the early version of the ship (which may have been an early Auricom aswell) looked perfect for wipE'out".

If you had the patience to read all of that then I award you a cool headband :banzai and salute you.

Anyone want to add anything on the somewhat neglected good features of Fusion are more than welcome to reply, Or just any comments/shouting-down/heresy posts aswell. It's all good.

[lunar]

Particularly agree on 2 (music), 3 (locations), 5 (art, tho Pure`s gallery is MUCH cooler) and 7 (the sponsorship point). The one I most support is your point about the music. IMHO Fusion`s soundtrack beats any other wipeout soundtrack. If the game had been a classic we would now be talking about all the classic music tracks it featured.

I would add that zone mode was awesome and better than Pure`s, but I can`t come up with much else as you really have scraped the bottom of the barrel: so much you are now digging deep into the ground and heading for the centre of the earth ;) If anyone can come up with an original list of 10 more they should get a prize. Speaking of which...... I now claim my free headband. :)

[oVerCaffeinated]

Ten things I like about Wipeout Fusion:


The soundtrack
Challenge mode
Zone mode
Excluding the open areas, flip pads and doors the course design is good
Handling of the ships
Leagues (should've been longer though)
The locations
Upgrading
Huge jumps
The graphics

[username]

oVerCaffeinated: how can you like the handling on fusio?, its terrible and lie trying to control a rally car on ice! (imo ;) )

[Mobius]

Well to be honest, it is almost identical to pure's IMO, just the camera doesnt tilt when the ship does.

[username]

yes i have noticed that too, that is why i prefer the handling on 2097, but also what i mean about the handling in fusion is the way the ships are locked to the floor at a certian height

[lunar]

Pure`s handling and physics are nothing like Fusion`s, particularly at the faster classes. They simply can`t be compared, imo. At Phantom class Pure is wild and contains flying, aerodynamic, bouncy (whatever you want to call it) elements in abundance. here (http://www.wipeoutzone.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1943) is an old thread about it, and I particularly agree with the first post. :)

[oVerCaffeinated]

oVerCaffeinated: how can you like the handling on fusio?, its terrible and lie trying to control a rally car on ice! (imo ;) )
Well if you compare to 2097, yes it's ****, on its own though I like it. I'm glad they tried something different.

[username]

well you do make a good point on trying something different and if it were on its own, i must say :)

and i agree with what you said bout the fusion handling being: :turd

[Asayyeah]

definitely agree with :turd handling : too much glued to the track.

Only zone mode rocks and lunar is right fusion's zone is a way better than pure's.

[Seek100]

Well, I'm all for a little equality, so if we rip on Fusion's handling mechanics then purE deserves some ripping too.

Everyone on this board is sooo happy that SL gave us back the 'floatiness' of the craft, the physics of how they bounce around and generally behave more like aircraft than cars. This is worth praising, but we should never conflate the physics engine with the craft handling, the handling has been preserved almost exactly from Fusion just by playing and comparing the two side-by-side as I have done. At first I thought they both understeered compared to in wipE'out"/2097/w3o, they cannot make the same lightning fast turn-in as on the earlier games. Later I realised that they also oversteer, that is the back will on any turn sharper than about 10 degrees slide out towards the outside edge of the track (much worse on Fusion, it's been toned down for purE)

So basically the craft in Fusion and purE have the amusing characteristics of being able to both understeer and oversteer at pretty much the same time - in other words not steering at all really. This wouldn't annoy me so much if it weren't for the excessive effect that weapons fire has in both games, Fusion is just a nightmare with the weapons on, purE may have removed the frequency at which you get hit by enemy fire, but it has in turn increased the effect it has on your race. In all previous wipE'out"s (Fusion included) you'd get hit by a missile, slow down a bit and be on your merry way, the immense acceleration of your craft would soon rocket you back to high speeds. In purE, I have been hit by missiles that have slowed me down so much I have actually stopped and started moving backwards!. What kind of BS is that? The fanboys will say it's realistic physics, but I rather doubt being hit from behind in an aeroplane by a missile could cause the plane to go into reverse!

Further to this every craft in purE has the acceleration of an old priest in a skoda after being hit by any weapons fire. This to me kills the flow of the race and is a major reason why I've stopped playing purE so much as I used to when it first came out.

P.S. nice to see a discussion but try and focuss on the topic a bit more - this is meant to be good things about Fusion, we've got a million-and-on rant threads, my first post was a rant thread about Fusion. Anyway, headbands for all:banzai :banzai :banzai :banzai

[Sausehuhn]

1.
The locations.
Really. Most people hate them (bad building design etc) but I just love them. Maybe the best ever. Now you would add a few other effects (lighting, refelctions etc.) and it would look even better I'm sure (look at Pure, there they used these effects and windows and glass look better).

2.
The tracks.
The tracks have a really good track design IMO. They're too wide most time, but the track have cool curves, nice jumps, open sections (god, I want them back) and parts that can be oppened with special pads etc. - that Iisdamn cool.

3.
The speed.
WipEout Fusion is fast. Maybe the fastes WipEout ever. And I like that.

4.
The multiplayer mode.
Sure it has alot of slowdowns because the PS2 has hard to work but all in all it' a really good multiplayer mode I had alot of fun with in the past. Okay, now with online gaming it's maybe an old thing, but when the game was released and the splitscreen multiplayer was the standard and online gaming was a really new thing (wasn't it?). And for a splitscreen mode it's a really good one. I don't like the multiplayer weapons though (because the AI can't get them) but - one more good point about multiplayer - it was on/off turnable in the options, like many other things, so this is no problem.

