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Playstation/Gaming Discussions => PS3 Discussion => Topic started by: Megiddo on September 28, 2001, 12:08:17 PM
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How do you improve a game that is already genre-defining? That\'s the task faced by WipEout Fusion developer Studio Liverpool, OPS2 paid them a visit, wish-list in hand, and found that fans have nothing to fear - its WlpEout, but not as we know it.
\'The WipEout Experience". It\'s a phrase that WipEout Fusion Lead Designer Rob Francis uses as a collective term for his game as if It were a genre in its own right. It\'s the kind of shorthand speak reserved for genuine benchmarks; classics that sit snugly in their very own genre grooves. Think Resident Evil, Metal Gear, even Tomb Raider.
"It\'s a sign of the strength of the game\'s identity that we never really take much inspiration from other games," says Francis. \'There are a lot of quality racing titles out there, and there is pressure for mass appeal. But we try to resist simply bolting on familiar features for the sake of it. We only ever
pursue things which we think will enhance The WipEout Experience."
The latest WipEout Experience Is currently being \'polished\' for SCEE by a zealous crew at Studio Liverpool, many of whom also worked on Fl 2001. The vibe in the office however Indicates that WipEout Fusion Is the favoured son. Deadline-frantic corner-cutting is not an option. The muted commercial response to Wip3out - last year\'s third PSone instalment - seems to have shocked the team into a conviction to never again take a sidestep when a great leap forward is required. And with the next-gen hike, they wouldn\'t have had an excuse, anyway. \'We\'ve looked long and hard at the things that made the PSone games special," says Studio Liverpool Manager Clemens Wangerin. \'We wanted to make sure that nothing was lost in the PS2 translation. The essence of the game can be boiled down to two things: the music and the speed. Once we had a grip on that, we got to work on how to move things on to a new level - instead of just porting over the original games and buffing up the graphics" So, they have the technology and the philosophy, but can they deliver the next-gen gameplay that WipEout fans and WipEout virgins alike are craving? Many gamers felt that some aspects were missing or certain elements weren\'t quite right In the PSone games. So from our own personal gripes and those expressed by the gaming public at large, OPS2 has made up a wish-llst for our perfect WipEout Experience. Can Studio Liverpool step into the purple turban of the PlayStation 2 Genie and grant us these humble wishes.
1. BETTER HANDLING
The WipEout games on PSone were often criticised for having tar too sensitive handling, and controlling your craft involved a very steep learning curve. This lack of instant expertise often led to much frustration, though once mastered the control was very rewarding. So now we want less fighting the track and grinding the walls, with more focus on reflexes and creative control.
"We\'ve spent a lot of time redesigning the craft dynamics," says Dave Burrows, Lead Programmer \'The PS2 has allowed us to really play with the physics. There\'s more variety in the way the crafts \'drive\'. Traditionally, there\'s the big, cumbersome ship and the sleek, fast one. It\'s more subtle now." \'There\'s also the bonus of an Increased depth of field, giving players more reaction time. Even on a debut glide around a new track, we managed to limit the stop-start grinding to one or two careless clangs. A bit more familiarity, and races will be races - as opposed to frantic efforts to hit as few walls as possible with a vague ambition of finishing somewhere in the rankings."
2. MORE VARIED AND INSPIRED TRACKS
Unfortunately the limitations of PSone meant that the draw distance was limited and tracks were often accused of being similar in style. So how about some loops, twists, corkscrews and upside-down sections? We\'d also like short cuts, freeform areas... WIPEOUT OFF-ROAD!
