2048 vs HD vs pulse vs pure physics

[JABBERJAW]

PHYSICS: which of the games physics do you like the best, in order of preference, and WHY you chose the way you did. This is not meant to be an argument thread :). Before you list your preference, list your age, and all the versions of wipeout you have played, by title and version

Age: 43

GAMES

Wipeout 1................Pal NTSC,sat,pc
Woxl,2097...............ps1,pc,Mac
Wo64......................pal, NTSC
Wo3..................... ..NTSC, pal, 3se
Fusion.....................pal, NTSC
Pure........................us,euro,Japan,Asia,Kor ean
Pulse.......................us, euro
HD..........................ALL THE SAME
2048.......................all the same

#1....WIPEOUT 2048...I like 2048 the most, because the ship slides a lot. It is hard to keep control, BUT you can keep control. You need to take corners properly using pitch, and turn placement, and it is extremely satisfying to nail it correctly. It requires far more practice than the other three to nail a great lap.

#2.....WIPEOUT PURE... I like the sliding in this as well, and the wall physics slow you down if you want to be a wall rider. I like 2048 more because the pure ships feel a little stiff in comparison when you play them back to back

#3....WIPEOUT HD.......while the physics are dialed in, it doesn't slide enough for my taste, but the wall physics are horrendous as they dont slow you down enough. I remember running straight into the last wall in cheng rev, going backwards for a bit, then still only .5 seconds behind my other laps. Also you can scrape pretty hard and keep up your speed if you turn off the wall quick enough.

# 4...WIPEOUT PULSE.. while the slowdown for wall physics is good, and the pitch control in the air is also good, the game is far too grippy with the steering and turning for my tastes. I still like the game, but just too much control

[yeldar2097]

21

WO (PS1 - PAL, PSN)
2097/WOXL (PS1, PC)
WO3SE (PCSX2 Emu)
Fusion (PS2 - PAL, PCSX2 Emu - PAL)
Pure (PSP - US/EU)
Pulse (PSP - US/EU)
HD (PS3)
2048 (PSV)

#1 - Pure: Floaty, bouncy, fun, playful loveliness...and if the BR you're trying to pull off actually works, weee ^_^. It's a real smile-bringer this one, all I need to say really. Only game besides WO/2097/WOXL that does it.

#2 - HD: Kinda had to be. I get on well with the physics in this game. There are some flaws (dem collision physics in general), and it doesn't feel very WipEout, but it feels like it could be, if that makes sense. In the same way that the physics always seem as if they could make real world sense, despite whole AG side of things. It makes sense to and feels quite quite lovely at times. I also love how each of the ships feel so dynamic and different as you put them through their paces, although that's probably just me noticing it more as I've spent more hours with HD than the other 3.

#3 - Pulse: The weight of the ships never sat too well with me in this game, and it's a little too direct for my liking. Just feels a bit like the weight is slightly in the wrong place or something, can't quite put my finger on it. That said, I think the physics overall do work well in conjunction with the rest of the package. All that twisty-turniness needs a bit of Eurofighter.

#4 - 2048: I abhor the physics in this game like no other (not helped by everything else that I hate about it), I'd rather play fusion. Hell, I'd rather play Fatal Inertia. The ship slides, but in the wrong way. They glide, but in the wrong way. They steer in the wrong way. It's not a dislike because it makes it difficult to predict or to play, in fact it's quite the opposite. I just can't find any joy in it while I play it. Similar to the issue I have with Pulse, the weighting of the ships and the way in which they handle as a result is completely off in my opinion. The whole setup feels like a bad impression of what it wants to be, and tbh a bit juvenile to me... butmaybe that's just because the sport is in it's infancy ;)

[Temet]

Age : 32

*** Played ***
WipEout (PS1 - PAL - regular controller)
WipEout 2097 (PS1 - PAL - regular controller / ePSXe)
WipEout 64 (a friend's N64, 1 time ^^)
Wip3out (PS1 - PAL - regular controller)
Wip3out SE (PS1 - PAL - regular controller / ePSXe)
WipEout Fusion (PS2 - PAL ... 1 or 2 races thanks to Leungbok)
WipEout Pure (PSP - EU)
WipEout Pulse (PSP - EU)
WipEout HD/Fury (PS3 - BR version)
WipEout 2048 (PSVita)


#1 : WipEout Pure. It's the closest to the old WipEouts. SS were more or less useless and it was not possible to chain BRs. It was still a racing game, not an acrobatic one. I'm not a good Pure player strangely ^^

#2 : WipEout Pulse. I don't have real explanation, I just had fun with this one even it has been the end of airbrakes that are brakes...

#3 : WipEout HD. It's like Pulse but perverted by SS and BRs chaining. Fortunately, Phantom class is less affected with these ones.

#4 : WipEout 2048. Why? I just feel that the pitch has gone, I can't fly anymore. Regarding the gameplay, it's my favorite one among the 4... but taking into account specifically the physics, well, I prefer the others.
That's strange, I had no idea about this before your topic Al :)

EDIT : sorry Al, I understood wrongly... and I wrote "2048" instead of "2097" as my favorite !!!!
But still, I prefer 2097 physics :p

[JABBERJAW]

@ temet, just the last 4 games are ranked :). Could you edit that post. Thanks

The list of games and age is for analysis much later

[MrSmadSmartAlex]

Age: 30

Games:
WipEout (PS1 - PAL)
2097 (PS1 - PAL)
Wip3out SE (PS1 - PAL)
Fusion (PS2 - PAL)
Pure (PSP - EU)
Pulse (PSP - EU, NA (as far as I can tell, they're the same, except for the save bug and title screen), PS2 - PAL (only briefly, but it sucked))
HD Fury

#1 - Pulse: Well I was obviously going to choose this, wasn't I? :D
I can see how fans of the old games might find the handling too direct in this, but I think it totally suits the tracks, speed, and general frantic feel here. I like the way the ships don't feel heavy, probably due to the very high thrust (which is great) and direct handling. The ships all feel very different and pretty well-balanced to me, but that might just be because I've played it so much. The walls... it's good that they slow you down, but Pulse also suffers from "sticky walls", which can be very frustrating. That's about the only real criticism I have of the physics.