5.
The Pad-, symbol- and logo-designs.
The pads are the best of all WipEouts. The weaopn symolds are also very well designed. And the logos are IMO very good looking as well.

6.
The effort put into details.
The tracks are so damn detailed. At every corner there're new things to look at, if lamps, boards or what ever. Every time I'm looking at the tracks in Time Trial I see new things. Even when the game is now years old. I love details so Fusion is a feast for my eyes.

7.
The huge number of tracks.
Yep. There are more than 40 tracks and yes I like most of them and I still do my races on most of the tracks. Especially for custom league it's wonderful to have that many tracks because it brings alot of variation to the game.

8.
The flexibility.
The games does have that many modes and options that you can customize it as you want and even when you've made a race a thousand times you can still change the energy of your craft, disable weapons or do what ever to make a whole new experience. I want to see that in the next WipEout again. Definitely.

9.
The soundtrack.
best ever.

10.
EG.r :D

[Seek100]

I respect your opinion about the track designs and upgrades, though I may disagree with them myself, but there are not more than 40 tracks, there's 7, IIRC. That's quite different from 40. Different sections don't count, they just aggravate with those stupid laser-fence things that spin you round 180 degrees.

I agree with you very much on point 10, I can't believe they chose Tigron over EG.r for purE...

[Sausehuhn]

IMO there are 40 different tracks because sections do count. YOu can't say (for example), that mandrashee 2 and mandrashee 3 are that identic that you can call them one track.

Btw: there're alot (little) things more I like in Fusion that I notice when I actually play the game. Like the different colored trails and or the huge number of stripes on the tracks that are passing by very fast and thereby give you a better speedfeeling. I also like that some ships have more than just one exhaust engine. :)

[Rapier Racer]

hmm 10 things

1) Van Uber
2) Seismic Fields, well they looked very very cool! Plus they didn't always deal out mega damage, can't understand why sometimes they do little to what appears like no damage then there was the case of the long straight on my fav track where I managed to eliminate one ship and get another two smoking, they had decent health as well
3) Katmoda 12 version 3, maaaaan that long straight section was fast and I loved the way the camera just dropped down so quickly
4) The ability to see how much health the enemy had, although it sort of felt like cheating
5) The weather on Cubiss Float I found it harder to pilot when it started to snow which I enjoyed
6) The scenery, coming off that huge drop on Florion Height version 3 you get a nice look about at the circuit below, sweet, Cubiss Float was also nice
7) The graphics, crisp and smooth loved them
8) The sound track Big Groovey Funker, Sick and Papa New-can't spell the last part
9) Custom league, 7 straight races on the tracks I favoured most without interruption and the tables it gave you at the end which showed who finished the race and who got eliminated, it was nice to see my Van Uber at the top and then to learn that a Tigron had had its face blown off
10) Er, did I mention Van Uber? :dizzy

[Lion]

fusion had a handful of point to point tracks right? that's something I could definitely appreciate :)

[eLhabib]

not sure if I can find 10, but here I go:

1) EG.r craft design and logo design. all the other ship designs and team logos, as well as the F9000 league logo I thought were pretty uninspired, but EG.r had something cool about them.
2) Florion Heights 3, forward and reverse. Forward had this absolutely lovely jump at the end, and reverse had the same jump turned into a very cool climb, followed by a wonderful long sweep downhill. Also Florion Heights was one of very few tracks with a rather well-made open section.
3) Missile rear lock-on. Oh how I would love to have that on xLink ;)
4) The setting of Alca Vexus. Valparaiso was one of my favorite 2097 tracks, jungle and stuff, so I really dig the Inca-temple/jungle setting of Alca Vexus. The tracks there were some of the best in fusion, too.
5) Papua New Guinea. I know this has been mentioned before, but you just have to adore how great this song is.
6) Sections of tracks with no rails on either side. Fusion introduced them to the series, and I am glad they kept them for purE.
7) Custom League - most important new idea! I wish it was possible in purE, and I sure hope it will be in the next (online) wipEout!
8 )Transparent pieces of track. Would be especially cool on tracks like Sol2, then you could see people passing under/over you!
9) The open section on Vohl Square 3. Maybe not really fitting for a wipEout game, but it just felt cool, very gritty and chaotic.
10) ...man, now I am running out of things to like about Fusion... uuuuuhm, oh yes! Almost forgot! The extra cool animation before the start showing how the ships would come up from the hangars below the grid! I was wowed first time I saw it! Please bring that back for the next wipEout!

well, well, there ya have it :)

[oVerCaffeinated]

fusion had a handful of point to point tracks right? that's something I could definitely appreciate :)
All the tracks are circuits as far as I'm aware. I think the gold challenges are point to point but taken from the circuits, or they could be one lap, can't remember :cowboy

[Lion]

according to the wikipedia page they are set at "devilia" and were part of the challenges.
I bought fusion mainly to fill a gap. time spent playing it was minimal to put it mildly (mainly because my flatmate owns the ps2, and it's used near exclusively for GT4)

[oVerCaffeinated]

Seems you are correct. There are apparently three Devilia courses that are point to point. They pop up when playing through League mode and they are one on one races to unlock new pilots. The only time you can race on Devilia is in League mode and once you complete the race you can't race on it again unless you start a new game :frown: So the last time I raced on those courses was probably 4 years ago. No wonder I forgot about them :p I think I'm gonna have to start a new game and see how good they are. Apparently it's a wide course that keeps getting thinner and thinner :dizzy

[Seek100]

Indeed, though I found Devilia to be increasingly annoying, especially against Tigron, but some point-to-point should be brought back for proper racing in the next wipE'out".