This wish seems to have been granted as OPS2 plays one of the new tracks: a lush jungle with lots of craggy kinks and foaming waterfalls. Burrows guides his ship over a trigger pad which raises a drawbridge. He zooms up the new ramp and soars over the top of a mountain onto a secret landing area. "We can do a lot more of that kind of thing because of the new design flexibility. On top of the standard reverse mode, there are hidden short cuts and alternative routes - some guarded by barriers which need to be destroyed with missiles. Most of the short cuts are \'hidden\' in the sense that you need to use a turbo to fly to a seemingly inaccessible section. "It\'s a key part of the feedback we get about racing games," says Francis. "Players like to see what corners they can cut, and, because there\'s a lot of big, big leaps and drops, we\'ve used that to give the game a more open-ended, go-anywhere feel." One of the later, more advanced tracks features a gut-spinning vertical drop linked to an immense reverse loop. Francis claims the roller coaster chic was there from day one. \'The difference between WipEout I and 2 was speed. When we Iricreased the speed, we found that the ship would just hammer off the end of drops and then nose-dive Into the track below. Some people liked that feeling of having to pull back to correct in midair When we were redesigning the dynamics for Fusion, we kept the leap effect, but added a few drops and twists where the ship \'sticks\' to the track, to give that pit-of-the-stomach roller coaster effect. Once we had that working, the idea of adding loops and twists came naturally. It wouldnt have been possible in the PSone games. When the artists were designing the levels, the programmers were still working on the craft dynamics. So, a lot of the artists\' more outlandish ideas - loops, drops,
leaps - often served as inspiration for the coders." Probably the most thrilling advantage of being able to \'stick\' the ships to the track Is the new flip-pad. If the road ahead is a little congested or mine-littered, simply drive over the pad and your car will do a 180\' hop up and sail
right over the blockage.
3. SPEED WITHOUT FRONTIERS
A big issue with WipEout Fusion\'s predecessors was that the speed got ridiculously fast, often faster than a human could handle. What if the capacity for speed was limited only by the player\'s skill? And maybe showcased with, say, a special nosebleed-level \'speedway\' track?
"We can do better than that," says Francis, and Burrows calls up \'Zone\' mode - an entirely new challenge where the player controls a ship on constant accelerate with no brakes. The speed gets faster and faster, and the longer you last, the higher the score clocks up. There are special multiplier bonuses for shield energy, hitting all the speed-ups, perfect laps and so on. Francis claims that it\'s the mode that the designers most frequently play against each other. "The idea came from Tetris - the way the blocks fall faster and faster It\'s theoretically Infinite, but eventually, it Just becomes too fast to cope with. The only question is - what level can you reach? I\'d say that you could probably hit around 3OOOkph In Zone mode"
4. MORE CHARACTER
Although the ships, weapons and logos looked very good, there was no feeling that the companies were separate entities. It is easy for computer-controlled cars to just roll on by, glued to their fixed racing lines with little indnridualism, no reaction to shunts and no sneaky manoeuvres. Could we see a little soul in Fusion, perhaps?
This time, the other drivers all come with their own looks, backgrounds and driving styles. At opposite ends of the scale are Ms Natasha Belmondo - lead pilot for Xios, daughter of the Inventor of anti-gravity racing - and Omarr Khumala - lead pilot for Tigron. He\'s bad. He drives a specially customised, Ben Hur-style \'Bull\' craft designed for ramming A grudge system has also been included giving the single-player game a little multiplayer-style spice. "If you eliminate someone in a league race," says Francis. \'They will remember you in the next race. The more eliminations, the trickier the races get. The eliminations give you impressive bonus points on top of your tally for high finishing places also" For example if Khumala is unlocked it makes everything more difficult as all the other pilots will go out of their way to get him- and you, for unlocking him. Not fair, but more fun.
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5. BETTER DAMAGE ZONES
In previous WipEouts, the only reference for imminent destruction was
the impossible-to-keep-tabs-on damage gauge. So we want a damage
control system that\'s easy to monitor.
And according to Burrows our wish has been granted again, "All of the ships have several damage zones. If you take too much damage on the left, then the left wing will clearly be buckled and the left-turning dynamics will be severley impared. Too much damage on the nose, and the nose-cone will fall off, sacrificing control in the air." And, naturally, a quick drive through the pit recharge area will result in a miraculous, Terminator-style flourish of metallic healing.
6. DONT CHANGE THE MUSIC
It\'s still sweet to cherish a racing game that will never feel the need to turn to rep-friendly Blair-rock. Stereophonics? Travis? Say it aint so.
"Definitely not," says Wangerin. "People keep asking us - what music Is going to be in it? Chemical Brothers? The Prodigy? Well, we did all of that back in 1996. It\'s still going to be very much in the techno/progressive house vein, but the main thing Is not to worry about, say, Underworld being in there somewhere. It has to be right for the game." "Yeah, there\'s nothing signed up yet," adds Francis. "But, the main goal is to find high energy music that enriches the play. We review tracks by playing them in-game. If they start to feel bigger than the game, they get dropped, even if it\'s a massive name and the marketing department have a gun to our
head. The game comes first, and the music\'s job Is to enhance the gameplay. Also, we want to put together a good album in itself. I want the track listing to be so good that people would buy the game for the music alone."
