10 Things I hate about WipEout 3

[Ally]

I know this isn't a *love* thread but oh well - hijacked I really think that Wip3out is there beside Final Fantasy VII in gaming perfection. The best videogame experience I've ever had. Still listen to that soundtrack.

[Lance]

Wayne Imlach, the project head for WO3, and the rest of the crew at the Leeds studio, would appreciate the praise if they read it.

[I wonder if hate threads have a rule that says "If you can't say something bad, don't say anything at all. ]

[Darkdrium777]

Well saying good things on a "hate" thread (And it's not a hate thread per-se, just listing cons) would take it off topic.
So yeah, there's kind of a rule...

And then there's this.

[willsgb13]

1. The ships aren't balanced... Feisar and Goteki I'm looking at you. :/
2. Some really bad track design in some places... gah. I feel like the ships weren't made for the the same game (Granted I'm no expert but there's no ****ing way you land that jump on Mega Mall smoothly. And then that turn, omfg.)
3. Tedious. Mind numbingly tedious.
4. Doesn't appropriately save settings. Why do I have to go back there and set my default name all the time? Also, after I watch the replay, I got to enter it again if I make a record time!

1. fair point, but in wipeout and 2097, auricom and qirex were markedly better then feisar and ag-systems, amirite? and i managed all golds, all speed classes on 3, took a while and a long learning of each craft and track but i did it, feisar and goteki were the weak links but they weren't fodder, they had their own identities to add to the fray
2. are you talking about the jump after the helter skelter? tip the nose up, not too different to one of the metropias on pulse. if you mean another jump, elaborate and i'll try to answer you again, like a ninja
3. it is repetitive and exhaustive in single race mode, with so many golds to get, but that's a point more subjective then objective; i for example enjoyed it
4. all of the points you make under number 4 are valid and unfortunate flaws.

I know this isn't a *love* thread but oh well - hijacked I really think that Wip3out is there beside Final Fantasy VII in gaming perfection. The best videogame experience I've ever had. Still listen to that soundtrack.

yes, i grew up with 3 so i can relate, and the soundtrack is outstanding. and FF7 is more of an epic experience then a computer game, too, not to mention having a soundtrack of memorably brilliant proportions too. the PS has some great titles to its name besides even these, too.

Wayne Imlach, the project head for WO3, and the rest of the crew at the Leeds studio, would appreciate the praise if they read it.

[I wonder if hate threads have a rule that says "If you can't say something bad, don't say anything at all. ]

if mr imlach and anyone else is perchance reading this, you guys enriched my childhood and your game made a lasting impression on my life. thank you

and DD, i think it's fine to put good points, if they are in response to negatives suggested, due to the discussion that can generate

[SonicChaos]

True, It also has issues saving my controller set up. Seems to switch the fire and HT buttons on me all the time. As for default name you have to go into it hit x til your name is in and THEN it will appear all the time. I also love auto load instead of manually having to do it in the regualr 3.

[Task]

As for default name you have to go into it hit x til your name is in and THEN it will appear all the time.

Yes. If you then also save your game, every time you load your game you'll have the default name in already.
First thing I ever did with W3O was adjust all the settings and save my game. I've never had any of the complaints that some people have. 8 )

[SonicChaos]

Yes. If you then also save your game, every time you load your game you'll have the default name in already.

Nope that doesn't work for me at all. I've tried it at least 6 times and nothing saves. Your copy must be extra special.

[WolfKill01]

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED HERE?! I THOUGHT THIS WAS A HATE THREAD!! Oh well, hostile takeover.
Thanks for that HUGE list of the stuff SE has to offer, sonicchaos. 2 new prototype tracks AND a new ship to race with. I could have some fun with that.

Wip3out has a great design, some cool ships (Assegai and Goteki are very wonderful).

I'm beginning to take a liking to the Assegai and i've alwas loved the Goteki. Not sure why, it's just such an excellent looking ship, it's really fun on eliminator too.

WipEout 3 is still the best wipeout for me thus far. Even though I haven't played wipeout for weeks

[SonicChaos]

I've been leaning toward HD lately. things seem to work better for me, but I'll come back to 3 every once in awhile.