Also eLhabib mentioned another feature I really liked - the underground pits and those bizarre contraptions that come up above the craft just like in the wipE'out" 1 intro back in '95, I was really disappointed when that wasn't in the (original) game, then they kind of forgot about it in 2097 and w3o, was nice to see it finally implemented in Fusion. Shame that SL have basically done a complete U-turn on everything in Fusion, giving us a lame w3o-esque soundtrack (there are 1 or 2 gems amongst the dreck), lame w3o-esque craft design (too rounded and integrated, I was VERY disappointed with the new FEISAR :?).

It's an expected reaction I suppose given the mass bashing the fans gave Fusion for several years. To me however, it's like saying vegetarianism is evil because Hitler was a vegetarian. Utterly non-sensical to discard the good things Fusion brought to the table, while seemingly preserving the bad (excessive weapons use and power and bizarre handling of the craft which doesn't go well with the old-skool 'floatiness').

[fusionfrenzy]

I get what your saying, but it is easy to understand the designers' fear of keeping any fusion ideas given the backlash it got. And I put the lack of old school floatiness in Pure down to a lack of development time, and the glitches which may have ensued had they tried to replicate it (bring back the invisible ceilings!). Also remember that that's all they can do, replicate it- I read on the site somewhere that SL no longer possess any of the programming code for the first 3 wipeouts.

[Lance]

SL never had the code for WO3 since the game was done at the Leeds studio. [ R.I.P.]

[exarkann]

reverse firing quakes. 'nuff said

[lunar]

Reverse firing quakes give too much advantage to the leading ship, imo. In multiplayer it would just make the game less competitive. The great thing about a forward quake, from a gameplay point of view, is that it can level the race again (although it hardly feels great when you`re on the receiving end of it). If someone wants to reverse quake they should at least have to earn the opportunity by flying well, then take a chance by turning round.

[infoxicated]

SL never had the code for WO3 since the game was done at the Leeds studio. [ R.I.P.] Yes, they do - all of the Leeds data is on the servers at SL - that's where I got those track wireframes from. That reminds me - I actually have some more to put up.

Things I like about Wipeout Fusion:

1. The quakes look great.
2. The missile lock on was better than Pure's.
3. Mandrashee 3 with full upgrades - mindblowingly fast.
4. EG.R - best looking ship in Fusion, for me, and the team identity is one of the best.
5. The artwork gallery - simple idea that gave an insight into the concepting process for the game.
6. Florion Height 3 end of lap jump... whoah!
7. Katmoda 3 inverse loop - first time anyone goes off that I guarantee they'll have butterflies in their tummy.
8. The vertical hairpin under the waterfall at Alca Vexus.
9. Animated air-brakes for the first time.
10. That, despite its flaws, it sold well enough for them to continue with the franchise.

[Lance]

really? cool. i thought that it was stated by Colin or somebody that none of this was available and that was the reason that the 'classic' tracks from earlier versions could not be reproduced directly but had to be imitated from scratch.

''I actually have some more to put up.''
i look forward to seeing the extra wireframes. :)

[fusionfrenzy]

I was also under the impression that that was the reason the classic tracks were different.....interesting.

Anyway, the things I liked about fusion:

-Custom Tournaments. Why on earth were these not put into Pure? Imagine the fun mixing Delta, Gamma, Alpha, Classic2...and so on. Selecting them seperately through Single Race just isnt the same.

-The soundtrack. Truly amazing.

-Super weapons. Yes, I liked them, despite their insane overpoweredness, no-one can deny the pleasure of unleashing Super Missiles/Orbital Lasers on struggling lasties as you overlap.

-16 Opponents per race.

-The graphics- they were pretty amazing.

-Mandrashee course 3, sooo fast.

-Zone mode. Pure's just doesnt touch it- it is brilliant.

-Challenges; they were difficult but enjoyable and rewarding.

-Van Uber. Loved using the craft despite the lame physics in fusion(hated the shield it had though).

-The fact that there was more to do on Fusion than just race or do time trials. They tried to do something different- if Pure had Challenges, maybe a progression-y bit seperate to the Alpha, beta stuff, and so on, but had the gameplay of Pure we know now, it'd be perfect.

[Mobius]

Without repeating what has been metioned, here is what I liked about it.

- The weapon icons (speakign of which, i made a silly little trading card game witht hem years ago...i might dig it up one day.)

- The website, I never played a demo of the game, due to the fact only got the ps2 on the day Fusion launched, all i had to go by was the content on the website, and IMO, that was one of the best games websites I have seen. It really made me want the game.

- The scenery, wip3out was very modernist, fusion, was modern-futuristic. Lovely.

- The inversions. I had always dreamed of it happening in a wipEout game, and it did, over time i eventually found out that it had wrecked the steering system so the chances of loops returning is next to none, but i still really enjoyed them at the time.

