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Wipeout Omega Collection Review – Anti-Gravity Racing Perfected

Wipeout’s futuristic anti-gravity racing has been a staple of the PlayStation’s line-up since the PS1 era.

The fast-paced arcade gameplay combined with techno beats and slick visuals carved a niche genre that ultimately spawned numerous spiritual successors and clones that just don’t quite hit the mark like Wipeout does.

Nothing beats the original franchise and the Wipeout Omega Collection finally brings the series to the PS4. Sporting updated 4k visuals at 60fps, is this the definitive Wipeout experience?

Wipeout Omega Collection Review: Anti gravity racing

Featuring three games in one consolidated package, the Wipeout Omega Collection neatly separates each title via the rather well designed main menu and UI.

The developers placed the most recent Wipeout game, Wipeout 2048, which launched 5 years ago on PS Vita, first up in the list. The other two titles in the collection are Wipeout HD and HD Fury, launched in 2008 and 2009 respectively.

Wipeout HD and HD Fury are incredibly similar in their design, with the only major differences being the tracks available and the campaign mode. Wipeout 2048 has had a massive overhaul from its PS Vita origins and is vastly different from the other two titles in the collection.

Wipeout’s anti-gravity racing as a whole has never looked as beautiful as it does in the Omega Collection. The PS4 Pro 4k 60fps support has made for an incredibly smooth gaming experience and the normal PS4 runs the game at 1080p at 60fps just fine too.

The game never falters or drops frames even when flashy effects fill the screen and everything from the ship designs to the tracks looks gorgeous. For a racing game that is all about speed and control, one would expect no less than flawless visual fidelity and the Wipeout Omega Collection certainly has it across all three games featured in this package.

Wipeout Omega Collection Review: Get behind the wheel

The controls for Wipeout Omega Collection are easy enough to get to grips with. Players accelerate using the “X” button and air brake with the shoulder buttons (L2 and R2).

Pressing Square will trigger your current weapon, shield or boost pickup and Circle will absorb these for energy if necessary. A pilot assist feature is present in the game and it makes getting used to the tracks a lot easier.

The pilot assist controls your speed when heading into chicanes, hairpin bends and crazy loop-the-loops on the various tracks. This is great for the first couple of races you’ll play but eventually the pilot assist will become a hinderance to you and you will want to turn it off to squeeze every extra ounce of power out from your ship in between hitting boost pads.

Wipeout Omega Collection Review: For the purists

The Wipeout Omega Collection’s 3 titles have remained relatively unaltered in most respects.

The games have a shiny new coat of paint but the core elements that made them so successful in the past have remained as pure fun as they should be. Wipeout HD and HD Fury’s focus on single player races, time trials, “Eliminator” and “Detonator” tracks and the tough as nails “Zone” mode are still as great as ever.

Wipeout 2048, while being quite different to the other two games in terms of structure and design, requires careful ship selection based on their stats and if you choose to play this in between the other two titles, it makes for a refreshing break. Thankfully all 3 titles are available from the get-go so gamers can pick and choose whichever game to attempt and not get bored as they unlock more tracks and events along the way.

The game also supports both offline split-screen racing and online competitive racing with global leaderboards to keep up with. A photo mode complete with camera settings is included for players to stop the action and take hi-res, visually stunning screenshots. These can be exported via the PS4’s capture gallery.

The game features some rather famous electronic music artists on its soundtrack such as Noisia, Knife Party, The Prodigy and Deadmau5. I personally would have preferred if they included the original game’s soundtracks as well as the new songs chosen for the Omega Collection but the current batch is decent enough to not complain too much about.

Wipeout Omega Collection Review – Verdict

Sony’s revival of the Wipeout franchise on the PS4 as a remastered collection is definitely worthy of praise. The slick 60fps 1080p (PS4) or 4k updated visuals (PS4 Pro) will please both fans and newcomers alike and the gameplay is as addictive and enjoyable as ever. It may be a remaster at heart but the Wipeout Omega Collection’s low price point and top notch gameplay makes it incredibly hard to pass up.

  • Wipeout Omega Collection was reviewed on a PS4. A retail copy was provided by the publisher.
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