Wipeout HD Fury is the "Best Driving Game of 2009"

[HydrogLox]

According to Reviews On the Run's 1st Annual Rocket & Raygun Awards, beating out


DIRT 2
Forza Motorsport 3
Need for Speed: Shift


Not bad for an add-on.

The show can be viewed at

http://www.g4techtv.ca/

(may be regionally restricted).
- Click the "Reviews on the Run" tab
- Click "reviews on The Run Dec 18 2009"


After 2009-Dec-25 it should be available at:

http://www.reviewsontherun.com/episode/8/70


The episode that originally reviewed Wipeout HD Fury is available at

http://www.reviewsontherun.com/episode/8/37

(2nd section)

Congratulations Studio Liverpool!

[AG-wolf]

Wow.... just... wow. how can they even compare Wipeout to sim racing games? It should be in an arcade racing category, ala NFS: Most Wanted, Burnout Paradise, etc.

I can appreciate the fact that Wipeout wins any award at all, but it's like trying to compare the oldschool Sonic and Mario games... sure they're platformers, but their similarities stop there. both games are completely different in regards to approach and intended play style, as well as audience...

[Koleax]

It should have been Game of the Year in 2008, but it wasn't even considered in lieu of a platformer for kindergartners.

Also, wow, Victor Lucas is still doing a review show? Watching that brought me back to the mid 90s. Good to hear he's a Wiper. :+

[SaturnReturn]

I did it wrong. I thought I watched the Dec. 18th episode but saw nothing of WipEout (just lots of a hostess with a really annoying inflection on the end of every sentence). I then watched the Dec. 17th episode and still saw no WipEout. Apparently the first thing I watched was the EP Daily thing, even though I thought I was on RotR. Luckily it's fairly interesting, but I'd recommend to anyone not making the mistake of watching EP Daily. That girl's voice is so irritating.:blarg

[HydrogLox]

how can they even compare Wipeout to sim racing games? It should be in an arcade racing category, ala NFS: Most Wanted, Burnout Paradise, etc.

But they had only one category: "Driving Games" which includes both sim and arcade racers. So even after comparing all the technical accomplishments of each contender Wipeout HD + Fury was the best value and ultimately the choice came down to the reviewer's personal preference, i.e. given these four games "which one is the most fun" - so it is all a matter of taste. Ultimately these awards, reviews, and recommendations only make sense in the context of the personal preferences of the reviewers who give the ratings (which makes the value of metacritic's aggregate scores dubious).

For example the "versus" for:

IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey XBox 360 (VL 7.0 SJ 7.5)
Heroes over Europe XBox 360 (VL 7.5 SJ 7.0)
http://www.reviewsontherun.com/episode/8/49

ended up in a tie, even though sim-enthusiasts would choose "IL-2 Sturmovik" in a heatbeat over "Heroes over Europe". But ultimately what is considered "fun" is a highly personal choice.

Looking at the scores of the year the outcome was almost a given:

Forza Motorsport 3 XBox 360 (VL 9.0 SJ 8.5)
http://www.reviewsontherun.com/episode/8/55
(Quote: "If I were working at Polyphony Studio I might not like this show." (i.e. Polyphony Digital Inc., developer of the Gran Turismo Series))

Dirt 2 XBox 360 (VL 9.0 SJ 8.5)
http://www.reviewsontherun.com/episode/8/44

Need For Speed: Shift XBox 360 (VL 8.5 SJ 7.5)
http://www.reviewsontherun.com/episode/8/43

WipEout HD Fury PS3 (VL 10.0 SJ 9.5)
http://www.reviewsontherun.com/episode/8/37


It should have been Game of the Year in 2008.

There were no "Rocket & Raygun Awards" in 2008. RotR's rating of Wipeout HD in 2008 was high and the review was glowing.

WipEout HD PS3 (VL 10.0 TR 9.0)

VL - Victor Lucas
SJ - Scott Jones
TR - Tom Russo

[Koleax]

I know. :) I meant it should have been generally accepted as GoTY by everybody, lol.

[Syntek]

Good to hear he's a Wiper. :+

Ok, I know you're refering to wipeout, but my god, I laughed. I'm glad he wipes too. :P

[Lance]

Yeah, if he didn't get that rain off his windshield, he might hit somebody. :g

[Kyonshi]

Well, it's not that hard to beat NFS: Shi(f)t anyway :P

I'm even wondering why this piece of crap has been considered as a finalist :lol

[OBH]

Easy victory. wipeoutHD is the first truely great racing game since need for speed underground 2 in my opinion :)

[siriusbee]

It's really bad when the insult is that you aren't even a driving game at all. You don't have to worry about friction on the road.

[Lance]

A car is just a hovercraft that holds itself off the ground with wheels.

[SonicChaos]

I agree with that statement. You do have to pilot or "drive" the vehicle do you not?

[Lance]

Exactly. Whatever vehicle you're controlling, whether it's a car, a railway locomotive, an aeroplane, a hovercraft, a hydrofoil speedboat, a pickup truck, or a Tie fighter, you're driving it. No matter what type of control inputs and output actions of the vehicle, the object is still to control it to maximum effect. Even if the vehicle is NiGHTS. :D Okay, maybe I went a step too far with that one.

[eLhabib]

So basically you're saying that games like Heroes over Europe and IL2-Sturmovik should be eligible for Best Driving Game 2009?! errrr... NO.

[HydrogLox]

In those games the "vehicles" and their "operators" are not constrained by any type of track (short of avoiding the ground). Also the mission objectives rarely revolve around the notion of completing laps in a minimal amount of time. Now the differentiation would be harder with an Air Racer like NGEN Racing but planes still have a much greater degree of freedom in the third dimension. Anti-Gravity Racing may be compared to flying - but anyone who has been shoved over the edge of Sol 2 knows that AG craft have the glide path of a rock.

[SaturnReturn]

A car is just a hovercraft that holds itself off the ground with wheels.

I almost made a foolish mistake there, until I realised you said off the ground. Although I won't bother going 'there' with that one. ;)

They could have just called the category "Best Racing Game" and saved a whole lot of pedantry. :D

[Lance]

Exactly. They should have defined their category with a bit of thought beforehand.