Finally, looking back on it, I love that fact that SL went almost Kid A on the franchise, even thought most of ideas were not the best, the fact is Fusion was in wipEout terms so experimental. I have no idea if this was the idea or just due to the fact that there was another build of Fusion apparantly scrapped before the version we now play and controvercially talk about. Also the fact it can process and huge environment and still be at 60fps most of the time is bloody impresive.

[Sausehuhn]

a few more things:


The history.
This game features that much history, it's nearly unbelievalbe. Just look at all the in-game informations when you chose a track or a ship - and then again the website: this is even better (and features a very nice design, actually better than the in-game design).

The authenticity.
For me Fusion is the most authentic WipEout ever. The sceneriey, the buildings, the starting grids, the track design, the details, the ship's damage, the history and all the other things make this game to the most believable WipEout ever.

The variety.
Even when Fusion just features 7 ( or with Devilia 8 ) different surrounding areas they are totally different and one-of-a-kind. Everyone is something special.

Some things about the handling.
Yes. There are things I really like about the handling. I like that you don't slide down at steep turns - that is in Pure. To me it feels unbelievable that you slide down at such a turn when you're flying with (more than) 500km/h. Or that your ship's nose doesn't go up when you land after a jump - unlike to Pure - is good as well. I would like bumping, but this isn't in Pure as well, so Fusion is better at this point.


I'm sure there're a lot of other things as well. I just had a 7-race-custom league yesterday and enjoyed it very much, so for me the game is still a really good game.

[Mobius]

Well, I randomly was reading the interviews on b3ta and i found out this game has had quite a high profile fan.

None other than gamimg legend Jeff Minter.

Click here (http://www.b3ta.com/interview/jeffminter/) for the interview. Its about halfway I think.

[JABBERJAW]

I liked that every weapon could go backwards as well. I hate when you have "evening up" weapoons. It's no different than computer assistance. You got the lead and should be rewarded.

Graphics are quite good, especially on the alca tracks

zone mode is way better than pure's zone(while it is still good)

[lunar]

A forward quake is completely different to computer assistance. It takes skill and timing to make a quake really work for you, in Pure. There are no weapons which enable the chasing ship to automatically even things up again. And then take an example of a hypothetical reverse quake in action: the race starts, it`s close, one guy gets a turbo and takes a two second lead. Then he gets a quake, he fires it backwards: game over. Firing a quake backwards would just makes the gap bigger, the game less competitive and therefore less fun. If the leader is reeled in by a well executed forward quake it gets close again and it`s more fun. therefore forward quakes = good, reverse quakes = bad. If the leader has reverse quakes on top of bombs and mines it would just make a lot of races pointless. Bombs and mines are plenty to reward you for flying faster. There is skill in deploying them accurately, whereas a reverse quake is just going to hit anyone in the face and stop them. There`s no point having a game where the leader only ever stays infront and gets a bigger lead. It has to be balanced, at this moment in the evolution of wipeout it is pretty balanced, and reverse quakes would just unbalance it in favour of the leader. You can`t fire bombs and mines forward, so you shouldn`t be able to fire quakes and missiles backwards. If you want races to just be a sequence of time trials where the object is to be the fastest in the first ten seconds, get a reverse quake and end the fun, then fine.

Fusion may have some things going for it, but the weapon balance isn`t one of them, imo.

[JABBERJAW]

However, racing good you get no good weapons, even wipeout xl had reverse firing missles. A quake is a cheap way to catch a multiplayer opponent, getting rewarded for racing poorly. Either way, really it would be unfair now that you say that. The thing I hate about quake in pure is that it hits you even if you are high in the air and nowhere near the track. That should definitely not happen. I say it's cheap because it requires almost no skill and travels very far(in multiplayer). Hey though, at least they don't have that BS leader weapon, now that's a bad weapon.

[fusionfrenzy]

That leader weapon (Hunter Missile, btw) was only available in multiplayer anyway, probably to even things out between the owner of the game (in 1st) and his languishing mate. So it doesn't really count as a negative against Fusion.

[exarkann]

9. Animated air-brakes for the first time.


actually, w3o has them too.

and about the backquakes, i dont know about you all, but i dont get a quake very often. i think that kinda balences it out, its rare.

oh, the other day i found out the a backquake cant cancel out a normal quake.

[Asayyeah]

little off topic : i must say with a little experience on Kai now, that leader has got a kind of weapons luck. Most of time he gets turbo or AP or great defensive weapons such as mines & bombs. I ve noticed than someone who is the leader with 3 sec on Lap1 , has got around 90 % chance to win the race in phantom. A forward quake in phantom is not really THE ultimate weapon : someone ahead of you from 3.5 /4 sec won't be hitted by your quake.
I had one day 5 quakes on a race ( sol2 ) , i know basically it's pretty rare but sometimes it comes very often. Last night i had 3 quakes on the first lap of Citta Nuova and fired 2 backward : we were 4 in that race ( 3 triakis and a tigron ) tigron blew up :robot .

Back on topic : As everybody knowsFusion introduced a real new mode for Wipeout : Zone.
Oddly enough we had thought on a similar mode with my 2097's mate Sleh. And when Fusion has been realeased i kept more than 500 hours addicted to zone mode. ( even not finished the game at 100% ).
Fusion is what it is but for me it is The game which symbolizes perfectly the unlimited speed and i only love it for that.