[WolfKill01]

I'm posting from a friend's house whom has a ps3. He just got through downloading fury and we're gonna play it here in a second. We played regular HD quite extensivly earlier today. I was actually able to fly my icaras and not blow up! We started out slow on venom but I'm doing pretty well on phantom now. At least on a couple tracks. I'm sorry but 3 is STILL holding that special place in my heart, and I don't think it's going anywhere.

[SonicChaos]

Same here, but HD is now my current favorite. Just wait until you play Fury.

[tileon]

I HATE, HATE, HATE, HATE!... That not every WipEout is pure perfection like Wip3out was.

• The intro and menus is cold genius european snobish minimalist good taste, it was althemore great that it generated such hatred... Menus were cool. You couldn't read them, but they were cool.
• The advertising campain was uber cool. I've been trying to find promotional posters, but... couldn't I would pay a shitload for the Auricom Poster.
• GREAT, consistent track design (in terms of visual design). Dark tunnels were WAY too dark though. You really were under the impression of racing in a city, in an urban, contemporary (not futuristic) setting. Pulse and HD are clearly over-the-top.
• The tracks were great! 90° left on Hi-Fumi, then the bottleneck... And Megamall which was impossible... Stanza inter! And P-mar Project and its chicanes!! Great, great, GREAT GAME!!!
• The woozing (I know that's not a word )sound of the ships... floaty warped breath!
• The soundtrack, the best yet.
• HD graphics!! (HD for the time) Amazing looking for a PSone game, and hasn't aged so much!
• This is a TRUE wipeout, by Psygnosis. I love Pure Pulse and HD, but the physics of WipEout on PSP/PS3 can never equal the sweet thrill of Psygnosis games.. You could break left to go right, it was delicate and complex and nuanced gameplay... like flying!
• Special Edition!!!
• Replays
• Hyperthrust made the game tactical like it is today. Speeds where brain-ripping!
• The lady's voice.
• Overall I prefer it because everyone is so infatuated with XL... I find 2097 kitsh.

[SonicChaos]

Meh I prefer 3 over XL/2097 personally. Still everyone has a favorite and WO3 isn't exactly perfect with it's invisible walls.

[willsgb13]

ah well, pulse has the walls, to protect the spectators and the places the tracks snake through, that one just made the walls visible

it is annoying on sampa run or p mar project on phantom when you go into a big jump or fly over a big drop or hill and you misjudge it slightly, go into the aforementioned invisible wall and ruin your smooth flight

i hear the special edition eliminated them though; i need a copy of that one

[SonicChaos]

Yea it did. i still ne a PAL to NTSC Converter to play it.

[Haywire_Guy]

Rly only didnt like 3 things about this generally awesome game:

1. No Playstation wheel support!! Like, why doesnt the greatest racing game for the PS1 have no wheel support??!! Even Wipeout 2097, Wipeout 1 and Wipeout Fusion i "inherited" from my elder brother worked perfectly with ye 'old PS2 wheel. Why not Wip3out?

2. No PS3 support! being one of the last few PS1 game released it came with a piracy block that modern day PAL PS3's cannot overcome since the only emulate the software. Was hoping theyd release a patch for this someday but its been shrinking ever since the PS website took it off their compatibility list. (they had it on there before, not sure why)

3. Lastly dont like the menu much, but thats rly just a minor complaint. looks to drab gray to me, liked the blue iconised menu of 2097 and the modern HD menus best. Fusion menu kinda sucked too.

[MiguelX69]

didn't had the chance to try older games... just wip3out was my first one... actually my first game ever... and i liked it... personally i like pulse more than pure... dont know how to explain but... anyways the best one is HD... best game in the world (for me at least) and only until the next wipeout

[Dan Locke]

I realize that it's kind of silly to rebut a two-year-old post, but I feel compelled to defend my favorite racing game ever.

Right off the bat, you have the WORST intro ever. Not just among Wipeout games, but... ever. In any game. I honestly thought my game was defective, but then... no. The music doesn't fit - certainly not inspiring (like the original), not sweat-inducing (like XL), and not pure and awesome (like Pure). I guess the team logo part was cool, but then... "Piranha" was misspelled. Seriously, what the hell?

I know, right? Who asked for a fake-looking explosion played backwards in slo-mo? And who's the idiot who put the H after the R in Piranha? It's the kind of mistake that a third-grader would make.

