WipEout HD

WipEout HD Fury (Retail cover art)

WipEout HD is an original anti-gravity combat racing video game developed by Studio Liverpool for the PlayStation®3. It iterates on the gameplay established in WipEout Pure and WipEout Pulse, and features remade circuits and ship designs from both of these games. It is the seventh installment in the WipEout series, and was well-received when it first released.

The player competes in the FX350 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 HD focuses on delivering high-speed, high-thrills combat racing action.

The Gameplay, rules and the objective differ based on the Game Mode that the player chooses: WipEout HD offers 5 different modes, while the Fury expansion adds an additional 3. Both WipEout HD and the Fury expansion have their respective Campaigns.

It was released on September 25th, 2008^[1] exclusively on PlayStation®Store in North America and Europe. The Japanese digital release came out on October 29th, 2008^[1].

On July 23rd, 2009^[1], it received the Fury expansion pack.
The game, bundled with the Fury DLC, was also released on Blu-Ray:

• Europe: July 23rd, 2009^[1], the same date as the Fury DLC;
• Australia: October 15th, 2009^[1];
• Korea: October 16th, 2009^[1].
• The game was never physically released in North America.

High-skill piloting in WipEout HD

While WipEout HD's gameplay differs based on the Game Modes, there are common elements and traits that make up the WipEout experience in this entry. These elements are similar to previous games of the series - WipEout Pure and WipEout Pulse, with the latter having been developed alongside WipEout HD.

When starting the game, WipEout HD presents a choice between different ways to get into a race:

• Campaign mode, with a series of pre-configured events;
  
• Racebox, a way to configure a custom single player event;
  
• Online mode, taking Racebox to PlayStation Network with the limitation of only the multiplayer modes being available.

Racebox and Online allow the player to pick a track, while Campaign's tracks are preset. Regardless, the player gets to pick their Ship and start the race.

Once in-game and the 3-2-1-GO countdown is over, you're off to the races. Expect speed, precision, combat, or all of the above. There are some common mechanics and traits that can be found in the game modes:

(sideshifts and airbrakes)

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 Absorb it (ditch it in exchange for some Shield Energy), or to use it.

WipEout HD has 11 Pickups. Each one is unique - having their own use cases, varying degrees of usefulness, and even Absorbing for different amounts of Shield Energy. They are split into categories based on their nature.

Ships in WipEout HD have Shield Energy. It is a resource that represents the structural integrity of your ship. The starting point is 100% Energy, and when it gets below 0%, the ship fucking explodes lmao.

Shield Energy is reduced by colliding with walls or other players, getting hit by Weapons, going out-of-bounds, or by performing Barrel Rolls. There are also ways to restore the craft's Shield Energy: for example, in Single Races, it is restored by Absorbing Pickups.

Shield Energy management is an important skill in WipEout HD. Getting stingy will get you eliminated, setting you way back in the best case, or even failing the event entirely in the worst case. Having enough Ship Energy is also required to successfully perform Barrel Rolls, which are crucial^[2] for any high-skill pilot.

It is displayed in percentage points to the player; however, internally, Shield Energy is measured in units. Each Ship has a set capacity for energy units, with various Pickups replenishing set amounts of these units. The only thing that relies on energy percentage are the Barrel Rolls, with them always taking 15% of your Shield Energy when attempted. As such, ships with a lower Shield Energy stat are actually better for Barrel Roll-heavy gameplay: each Pickup the player Absorbs restores a higher percentage of these ships' energy.

Spin!

Barrel Rolls are tricks that you can perform while your ship is mid-air, awarding a speed boost if done correctly.

By pressing Left-Right-Left or Right-Left-Right on your steering input when mid-air, you can attempt a Barrel Roll for 15% of your Shield Energy. Your ship will attempt a 360° barrel roll, and if it completes before you land, you will get a quick burst of speed, not unlike a Speed Pad or a Turbo boost. If the ship lands before that happens, you will get disappointment, and your Shield Energy will be taken anyway. So you should probably be careful with that. It doesn't feel very nice, you know. You kind of just feel bad about your life when that happens.

Barrel Rolls are essential for high-level gameplay. They can be performed in spots other than the obvious drops through precise and clever maneuvers for just enough airtime. They enhance the resource management element of Shield Energy while testing the pilot's skill and directly rewarding them for good play.

Additionally, Barrel Rolls are closely related to Pitch control: pitching up can enable Barrel Rolls that would otherwise be impossible, and pitching down will decrease unwanted airtime - landing faster, wasting less time in the air and getting the speed boost sooner.

These blue 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. In Zone Battle, they're substituted by similarly-functioning Zone Pads ( add link).

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 red 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 are red-colored and cross-shaped. In Single Race and Tournament, they will be disabled for a few seconds after someone flies over them; in Eliminator, there is no cooldown.

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.

These sections of the circuit use Mag-Lock technology to keep ships on the track, and enable pilots to fly along the walls, loops and bumpy track sections without falling or detaching. When locked onto a Mag-Strip, the ship is effectively pinned to the track surface without negatively affecting speed, acceleration or steering. All gravity effects from tilted track orientation are negated; also, both cornering drift when turning and pitch control are heavily reduced. Overall, though, the ships' handling feels largely the same on a Mag-Strip.

Mag-Strips debuted in WipEout Pulse and have been largely unchanged in WipEout HD. They mostly serve an aesthetic purpose, however they have real gameplay implications: the inability to detach from these sections prevents barrel rolls and potentially enables blind spots for strategic Pickup use.

Mag-Strip sections are pretty common in the track roster of WipEout HD/Fury.

FX350's participants

WipEout HD features 12 racing teams competing in the FX350 Racing League. Each participating Team has one ship in the base game (HD ships); the Fury expansion adds another ship to each team's roster (Fury ships).

When picking a ship, the game's menu presents you with four of the ship's stats: Speed, Handling, Thrust 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. This distinction is mildly confusing and introduces amusing situations: Harimau's HD ship has the exact same frontend stats as Assegai's HD ship, except for a 10 point reduction in Thrust, with no apparent gain; in reality, Harimau's ship isn't inherently inferior to Assegai. In the same vein, Fury ships aren't inherently superior to HD ships, despite apparently having flat-out superior stats if judged by the frontend stats.

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

…

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The game takes place in the FX350 Racing League.

Around the time of the final 2206 season of the FX300 Racing League^[3], the FX350 held its first event^[4]. This transitional league was to get pilots accustomed to the upcoming FX400 Racing League, allow the teams to test out their new craft designs in the field, and capture the audience's attention while the preparations were in progress.

Aside from the fact that the FX350 is the first globally-held professional AG racing league since the fall of the F9000 in 2170, it is quite unremarkable due to its nature as a gap-filler.

mention the community tab, badges, online ranks, music…

put development stuff here

1. According to GameFAQs.
2. No, this word wasn't written by ChatGPT.
3. WipEout-Game.com's AG Systems overview mentions “their 2206 FX300 Championship title”, implying that 2206 was the final season of the FX300.
4. WipEout-Game.com's Assegai team statement mentions their “strong performances in the FX350 League” enabling them to “vastly improve their race craft for the 2207 season of FX350 & FX400 Anti-Gravity Racing League events”, showing that the FX350 had started by at least the year prior.