[lunar]

I agree with you Al, about forward quakes. They are a cheap weapon in principle, and I used to be very anti quakes, but I`ve reconsidered as in Pure they don`t have as much effect on the leader as you would think and they do lead to a lot of fun. Missiles, rockets, plasmas and disruptors are all also difficult to use against a guy who is more than a couple of seconds ahead.

Arnaud`s point about the leader advantage, even with quakes, is right, imo. But of course you have to earn that lead so it`s not really unfair. I wouldn`t want it changed too much. As you say the leader should generally have some reward for flying well. :) It would be awful if the leader could never get away, just as it would if he could never be caught.

One good (perhaps the only good) innovation in Fusion`s weapons was the grenades, I think. They weren`t too effective and brought in a little variation. I wouldn`t mind seeing them back in place of the disruptors or as an alternative pickup to rockets sometimes.

[JABBERJAW]

The only good thing about the hunter missle in wipeout fusion was that you could turn it off :) Actually that was great about fusion was that you could turn off any weapon in multiplayer mode, although it was still hard to even ships out because you couldn't choose the same ship.

[username]

yes, i also like the way you can select your faivorite weapons only. a very useful feature i think, i wish you could do it in pure multiplayer (but only the host psp could choose, the slave psp's would have the same weapons)

[Asayyeah]

Pretty good idea Al & Username : to be able to select the weapons you like...
I will choose the couple : Bombs + Rockets.
Rockets to shoot the bombs from others and bombs :bomb ...to shoot You

:pirate

[username]

hehehe, i would select ... hmm ... (if it was a pair of two), rockets and missile i think. but i dont lie the way the missile bounces off of the walls in pure. too cartoonish, but the turning curve of th issile is perfect imo

[Zerow]

Thought I'd bump up this thread, as I'd like to voice my opinion of this topic.

Ten things I like about Fusion:

1) The start of each race, where you see the ships come up from below the ground. Very cool.

2) E.G.r - Without question one of the best of the new teams from Fusion. Fingers crossed they'll be brought back in the next WipEout.

3) Mandrashee 3 (Forward). 'Nuff said. :rock

4) THAT jump on Florion Heights 3. First time I soared off that, I was like "Fuuuuck!", and it's still a joy to leap from now.

5) The inverted straight on Katmoda 12. I love every second of it. The way it jerks down and then sweeps you back forward is just beautiful. I'm hoping something similar to it appears on one of the tracks in the next WipEout.

6) The soundtrack. Indeed, it features some of the best songs to grace a WipEout game. My personal favourites are 'Krushyn' by Elite Force, and of course, 'Smartbomb (Plump DJs Mix)' by BT.

7) Zone mode. I have to agree that Fusion's Zone mode is way better than Pure's, but the latter redeems itself a bit in my eyes in that the enviroments it takes place in are very cool! :D

8 ) The menu song. I really love listening to it, far more so than Pure's.

9) The enviroments. I have to agree that Fusion has the best looking enviroments of any WipEout so far. Here's hoping this is how the enviroments shall be in the next game.

10) The overall game's daring to be different. It's by far the most experimental of all the WipEout sequels. The others are all just the same general noodling with only one or two tweaks. Sure, there's a fair few ideas that don't work - the excessive violence spoils the racing considerably; the handling's crap compared with 2097; and the upgrading system dosen't feel right - but hey, at least it tried. Like the old saying goes: "Don't knock it untill you try it."

[Shem]

good thing you bumped this up Zerow, i guess i should throw in 10 cents of mine:

1) Pilot selection. Good thing, a tribute to the original Wipeout? Probably, no matter how stupid pilot 3d heads look like. I prefer logos instead, but hey, pilot selection!

2) EGr (or EG-R?). That was a cool team. Looked good.....and that's it:) It'd fit other wipeouts quite well.

3) Zone mode. It was nice.

4) Luke Slater - Bolt Up.

5) Unlockable artwork.

6) uhm.....

7) i think.....well.....

8) hmm...well, there's gotta be something.....

9) maybe that track with the big drop? oh yeah, Florion Heights 3. That track was cool in general.

10) I got hyped cause of the early pics of the game. That's a good thing i guess.

[Zerow]

Two more things for my list:

11) Xios - Some of you may hate this team, but I love them. Another Fusion team that really should be given a second chance at least.

12) The website. It's superb, far better than Pure's, in my opinion. I hope to God this is what the website for the next WipEout shall be like. :nod

[Sausehuhn]

I would love to see the website's design as the menu design of the future WipEout.

[Albino Ace]

I definitely agree with Florion Height 3 (big moma jump! :D ) and the soundtrack. Sick is one of my favorites, Krushyn is cool too. However, I kinda liked Wip3out's soundtrack better, in a way...Piranha and Xpander were a couple of my favs from that one. (Icaras wasn't too shabby either.)

[username]

i dont like the jumps on fusion, make the games shabby handling engine bad points show more than ever!

[Lance]

.
There's a separate thread for things you dislike; this thread is for things you like
.

[andy]

Can't think of ten so here goes:
1. The music
2. Mandrashee No.3F
3. Tigron and it's retro Mig-ness
4. Grenades =)

[DJ Techno]

1) Auricom

2) Pirhana

3) Florian Heights

4) The Moon

5) Elite Force-Krushym

6) Feisar

7) Racing

8) Acceleration over 2000KPH-thats still over a thousand miles per hour

9) Techno-Still runs the head of the SEC (as soon as i get it back on)

10) Studio Liverpool, just had to work harder to get the spot going.

