Nearly a year after its release on the PlayStation Network, Sony Studio Liverpool have finally upgraded their franchise with a slick, stylish and feature packed expansion named Wipeout Fury. But does Fury offer enough for returning fans to salivate over, or is the flame of the add on pack too tame?
Thankfully, even with such weight on their shoulders after the first release, Sony Liverpool have delivered the goods with Fury, not just with the amount of content but with the quality of it as well.
To begin, Fury comes with three new game modes: Eliminator, Detonator and Zone Battle. Eliminator works much like that of Elimination modes in games like MotorStorm, except that instead of opponents being eliminated per lap, the actual objective is to eliminate certain amounts of players before your opponents do, with the most eliminations winning the race. Next up is Detonator, which feels much like Zone with its neon colours and shifting colour temperatures, though it’s much slower and dons your pod with machine guns, giving you the ability to destroy mines that are placed in your way to take you out. Destroying these mines gives you points and there are several ways in which you can chain them in order to get a higher score. There is a lot of survivability, however unlike Zone, there is a limit to how many laps can be passed, so pinpoint accuracy and clever mine destroying tactics become a necessity in order to trounce the leaderboards.
Feel the heat!
Finally, and our personal favourite, there is Zone Battle. It works much like Zone, in that you cannot stop and you keep passing through ‘zones’, which in turn increase the speed of your racer. The big difference however is that this doesn’t go on forever, as there are Zone Targets to be reached. Each player needs to pass through boosters in order to fill their zone gauge up. Once they’ve filled it to max or whatever amount they want, they can use the square button to use that bar up and rapidly boost them a few zones up, giving them the advantage and closer to their target. You can still die, however you respawn this time round and your zone level is significantly reduced so there is a lot of survival involved. Each usage of the boost also leaves a zone barrier behind, which when hit into, makes you lose much of your zone gauge that you’ve built up, and also rip out a very large chunk of shield. Zone gauges can also be used to shield yourself and replenish your shield, so there is a very delicate balance between boosting to the higher zone as quick as possible and keeping your shield up, thus increasing survivability. Matches can quickly become an incredibly intense ride, and when moving into the much faster zones such as Zen and Subsonic, things get crazy.
Coupled with three excellent modes, the new tracks are also very well done, with some being catered more for Zone modes (likely due to its immense popularity), and others for racing. They all offer unique and challenging new courses, particularly in the upper tiers where things get faster, so players are in for a good challenge, particularly with the entirely new campaign mode, with 8 tiers as a whole. Extra vehicles have also been added in, giving each team a new and upgraded ship to use. Though we might complain they don’t really make a huge difference, some may argue otherwise with the increase in stats. Nonetheless it’s a welcome addition to an already large PSN title.
Feel the fury!
Visually, Fury is well..pretty much exactly the same as HD, however there have been some nice little touches here and there, with extra effects added into some of the new modes and some funky darker looking tones used in many levels when in Zone. Aesthetically the game is through the roof as well, with the incredibly sleek look of HD mixed with a darker and far more intimidating crimson neon look that Fury presents. We’d go so far to say that Fury is one of the better aesthetically pleasing titles around, which in turn gives the game a whole lot more appeal and irresistible flair. And aurally too, Fury has upped the ante, with some bassier electro music being pumped out further enhancing the games already intense and frenetic feel.
Wipeout: Fury ticks all the right notes when it comes to doing an add on pack right. The new tracks play exceptionally well, the game modes add a whole new level of depth, and the replay value has increased even more with the added campaign and smoother integration of multiplayer aspects. Studio Liverpool clearly know what polish means, with an extremely stylish new look and feel which gives a somewhat old title a totally new shine. For $15,95 AUD, any Wipeout HD fan should not even think twice about picking this up, as it’s not only a massive add on, but a very high quality one at that. Buy this add on, or we’ll be furious.
Worth buying? Yes
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Downloadable content ratings system
We've given a 'buy' rating of 'Yes', 'Maybe', or 'No'.
Yes means that the content is either great value or brings some substantial additions to the game, or possibly both.
Maybe means that the content may be fun while it lasts, but may either be too short or not enough to fully justify the price tag.
No means that we don't recommend downloading this insubstantial content.
.
Loading...
