The game that made the first PlayStation was wipEout. It’s not the sort of thing you can argue about. The appearance of the flimsy grey box in nightclubs, with a 3D graphics futuro-racer pumping techno beats out of it, re-introduced the concept of videogames to a demographic who thought they’d grown out of them.

But it wasn’t just about trendy marketing manipulation. The first wipEout was an excellent game, a sweaty-handed racer in the tradition of the greatest racing games. Relentlessly ... more >>

The game that made the first PlayStation was wipEout. It’s not the sort of thing you can argue about. The appearance of the flimsy grey box in nightclubs, with a 3D graphics futuro-racer pumping techno beats out of it, re-introduced the concept of videogames to a demographic who thought they’d grown out of them.

But it wasn’t just about trendy marketing manipulation. The first wipEout was an excellent game, a sweaty-handed racer in the tradition of the greatest racing games. Relentlessly fast and unforgiving to the clumsy, it also featured Mario Kart style weapons to take out opponents with.

So what better game to herald the arrival of the ultra trendy PSP than a new wipEout? There surely isn’t one. wipEout Pure is the name of this new version. Thrown once again into the violent future of 2197, participate in the FX300 racing league in your very own anti-gravity racing machine. Choose from one of eight different hovercraft and prepare yourself for a sensory overload.

Just like the original, you’ll be bombarded with pumping music (nothing generic neither: tracks by Aphex Twin, LFO and Plump DJs feature) and assailed by the spectacle of the impossibly fast and deadly life or death competition. And not only will you race round 12 completely new tracks, the game’s famous lineage is further hammered home with the inclusion of four original tracks from back in the day.

The game will also feature downloadable content, and you’ll be able to zap new cars and tracks into your PSP using magic of some sort. A similar sort of magic allows you to race against up to seven other PSP owners, impromptu, wherever you like. With updates of wipEout having had varying success since the release of the sublime original, finally we have a title that does the legacy justice, on a new stage to rekindle some of that excitement we first felt back in the 90s. << less