Next, you have the hard-to-read, confusing, ugly-as-sin menu. Let's be honest - it could have been done on the NES. No track previews for the sake of "simplicity?" Lame. And why can't I hit up or down on the d-pad to actually select the track and ship, even though it sure LOOKS like I can? Instead I have to hit left and right, which is... kinda stupid. Who would have thought functionality only got WORSE in the future?

True, the menus were awful. I like the visual aesthetic, but there isn't anything approaching good ergonomics.

Then if you manage to get a race started without wanting to kill yourself, you realize that most of the tracks are also extremely ugly with their dark, drab colors. And maybe it's just my monitor, but all that darkness made the game literally unplayable as early as... well, Porto Kora (moreso, anyway).

It has to be your monitor. (You're playing on an emulator?) Porto Kora is actually quite bright, in a sort of late-afternoon way. Even the darkest tracks like Sampa Run and Manortop have plenty of lights to keep everything clear - they're certainly brighter than most of the tracks in the first two games!

No actual lap display. Because nice, big numbers would have been too easy on the eyes, especially in the middle of the race.

Actually, there is a lap display. The little blue and gray rectangles near the bottom are the lap counter. I agree that it wouldn't have hurt to use bigger numbers, though - it's pretty much impossible to read those things during an actual race, unless you're on a straightaway and have time to look down.

The ships are TOO quiet. Dammit, I LIKED that subtle "fizzzzz" in XL. There's almost none of that in 3. There's not even a sound for Hyper-thrust, so I don't even feel like I'm going hyper-fast.

Fizz? The engines in Wipeout XL hiss like airliners.

Personally, I have no trouble hearing them. And you can turn up the sound effects if you can't hear them well.

Crappy weapons. Force wall? Reminds me of Wipeout 1 when you'd successfully hit a ship with your rocket, only to create a huge roadblock that you'd have to try REALLY hard to avoid. Reflector? So for 10 seconds or so, I'm supposed to switch from "please oh please don't hit me omg" to "HA HA!! Hit me now! But only RIGHT NOW and for the next few seconds, and NOT with Mines!" More often than not, it seems to be there just so the computer can legitimately stop you from using Energy Drain. And Cloak? Who cares. Just more weapons I have to cycle through in order to get the not-as-satisfying Quake or the now-ugly Rockets...

Crappy weapons? As in, every weapon from Wipeout XL, minus the Electrical Bolt (which was annoying to be hit with and unsatisfying to use) and Thunder Bomb (which was essentially the same as the Quake, but not as cool), and with some new weapons to add more variety? Sure, the Deflector is nearly useless, but the Cloak is cool and the Energy Wall is super-effective on large groups of enemies (and you can fly right through it, rendering your point false). And what makes the Quake "not-as-satisfying"? The fact that it doesn't blindfold you by staying right in front of your ship and blocking your vision? I always thought of that as an improvement. Also, it destroys mines now, and how can that be bad?

No ACTUAL Turbo means Hyper-thrust is required... which means as far as pickups go, the Energy Drain pickup is also the Turbo pickup... which makes Feisar suck.

FEISAR has sucked since the first game, and the Hyperthrust adds technical depth that the Boost never had.

The voice during the race tells you the weapon YOU got. Were people actually clamoring for this? So now when I'm about to get hit by a weapon, all I get is "WARNING!" It's just not as satisfying when you stop without knowing exactly what hit you. It's as though the computer just says, "HEY, YOU STOP NOW."

I know exactly what you mean. If you're going to tell me which weapon I got, at least have a different announcer tell me which weapon my opponents are using. In the old games, I'd put my shield up if I heard "Missile" or "Shockwave" and I'd just avoid being directly behind an opponent if I heard "Mines". I can't do that in Wipeout 3.

Really bad ping-pong effects. The slow Auto Pilot doesn't help things, either. I never realized how much I missed that THUNK from the original Wipeout.

The Autopilot has always been slow, and I think that scraping metal is more fitting than soap falling in a bathtub (which is what the old sound always seemed like to me).

And finally, UNLOCKING EVERYTHING IS A CHORE. Unlike in Wipeout Pure, I almost dreaded getting golds in Wipeout 3 because that just meant I'd just have to slug through more tracks with ships I really don't like.

