WipEout HD is one of those rare titles that people were either frothing at the mouth for or disinterested to the point of comatose about. The series has it’s die hard fans, and to those on the outside it just seems like a confusing hardcore mess.

Our staff represented this dichotomy quite well. Ryan and Dan were both series veterans. As a matter of fact, those following the site know that there’s no title Ryan has posted about more than WipEout HD. His anticipation was frighteningly palpable. Dan too was looking forward to picking it up. But Jim? He may of dabbled in the past, but in all honesty couldn’t have cared less about WipEout HD’s impending release.

So now that it’s here, what did all three (lovers and naysayers alike) think about it?

Dan: They…. should have sent…. a poet.

It’s almost obscene how gorgeous WipeoutHD is, from here on out it’s what I’ll show people when they come over to the house to show off my television. There’s such a precision to what’s going on that the tracks, ships, weapons and explosions become a sort of dance of pixels that at times makes it difficult to concentrate on the race… your eyes tend to drift off to check out what’s flying by. Seriously, you need to see this game in action, screenshots do no justice. ESPECIALLY the zone races.

Luckily once you settle in you’re left with a tightly wound racer, with the standard point perfect Wipeout style control. Hell, the weapons, tracks, ships and power-ups are standard Wipeout affairs…. but I mean that in a totally positive way. Over the last 10 years or so I think the group in Liverpool has pretty much perfected the Wipeout “style” and what they’ve done here is taken all those lessons and draped it in 1080p 60fps goodness. So if you’ve enjoyed a Wipeout game recently (especially the PSP games) then you’ll feel right at home with WipeoutHD, especially in the realm of online, since the games are set-up and handled the same way.

I’ve always considered myself a Wipeout fan, since WipeoutXL which I bought mainly for the soundtrack (what can I say, I dug the Chemical Brothers) and found a franchise I would follow for years, even through the lean times. I can happily report that the series has aged like a fine wine, albiet one that travels hundreds of miles an hour and drops mines. Since the game doesn’t blaze any new trails there’s a bit of a “been there, done that” feeling but this is a very different way of experiencing it, so the feeling is fleeting at best. This game is literally a steal at $20 bucks.

Ryan: I found it interesting that Wipeout HD doesn’t start with the series’ usual video intro. Previous Wipeout games had sort of set up the atmosphere with a groovy little intro sequence. At first I thought this might be a function of the game’s new download-only status on the PSN, a move to save space. After playing it, I realized that the lack of intro was a sign that the series has hit a new high. It doesn’t need an intro, because it looks better in realtime than any of those old prerendered videos, in any of the previous games. (And if you don’t believe me, YouTube that shit. You’ll see.)

Wipeout HD feels, in a way, like an apology to series fans. We’ve waited so very long for a proper home console Wipeout game – since 1999’s Wipeout 3 (PS1) for some, who consider the PS2’s sole entry Wipeout Fusion to be a pear-shaped misstep. Although the PS3 incarnation lacks any new content over the PSP iterations, this matters little; Wipeout HD stands out as an amazing “greatest-hits” IMAX super-technicolour version of the venerable hover-racer.

Practically every aspect of the game has been tweaked, remixed, and amplified to 11.  The races never looked more stunning: if any game deserves the 1080p/60FPS treatment, it’s this one. The signature art direction and implementation of the original Designer’s Republic rave-drenched future vision practically drips off the screen. Of particular note is the return of Zone mode, which makes Space Giraffe look like a children’s Tylenol. Aurally the game is no slouch either – while only a handful of music tracks from Pulse are present, the presence of custom soundtrack support mitigates this completely, and tight integration with the music playback in the game itself is amazing (think SSX’s low-pass filters on high jumps). Even more importantly, the physics modelling of the craft most closely resembles that of Pure and XL, which are considered Holy Grail territory by the hardcore. In short, the core of Wipeout is as rock solid as it’s ever been, which makes this the very best version of Wipeout ever made.

The inclusion of (reversible) tracks from Pure and Pulse struck some players initially as a bit of a cop-out. I disagree, and here’s why: Pure first introduced the concept of absorbing weapon pickups in exchange for shield energy, did away with the lap Pits, and added barrel rolls. Pulse introduced mag-lock tracks and the grid system for event progression. These are good tracks, tuned for the (very good) improvements made in the PSP versions to the core game. So while they are not technically new, they certainly are if you’ve never played the PSP games at all, and even then only barely recognizable to old Wipeout hands in their fancy new HD incarnations.

Control has also improved in the form of sixaxis tilt. Jeer if you will - that type of steering was practically custom-invented for hover racing, and it works beautifully, after a short-but-intense training period. And there’s even Pilot Assist mode now to help the newcomers make their way around the course (although sadly a few too many online players are using this option… sack up and fly right, you noobs).

Add the infinite re-playability of a solid online mode and global leaderboards, and you have enough to bring the Wipeout franchise screaming back to the forefront of console gaming. This is now the crown jewel in the PlayStation Network’s downloadable catalog, and at $20 it’s the best gaming value since the Orange Box.

Jim: As the sole contributor to this review whose had a real hit-and-miss experience with the Wipeout franchise, I’d like to be able to focus on the bad in WipEout HD…  only there isn’t any.

While I’ve tried a few games in the series (Fusion, Pure and Pulse to be specific), the only one I could really get into was Pure.  Fusion was a disaster by most everyone’s accounts, and while I could appreciate what Pulse had to offer it was just too hardcore for a casual Wipeout fan like me to get into.  Wipeout HD does what few could have expected — they’ve taken what was great about Pure and Pulse and retooled them into one of the best games on the PS3 to date.

Do my complaints about the hardcore nature of the Pulse tracks still stand?  Yes — but so much of the first half of the game builds up your skill that it’s not really as much of an issue.  The inclusion of Pilot Assist, a new feature aimed at keeping newbie racers such as myself on the track more of the time than we would be otherwise, is a welcome addition to the franchise.  And the online?  It’s downright sublime.  No lag, no wait, and no lengthy menus.  From making the decision to check out the competition to being active in a race might take you 20 seconds at best.

I might not have the experience with and love for the franchise that Dan and Ryan have, but I’ll be damned if this isn’t one of the best racing titles I’ve ever played.  At $19.99, Sony is practically giving it away.  Now stop reading and get racing!

WipEout HD is available for the PS3 now, exclusively through the PlayStation Store.