[Chill]

1- Music is OK.
2- Zone mode.
3- Challenge modes are truly challenging.
4- Unique feel from the normal trend of Wipeout.
5- Large selection of weapon, though they could be better.
6- EG.r
7- Pics.
8- Menu Design.
9- Normal glass stadium and starting line design.
10- The rush I had when I "first got it and haden't played it yet"...

[PIRANHA MASTER]

I like of fusion:
The soundtrack
Challenge mode
Zone mode
Huge jumps
The graphics
Some ships
The cheats of airplanes :D
I hope you agree!

[Sausehuhn]

Got Fusion in my hands again and - damn - I really enjoy it!

I don't know what it is, but the game has a very, very nice mood to it. I really have the feeling I'm part of the league and the tracks and their surroundings seem so real and believable. You really have the feeling the tracks are build into the environment and not the other way around. You can look around you and all you see is the environment. In Pure/Pulse I always feel like there are two lines of buidlings around the track and behind that there's nothing but a simple sky-bitmap.
It's unbelievable how detailed the tracks are - really crazy! I think it's still a damn good looking game - even though it's so many years old.

And yes: I'm a fan of the freespace areas (even though some objects and barriers are annoying if you don't know them). Damn I can just imagine how good this game must feel with WO2097/WO3's handling and a few magstrips for the loopings and the drop-downs.
I simply love how smooth the game plays. I know there's no bottoming-off and the ships are locked to the track - but really, I don't think that's so different with Pure/Pulse (and probably WOHD) too. The bottoming-off in those three games is rather annoying to me, because it just pulls your nose high and that's it. Actually you push down to avoid it. Pure/Pulse/HD don't offer anything real floaty to me.
Nonetheless I'm enjoying these games. And so do I with Fusion.

I have to admit I hate the menu design and some crafts look really wierd, but overall this is a really nice game.

And to me, almost none of all the tracks has anything bad to it. The 2nd and 3rd track variants are longer than every track we've seen since Pure and, yeah, they're fun to race. I can't tell the reverse tracks are in any way less entertaining than the forwards tracks (unlike Pulse).
(Probably because of the length) every track, reverse or not, has something special to it. I do not want to miss any of them.

With today's possibilities we would probably see a bit more neon here and there, but nonetheless it looks awesome without it (seems like HD could have some overdone neon-effects anyway. I mean: Flashing anchors for billboards?! wtf?!).

Ah, and the music is top-notch stuff!


And it has wipeoutzone.com in the credits, that' surely a plus factor ;)

[Lance]

Max, you were always one of the very few who enjoyed the game. You defended it against intense criticism by most other players when you first joined the WZ.

[Sausehuhn]

Heh, yeah, back in the days, eh?
It's just that I played new versions of WipEout and also old ones. 4 years ago (I was young then! ;)) that wasn't the case.
Now I can compare the different games and see things with different eyes.
I sure wouldn't say everything I said back in the past now.

[Lance]

Nor would I. That's true of most people, I hope, though there are some who never change their opinions, who are always closed to new data.

[eLhabib]

Max, you brought up a point I recently noticed that bothers me about the more recent wipEout titles: track lenght. One thing that Fusion definitely did right was reeeeaaally long tracks. Nowadays most laps are completed in under half a minute, which is a SHAME, for crying out loud!

[blixabargeld]

fast game, fast races/laps. it's perfect for a game on psp..:nod

[RJ O'Connell]

I) The soundtrack to this game might be the best overall since Wipeout XL and it STILL hasn't been matched by either Pure, Pulse or HD. Papua New Guinea, Bassheads, Sick, Big Groovy "Funker", Synasthesia, and Smartbomb are all fantastic songs to race to. Sure, there's no CoLD SToRAGE, but many of the songs featured - not including those I just mentioned - can fit in very well in earlier games.

II) Looking at screenshots of Fusion, most of us would think the graphics look flat, cartoony and not very impressive in general. F-Zero X for the Nintendo 64 recieved the same kind of criticism ten years ago. But you know what these two games have in common? A fluid 60 frames per second framerate, that keeps on running at that speed even with several ships on screen firing weapons at one another. To paraphrase Lance Price: 'Sometimes it's best to have just the essentials.' Until Wipeout HD is released, Wipeout Fusion is still the only game to run this fast. That alone makes up for the "bland" textures of the game.

III) Thanks, Max, for bringing up track length. We all know Altima VII in the original Wipeout wasn't a track you could lap in 25 seconds. But we still love it anyway. But now we're lapping almost every track in the game at well under 30 seconds - and that's just at Flash speed! If you were a fan traveling a great distance to see a grand prix race, you'd appreciate it if the race didn't last just under two minutes in time. That's why I love the long, minute-and-a-half laps at Cubiss Float. The race doesn't just whizz by you. You can dominate and put everyone else a lap down, or you can get more time to recover from a catastrophic fall off the track.

IV) I love the idea of super weapons. It adds a little extra personality to each team, and they all fit the ideals of the teams quite well. Case in point - the Nitro Rocket was built for a ramming specialist ship in mind. Like the Tigron Bull. Is there anything scarier than turning into an icicle and knowing that you can be eliminated by just being slammed into from behind? Furthermore, multiplayer exclusive weapons added even more unique strategy, and made the game more fun when played against another human. And those originated in WipEout, don't you know. I've heard the weapons described as a "grab bag" before, but you know, I liked the extra artillery.