I think that it was actually an improvement over Wipeout XL. That game only requires you to beat two tournaments, which takes less than an hour at most. Wipeout 3, on the other hand, requires you to excel in any possible situation before you can truly say that you've beaten it. It takes weeks to beat, and it eventually becomes second-nature. After you've beaten it, it still has the same stunning replayability as the other games in the series.

I'll admit that the game is not all bad. Music is opinion, as always, and while I did like most of it, I can't say that it was racing music. The fact that the music stayed during a pause or restart was nice, and the loading times were nice and quick.

Really? The soundtrack and loading times are the only things about Wipeout 3 that aren't bad? You've completely ignored:

1. The ships. Twice as many as in the other pre-Fusion games, but much better-looking (especially the Auricom, which looked hideous in Wipeout XL) and still distinct from each other. Each is suited to a particular playing style, and the Piranha (I refuse to misspell it) is actually useable!

2. The weapons. I can't believe that you painted them as a con. The pit lane in Wipeout XL was useless for two reasons: it was hard to lose a significant amount of health, and the Energy pickup never failed to bring your energy back in the pit lane's absence. Wipeout 3, on the other hand, fixes this: the Hyperthrust mechanism provides an incentive to have as much health as possible, and the energy pickup is much rarer and actually requires skill to use effectively. Gone are the Thunder Bomb and the Electrical Bolt, and, while I miss the former somewhat (although the Quake essentially made it redundant), I couldn't care less that the latter's gone (it's essentially a Missile with an ugly-looking wireframe effect, and it's frustrating when it hits you). On the other hand, there are plenty of new weapons: the Force Wall is a great idea with a cool effect, the Cloak is awesome when you're playing against a friend, and the Energy Drain adds a lot of depth. The only weapon that doesn't really work is the Deflector - it's too limited to be of any real use as a shield.

Also, the Plasma actually hits enemies now! Woo!

3. The track designs. Easily as good as Wipeout XL's, and with more unique scenery for each track, not to mention "special" areas that set each one apart from the rest (the corkscrew in Mega Mall, the 90-degree turns in Manortop).

4. The prototype courses. Like deleted scenes on the DVD release of a movie, but cooler! It's easy to see why they were cut from the final game - they aren't nearly up to par with the rest of the tracks - but it's neat that they're playable along with the "real" tracks.

5. The handling. In my opinion, it's the best that the series has to offer. It feels much smoother and more responsive than even Wipeout XL's, while being subtle and nuanced in a way that the other games can't match (certainly not Wipeout 64).

6. The game modes. It has all of the single races, tournaments, and time trials from the first two games, while adding Wipeout 64's challenge system, combat mode (as Eliminator), and split-screen multiplayer. All that it needs is a Zone mode to be perfect.

7. Split-screen multiplayer. I know that it's redundant to mention it, but it's really something that the other PlayStation games should have had. The only other pre-Wipeout Fusion game with that feature is Wipeout 64, and it doesn't count because it's on the N64. Seriously, though, it's a crime that the first two games don't have it.

8. The replay feature. It's cool to go back and relive a race's coolest moments after you've played it, and Wipeout 3 is the only game in the series (to my knowledge) that has this feature.

9. The graphics. Sorry, but it just has to be said. They're amazing.

Really, your complaints are almost entirely focused on the (admittedly awful) interface and a few of the sounds. The game's content, playability, and technical depth are what matter, and Wipeout 3 blows the other games away when it comes to those.

[willsgb13]

passionate stuff dan locke, and while i can't say that it's the best in the series as wipeout and 2097 broke more ground and for that are usually considered the best, 3 is still a top class game and one that brings back many good memories and has a lot of significance for me, and i largely agree with your rebuttals

[Dan Locke]

i can't say that it's the best in the series as wipeout and 2097 broke more ground and for that are usually considered the best

Yeah; I get the idea. For me, though, Wipeout 3 is the best game in the series because it's the most polished iteration of Wipeout XL's formula. Wipeout XL may have redefined the series, but Wipeout 3 perfected the design far beyond anyone's expectations.

It's sort of like the difference between F-Zero X and F-Zero GX: the former may have given the series its current character, but the latter went back and refined the formula while adding new and better content.