WipEout Fusion

WipEout Fusion is an original anti-gravity combat racing video game developed by Studio Liverpool for the PlayStation® 2. It introduced controversial design decisions that were removed in WipEout Pure. The game features original tracks and ships. It is the fourth mainline installment in the WipEout series, and was well-received by critics when it first released.

The player competes in the F9000 Racing League, piloting anti-gravity racing ships that float above the circuits at high speeds. These anti-gravity racing ships are able to obtain and use various Pickups to disrupt other players or assist the pilot. Like all WipEout games, WipEout Fusion focuses on delivering high-speed, high-thrills combat racing action.

It was released on DVD for:

• PAL regions including Europe and the UK: February 8, 2002;
• NTSC-U regions including North and Central America: June 17, 2002.

WipEout Fusion is fast and precise; it requires strategy and resource management with Pickups and Shield Energy, and it rewards track knowledge with piloting skills.

While WipEout Fusion's gameplay differs based on the Game Modes, there are common elements that make up the WipEout experience in this entry. This section focuses on these common elements.

Ships float in WipEout Fusion. This is an important distinction to make for anyone coming over from car racing games. Unlike in the previous WipEout titles, Fusion changed to a physics system often referred to as “floorhugging”. Ships still slide and drift around when cornering as before, but where previous games had a more loose gravitational effect that allows skilled pilots to easily gain significant height over the track from even the smallest of hills and bumps, the ships in Fusion now remain locked at a fixed height above the track surface, regardless of gradient or orientation, and there are very few “scripted” opportunities that exist to float higher above the track or go over jumps.

According to an interview from Lead Designer regarding pre-release and development, this floorhugging effect may have been a placeholder for what was initially intended, as magnetic-locking sections similar to those featured in Pulse are suggested to have been implemented for loops and inverted track segments. However the case though, this never made it to the final product due to technical limitations.

( describe handling)

The handling consists of the following mechanics:

Press and hold the Accelerate button (mapped by default to Cross) to speed up.

The player can also get a speed boost at the start of the race by performing a Perfect Start. The moment the countdown reaches “GO”, press and hold the Accelerate button.

Control your ship through D-Pad or Analog Stick inputs - Steer it left and right, and Pitch it up and down.

• Steering is the basic way to control the direction of your craft.
• Pitching is useful for getting more airtime or reducing it. Excessive airtime loses speed.

Airbrakes are a way to turn more aggressively. When an airbrake is engaged, a flap is raised on one side of the ship, increasing that side's air resistance, which helps steer the craft in that direction. They are activated by holding down the Left Airbrake and Right Airbrake buttons (mapped by default to L and R respectively).

At higher speeds, Airbrakes are essential to complete most turns. Ignoring them is a big mistake, but so is overusing them. Using both at the same time will slow the ship down like a normal brake; however, using them to simply turn doesn't drop the craft's speed much.

Pickups, also known as Items or Weapons (despite the category not being limited to them), are helpful power-ups that a pilot can obtain by going over a Weapon Pad. Only one can be held by a pilot at a time; when equipped, they get the choice to either ditch it, or to use it (mapped by default to R1 to use a pickup and Square for discarding the pickup).

WipEout Fusion has 26 Pickups. Each one is unique - having their own use cases, varying degrees of usefulness.

Ships in WipEout Fusion have Shield Energy. It is a resource that represents the structural integrity of your ship. This energy is reduced by colliding with walls or other players, getting hit by Weapons or by going out-of-bounds. Shield Energy can also be restored, for example, by going into the pit-lane.

Shield Energy management is an important skill in WipEout Fusion. Getting stingy will get you eliminated, setting you way back in the best case, or even failing the event entirely in the worst case. In a feature which makes its only appearance in this game, losing Shield Energy also negatively impacts the flight characteristics of your ship (provided the Damage Simulation option is enabled in game settings).

Unlike other games in the series, Shield Energy is displayed as-is on the HUD, with maximum shield energy varying between teams and pilots. When it gets below 0, the ship fucking explodes lmao

This is the last game to feature Pit-lanes. Going in it recharge your shield energy at the cost of reducing your speed while in the pit-lane.

These arrow-shaped panels on the track's floor will give the ship a burst of speed when flown over. The speed boost is gained rapidly and will decrease back to cruise velocity over a few moments.

Speed Pads can be placed alone or in series, stacked horizontally or vertically, placed in challenging spots or next to Weapon Pads. Hitting one likely won't change the outcome of the race, but hunting them reliably will give the skilled pilot a competitive edge. Combined with their colorful counterpart, Speed Pads also introduce an element of split-second strategy to the race.

When flown over, Weapon Pads give the player a random Pickup. They shift colors over time and are cross-shaped. In Arcade and AG League, they will be disabled for a few seconds after someone flies over them.

Weapon Pads also introduce strategy to the race, along with elements of resource management and randomness. A lucky Pickup could single-handedly change the outcome of the race in a split second; neglecting them in favor of going faster will compromise the pilot's Shield Energy.

WipEout Fusion presents a choice between different ways to pick the Game Mode:

• Single Player
  
• Multiplayer
  

( review)

WipEout Fusion features 8 racing teams competing in the F9000 Racing League.

When picking a ship, the game's menu presents you with six of the ship's stats: Speed, Thrust, Lateral Stability, Braking Force, Weapon Power and Shield. Though these frontend stats represent the ship somewhat, they are strong simplifications of the ships' actual (or, as the community dubbed them, secret) stats. Actual stats are more complex and precisely dictate how each ship handles and feels.

Below is a list of the participating teams. Each title links to the section that describes the WipEout Fusion ships.

Below is a list of the game's racetracks. Each title links to the section that describes the WipEout Fusion tracks. Each tracks have 3 courses and reverse variants.

The game takes place in the F9000 Racing League.

add the lore

Out of the DVD, WipEout Fusion has 19 music tracks to race to:

• The Future Sound of London - Papua New Guinea (Hybrid mix);
• Brainiac - Neuro;
• Blades & Naughty G - Beats Defective;
• BT - Smartbomb (Plump DJs remix);
• Cut La Roc - Bassheads;
• JDS - Punk Funk;
• Elite Force - Krushyn;
• Elite Force & Nick Ryan - Switchback;
• Amethyst - Blue Funk;
• Utah Saints - Sick;
• Plump DJs - Big Groovy Funker;
• Humanoid - Stakker Humanoid 2001 (Plump DJs 2001 Retouch);
• Timo Maas - Old School Vibes;
• Luke Slater - Bolt Up;
• Orbital - Funny Break (Plump DJs remix);
• Bob Brazil - Big Ten;
• Intuative - Wav Seeker;
• Hong Kong Trash - Down the River (Torrential Rapids mix);
  • Credits refer to it as : hkt2001 extreme remix.
• MKL - Synthaesia.

In addition, 2 tracks are used in the intro and main menu respectively:

• Rik Ede - ;^[1]
• Nightmares On Wax - Bleu My Mind (Wipe Mix).^[1]
  • To be exact, the main menu use a 16 second loop of it.
  • Credited as : bleu my (wipe mix).

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WipEout X … Gravity Suck Demo …

1. According to https://www.mobygames.com/game/5948/wipeout-fusion/credits/ps2/.