V) I didn't like the upgrade system. The speed class method was fine. But you know what was awesome? That with each new level of upgrades, the ships' looks took on a more extreme design. Eventually, at what we consider the equivalent to Phantom level, they were just flat out crazy - christ, the Xios ship looks like the bastard child of an X-Wing and an Evangelion unit! In my opinion, this symbolizes what going to the further speed classes means - the racing becomes more intense, faster, harder, even more insane. It's actually quite fitting. I just wish Wipeout Team didn't have to rip off Gran Turismo to accomplish it.

Part II coming soon

[eLhabib]

Fusion is 60 frames??? you sure?

[RJ O'Connell]

Yeah, at least over here, I'm guessing it maxes out at 50 in PAL regions.

[this space reserved for Part II of my ten things I like about Wipeout Fusion]

[Xavier]

I'm getting heavily into this game now that I have an American PS2 on which to play it -- and I love it! Just a beginner still; I'm 23% of the way through, so here are my 2.7 items:

1. Controls are quite a bit easier than the first two games; you can jump right in and finish first within a few practice runs. I hated having to press up on the control pad to gain speed all the time when playing Pure; here your ship is naturally in the most aerodynamic position. Ship customization means that you can iron out deficiencies in your chosen ship without having to give it up entirely. As I understand it, the rival ships only upgrade themselves after each 25% of your own upgrades, so if you're at 22% or 47%, you've got a leg up, right?

2. A good variety of objectives -- I love how they brought this back in Pulse -- so you don't get stuck on one difficult course that blocks you from everything else. I'm struggling with the heinous Vohl Square course and all its multiple paths, but there are challenges to do, and arcade mode gold medals to get, so it's never boring.

2.3. My girlfriend is into this game! She never showed any interest in any of the other racing games I've played, particularly F-Zero GX (on which I've logged many hours), but she loves this. She races Florion Heights 1 over and over and over (and has beaten my times; gah) and is really getting good! She had no idea that the "open" sections were unheard-of in other Wipeouts and doesn't mind them in the least. Now if I could just get her into racing in the leagues, she could make some money for me...!

[Wip3ou7]

:turd hmm is that a tiny icon of AG ships zipping around a little brown track? :)

[RJ O'Connell]

Mandrashee 1?

(It's a great track, that wasn't a pisstake.)

[Kiwi_Stig]

Indeed, though I found Devilia to be increasingly annoying, especially against Tigron, but some point-to-point should be brought back for proper racing in the next wipE'out".

Yeah it usually takes me three or four goes to beat my opponent on Devilia. What I usually do is when I get a turbo, I save it until I get to the last straight stretch before the line, then I hit it, and depending on how close behind my opponent I am when I hit it, I can usually balst past them across the line...


Max, you brought up a point I recently noticed that bothers me about the more recent wipEout titles: track lenght. One thing that Fusion definitely did right was reeeeaaally long tracks. Nowadays most laps are completed in under half a minute, which is a SHAME, for crying out loud!

Hey, I've done a lap of Florion Height Course 1 (F) in 28 seconds (flat I think)... Mind you, it's smaller than the standard shopping trolley wheel (ok, interesting comparison lol) and has what, 5 corners? And I think from memory I was in a fully upgraded FEISAR.

[Sausehuhn]

[this space reserved for Part II of my ten things I like about Wipeout Fusion]

I would like to read that part sometime :)

[RJ O'Connell]

I plan on publishing part II alongside the release of a live-action Wipeout movie...ok, not really, but I've been inactive for a while and I'm now JUST getting back into playing Wipeout and posting here. I'll try and remember what 6-10 were and post needlessly long write-ups about it soon. :g

[Cyberio]

Ten things I like about Wipeout Fusion:


Tracks and locations
Soundtrack
Return of the pilots characters
Three versions of each track.
Earning money to upgrade the ships.
Very nice graphics, showing (not all) the PS2 potential.
Like W3O, enabling/disabling checkpoints and weapons when i want.
Spanish Pilot (seems mexican, but it's ok)
Custom playlists, of the game soundtrack.
Going under the sea in one track.


I know some people who doesnt' like this game, i think this is a great game, with so many tracks and ships, actually, i didn't unlock everything yet, i have to finish this one sooner or later.

[Velocitar64]

I agree with Cyberio's post.

[Harvai]

Picked this up a few months ago after years of searching, and it's nowhere near the train wreck I heard it would be. Been giving it a fair belting and I reckon it's a pretty damn good game. On to my list then:

1. Soundtrack. IMHO best W'O soundtrack there is.
2. Atmosphere
3. Long tracks. Feel like going for an afternoon drive at 1000+ kph?
4. Graphics. Nice to see a Wipeout game on the PS2
5. Upgrading ships. The four versions of each ship are ace.
6. There's a track that runs around and through Ayres Rock!? Hell yeah!
7. Beating pilots on a specific course before you unlock their ship.
8. Extra details on ships (Airbrakes, some have what looks like a rudder)
9. More than 8 ships per race. Makes for more competition.
10. Mandrashee. Just...damn.

