accolades, gripes and comments(exactly what it says it is)

[Pirhana59]

I have just received this game two days ago and let me tell you, before I got it I wasn't knowing what to expect..Before I got XL, I had gotten Wipeout 3 as my first exposure to the wipeout series so..I was hoping it wasn't just the same game with different tracks..And I was right. The tracks are varied and not all in the form of a racetrack (Spiltskinanke...Odessa Keys etc) I love the environments that the tracks give you, and just as W3 did, they feel like more than just a racetrack, like they have their own feel to them and everything.. :lol: Hopefully I am not the only person that understands what i mean by this... Anyways..I think overall the presentation and layout is better in XL, the menus are better the loading screen is better, its kinda cool to see where the developers say each track is located..and how when you choose them they give you a breakdown of what the track is like( a feature not in wipeout 3, but you get the idea after you race it a few times..) SO..without further ado:

GRIPES

The energy trails look much better in XL however i wish that they would've have been different colors kinda like W3. though I just know someone is gonna say this..so let me clear this up. I realize that XL was made before W3 and W3 had different colors I am solely stating my opinions about the game. I realize this was a prequel to 3.

I wonder if I am the only person who thinks this. But the ships all kinda look the same, they have bland colors and sometimes it seems the only difference between qirex and auricom is that one is purple and the other isn't. I also do not like the fact that Piranha is the SUPER SHIP. C'mon....Perfect shield, speed, and handling? Ummm...no. The idea of each ship having different strengths was good, and allowed for each person to have their personal favorite craft..( i.e some people love Icaras in 3 even though a grain of salt handles better, but it is so blazingly fast..)

Overall graphics seem dark and gloomy. Sagarmatha and Valipariso are lighter but the overall look is dark..

ACCOLADES

Well, the energy trails are nice looking..

The tracks are sweet...very in depth.

The speed for this game is amazing, taking into consideration it was made in 1996..Wow.

Challenge Modes were intuitive...Shame you could beat both challenges on the first try..but..

Overall nice presentation and the good far outweighs the bad.

When I first heard that W3 was the first Wipeout game to support analog, I was thinking that switching from the nice smooth fluid feel of the analog stick would suck to have to use directional buttons..But the ships handle quite nicely, even for only using those buttons.

The weapons are alot cooler and animations when you explode and weapon animations far exceed the minimal detail for them in W3.

RANDOM COMMENTS

Well, the idea of this post was to get alot of questions out without making numerous other posts..so thats why this is here.. (APOLOGIES TO MODERATORS ON THE WIP3OUT BOARD) So anyways, the main comment I have is..After two days of playing and unlocking Piranha... That's it? Is there anything else to unlock? Well I do wonder what the Password feature is for "Progression Mode" unless thats just for people who don't have Memory Cards..which i guess is nice..

Anyways, that's all, now I have it off my back and if anyone feels the same about some areas or can help me with some inquiries, or can tell me about the Password thing..Please do.

-Piranha59

[Myke_AG_Sys™]

"its kinda cool to see where the developers say each track is located.."

In Wipeout 3 the tracks are all located in the same city. Password option is to benefit those without a memory card. I loved the rocket and missile effects in XL(2097 round my way[PAL]). Dark environment is by no means bad. The last two tracks were great. Pirhana is a wasted reward....

I'm hard pressed to say which game I enjoy most... they are both of exceptional quality.

-Myke

[Wiseman]

In Wipeout they gave even more info about the track, including what the track surface was made of, and it showed you 3 different views of the track (profile, perspective and another I can't remember) so you could get a good idea of where the tracks hills/dips where. Heck, they even told you how high the highest point of the track was. :lol

As the Wipeout's progressed, track information got less and less.

[Brother Laz]

Hehe... highest point of the track. They also say that in 2097. Did you know Sagarmatha (= Mt Everest) is only 220 m above sea level? Gare d'Europe 179 m (yeah... highest point is at the top of that small hill coming out of a metro tunnel. Unless the whole place is floating 150 m above the ground...)

As for it being short: that's what the others meant. :) WO3 has the WOZ record tables to (try and) beat... and WO1 is way way harder. The challenge in 2097 after you win is to find the best places to jump over hills and skip whole sections of the track. :) Found the major shortcuts on Talon's Reach and Sagarmatha yet? :)

The difference between the Auricom and Qirex is small because otherwise ppl would not use the Qirex at all like in WO1. In WO1 there is no point in using anything else than an AG-Systems. It handles nearly as good as a FEISAR but doesn't over-react to speed arrows (which makes Silverstream needlessly hard), is way faster, and the two other ships are useless.