#2 - Pure: There are plenty of flaws in this game, but as Yeldar says, it's simply fun to play. It has a cool slidey feel to it, although I don't like the way the ships all seem to pivot from the centre; feels cheap to me. The almost non-existent thrust is good and bad; it's a great feeling to manage to keep your momentum (that's the real fun of Pure to me) by hitting speed pads, staying off the walls, taking lines that minimise speed loss, using turbos in the right place, and throwing the right BRs in, but it's also annoying when you get hit by a weapon or rammed by another ship, as you stop dead for about 10 minutes.

#3 - HD Fury: I'm not a big fan of the physics in this game, to be honest. I've said this before, but to me, it feels too much like I'm driving an invisible car with a ship on a spring attached to the top :lol. I also find the massive slowdown after weapons hits very frustrating. I know it's bad in Pulse and Pure too, but it's so much worse here. All the ships feel almost the same to me, but that's probably just the reverse of what Yeldar said about it, as I've only spent about 30 hours or so on this game. I'm sure I'd appreciate whatever subtleties the physics have if I put a lot of hours into it.

Haven't tried 2048 yet, but I can tell from the videos I've seen that it'd be competing for #3 with HD Fury. I like the look of the high speed and the way you can build up momentum (that's how it looked in FBJ's video anyway), but the physics look a bit weird to me. Don't know how to describe it.

[amplificated]

Not quite sure why this is in the HD thread rather than a more general subforum, nor have I played Pulse, but I'll play...

Not going to list my age

Games in series I've played more than a few minutes' worth:
WipEout 3 SE
WipEout Pure
WipEout HD
WipEout 2048

#1-HD
My first real WipEout. While very different to how I remembered previous games way back on the PS1, it was easy to get into and had naturally good handling which, upon further familiarisation, opened new opportunities in gameplay. I think it has great progression in this regard, and it's incredibly rewarding. For people not used to the series, I think it can offer a great and unique snapshot of what WipEout can possibly achieve in terms of gameplay.

The gameplay is not perfect however, IMO there are slight flaws regarding collision physics and also some issues regarding the general AG nature of the racing. I also think some of the gamemodes on offer work against the potential gameplay, such as single race, eliminator, and others which could be considered a waste of time as they simply go in a completely different direction than what I see the prime draw of WipEout (the gameplay/handling), such as Detonator.

#2-Pure
Haven't completed it, but unlocked up to Rapier before I got 2048. If I had to sum the gameplay up into one word, I'd say it's "lethargic". It can be very slow to get going, the handling is slow, even the AI is slow ;). That said, it's not bad, it has a certain groove to it that is appreciable.

I think HD took the BR half of the equation on offer in Pure and dialled up the intensity and streamlined the controls to something very different, more accessible, and deeper.

#3-2048
After HD's gameplay achievements, 2048 I feel took a step in a different direction for no good reason. While a handheld is not the place where you're going to surpass HD's subtleties, 2048 seemed to be a haphazardly strewn together mix of HD's directness and a hark back to "slideyness" as part of the game's metaphoric "return to roots" alluded to in the game's title.

While playable, I think it's an exercise in frustration as you are required to constantly fight the ship and avoid serious track issues such as invisible walls, malfunctioning magstrips, and wipespread dodgy collision detection.

Gone is HD's depth: the capabilities of what you could do in a ship are slashed or made much harder to execute, granted in part due to the Vita's controls, but also due to the new gameplay model; such as sideshifting being drastically altered, new physics in general, and even track design - at times it seems as though the tracks are just a half-way attempt at being a BR playground or a speed circuit. That progression seen in HD just doesn't seem possible in 2048- it's not about finding new things, it's about memorising the more basic but harder to handle abilities you already have.

I just don't see what 2048 has to offer for fans of HD. IMO, it's a black sheep that should be conceptually abandoned for potential future games in the series.

I'm not saying 2048 is entirely without merit - just that all of its good qualities were better realised in other games in the series already.

[leungbok]

I think it's an exercise in frustration as you are required to constantly fight the ship and avoid serious track issues such as invisible walls
ECS cages like in pulse ! ;)

[amplificated]

Never played Pulse, but they probably sucked there too!

[username]

Age: 21

#1. Wipeout 2097.
This version of wipeout had my favourite physics engine. I love the way the ship bounces as if on a magnetic cushion. Also, I love the way the speed works - it almost seems to have a run-away effect.
I also like the way the thrust slowly builds up and down.

#2. Wip3out.
I also like the physics in this game, but they seem more toned down than in 2097. The bounces are more damped (which I don't like), but it does have the nice slowly building and falling thrust guage, and the handling is almost as tight as in 2097.

#3. HD.
Generally, I am not fond of the physics in HD. The bouncing is too damped to even be noticable, and I strongly dislike the way the ship ALWAYS crashes into the deck with a shower of sparks after every single slight jump. However, they are still far better than fusion, so HD makes its place in at third for me.

[JABBERJAW]

Those were not the choices for the comparison