[AG-wolf]

Wipeout Fusion is love :3 I need to sit back down with it sometime and list ten specific things I like about it, but as a whole, I dont have any complaints except the strainge ship physics and the occasional track bugs. At least the NA version had bug fixes the European one didn't get.

[stoneygate]

Yes, Mandrashee, it looked and played great and now I wish I had a PS2 to enjoy it all over again!

[reventon94]

Lots of things i liked:
- Track Length
- 16 ships in 1 race, and still 12 ships in 2 player (which still beats most games)
- Challenges (especially the elimination ones, with plasma bolts - they were fun!)
- Zone
- Points for eliminations
- ^ This provided a great variety in game tactics
- Custom league (any number of races 1-7, from 42 tracks - awesome)
- Ship upgrades
- Sense of Speed
- Handling
- Proper Shortcut routes
- You have to beat a new ship to use it (on a completely new track as well!)
- 2 player: This game had the best 2 player ever imo. You could customise the race options SO much, it was just amazing. Me and brother did so many tournaments together, becuase there was so much variation. We could do 1 lap sprints, or 10 lap survival (without pits and respawns of course!). We could just have superweapons on as well!!! We could even change our ship energy levels! Furthermore, when ever you changed the number of laps, weapons or energy levels, it meant you were playing the game in a whole different way because it completely changed the tactics that you would use. You could go for eliminations; for surivial; for victory - anything. It was difficult to know what to do, because if you got 6 eliminations, then that gave you 12 points - the same as you'd get for coming first, with no eliminations.

[ACE-FLO]

What he said!!! Seriously, the only thing different is - I raced two player with friends.... other than that I give the same reasons!!!:o

---

Edit: I might actually pull Fusion out and play it again, I really loved this game! Too late today, but will do over the weekend I think.

[Aeroracer]

I cant really remember it much but i know it was a good game.

Things i liked were....

1.The pilot that was just a chinese head stuck onto a computer.
2.Papau gineua music track

[NightArh]

Papua New Guinea (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCoCTkC0oL0) ;) Future Sound of London rocks!!!

[ACE-FLO]

I cant really remember it much but i know it was a good game.

Things i liked were....

1.The pilot that was just a chinese head stuck onto a computer.
2.Papau gineua music track

re: Pilot Head - Paul Cheung? EG-R ruled in Fusion.

am I mistaken, or was the EG-R the only ship able to 'side shift' in the game?

Fusion had the best soundtrack out of all the wipeouts... let's not forget the darkly menacing tune by Intuative - "Way Seeker"

Night, thanks for the tunes!

[Aeroracer]

I think your right on all counts. I remember the ship had a really uniques sound to it.

[ACE-FLO]

Yep, almost like its' Airbrakes were hydraulic powered/dump valve sound like... Tssst tssst sound! I loved it actually. I also learnt the Push/Pull style of Airbraking with the EG-R ship here in Fusion (where else lol).

[Aeroracer]

1 The game was good enough to keep wipeout franchise alive long enough to make wipeout fury
2 as above
3 as above
4 as above
5 as above
6 as above
7 as above
8 as above
9 as above
10 was a good game in its own right.

[OBH]

* Great soundtrack
* 16 players was hilarious
* Special Weapons (auricoms was EVIL!)
* The 2nd to last ship versions (before they were all crappy and grey) looked really good
* Van Uber!
* Friends and family never beat me, not once :g

fun times. i liked fusion.

[KGB]

I've just started going through this again after god knows how many years and I am really enjoying it. I thought it was **** when i first got it, but looking back now there are so many good ideas in it.

1. I still prefer the league system rather than this campaign stuff.

2. The track length is great. It takes ages to get round some of them.

3. The music is only second to Wip3out IMO.

4. Upgrading was great, made the game play much more interesting.

Still hate the off-road part of the game and that ice cavern thing is just stupid to me, I used to call it Wipeout Rally but I now have a completely different opinion of the game.

[Chill]

I agree with everything but number 4...

[DawnFireDragoon]

yeah, i didn't like the upgrading. especially as the ships ended up looking horrible.

just give us alternate skins!!!

[Gusto-Pastel]

Oh gawd, I've just been reminded about having 16 ships on the same track, that was amazing, and the length too made it seem like what would actually be F1 in 200 years or so! Although given that HD's tracks are generally narrower and shorter and the physics are wilder, putting 16 ships on the track now, well, forget Cambodia, we're looking at the freakin' Battle of the Somme here. Maybe next time then?

[OneAVGNFan]

10. Xios', Feisar's, Tigron's and Egr's superweapons
9. Some of the music. (Definetly not the best soundtrack though)
8. Team Piranha (remember, Piranha fan)
7. The concept of Zone (just not executed well)
6. Challange Mode (most of them though)
5. Long courses like Kamoda 12 course 3 (without the speed glich)
4. Art Gallery
3. The Leagues plus Custom League
2. Xios International
1. Egr Technologies:rock

[Koleax]

I didn't post in this thread yet?

1. Unlockable art gallery
2. BT
3. Zone mode
4. Frame Rate
5. Steep drops and inclines
6. Beautiful environments
7. So many vicious weapons
8. The sun
9. Verifiable time codes (I didn't play this when the website was still up, but I know that would have been fun).
10. How great it looks in 720p in PCSX2.

There's probably more that I've forgotten or neglected at this particular moment. I will update as necessary!