7. A WARMER LOOK
The slick futuristic designs of the past meant that a lot of the humanity was lost out of the games, although your pilots were human, a more robotic, mechanical feel was conveyed. Our final wish then is to fill out some of the ultra-arch minimalism and give first-timers a friendly hand to ease themselves in.
From the beginning the look and feel of the series has been handled by the Sheffield-based design agency Designer\'s Republic. Wip3out was presented via some particularly fierce lateral graphic design. WipEout Fusion owes its more unselfconsclously videogamey look to new boys Good Technology. \'We were getting the impression that people thought that Designer\'s Republic actually designed the games," says Francis. "With the original WipEout, they came up with the team identities, a lot of the more iconic visuals, they designed a few print ads... This time, we pitched three new agencies and Good Tech. seemed to have the strongest grasp on it. They
revamped the team and ship iconography, they did the weapon icons, the team logos... Again, we wanted to keep that sense of an entirely new generation game for the series - not just another gradual progression".
So not only have our wishes been pretty much granted, but WipEout Fusion plays beautifully too. It\'s slicker It\'s faster, the graphics are sharper, there\'s more of everything and it\'s rammed with glorious set-pieces (best so far being a swooping dash through a rocky desert corridor with the leading ships whipping up a blinding sandstorm wake). Be advised - this IS WipEout 1.5 (absolutely everything has been ramped up to the n-th degree, with all of the PS2 de luxe trimmings) but it\'s also been rebuilt so that it feels like a new game. It\'s a brilliantly realised mix of old and new. Fusion. Good title. Cynics will still ask, how, despite all of the well-targeted PS2 wonder, can Studio Liverpool hope to repeat the legendary, hand-in-hand feel that the
original WipEout had with the PSone? How do you convince the unconverted that a PS2 without WipEout Fusion is like a gun without arnmo? "It\'s much harder now because there\'s more competition around," argues Wangerin. "When PSone launched, everything was new and stood out. With a new, fairly familiar machine, there\'s a fight for attention. Before we went to E3,
we were apprehensive - wondering whether or not we\'d done enough to make it a \'different\' game while keeping the WipEout hardcore firmly on- board. But the reaction we got there convinced us we were on the right track. There\'s something about The WipEout Experience which makes it accessible, yet still appeals to hardcore racing game fans. The deeper you get, the more the challenge there is. There\'s a real sense of - "are you good enough?"
:)
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(https://psx5central.com/community/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fps2media.ign.com%2Fmedia%2Fpreviews%2Fimage%2Fwipeout%2Fwipeout_8.jpg&hash=d42e4541cd631be90bb9ddd4e2f508c5cc249819)
(https://psx5central.com/community/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fps2media.ign.com%2Fmedia%2Fpreviews%2Fimage%2Fwipeout%2Fwipeout_35.jpg&hash=5bdb11b610e98a88cace1b66de381ac3cfcf1407)
(https://psx5central.com/community/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fau.playstation.com%2Fimages%2Fgeneral%2Ffusionlarge19.jpg&hash=c735332884735c275a53a26f8b326e583ca7d34f)
(https://psx5central.com/community/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fau.playstation.com%2Fimages%2Fgeneral%2Ffusionlarge24.jpg&hash=f50bd451a2d1d54860d30671bbfd1bcbdec37ba7)
EDIT: Why the hell won\'t the image show up? has that feature been eliminated or something?
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Not. Enough. Money.
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I\'m super stoked for Wipeout Fusion, Easily one of my top 5 games I\'m looking forward too.
I wish it would have online capbilities
on another note
Why the hell did you make 3 consecutive posts to start this thread, One woudl have done fine
and the pics show up for me
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Because this forum has a stupid 10000 character limit per post...and it was around 15000...
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Thats interesting I didn\'t know that
buut next time quoting the most interesting stuff and linking everyone to the site so they can read the article themsleves would do just the same
beside that thanks for the info
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so Megiddo, you\'re telling me that you just typed all that out word for word from the magazine!! :eek: You mad guy! I would be grateful, but I bought the mag :)
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Originally posted by ddaryl
Thats interesting I didn\'t know that
buut next time quoting the most interesting stuff and linking everyone to the site so they can read the article themsleves would do just the same
beside that thanks for the info
ddaryl, I\'ll think you\'ll find that our good friend Megiddo has typed this out from the magazine itself, its not an internet link as far as I know!! Unless of course its http://www.localnewsagents.com/magazines/officialps2mag.mag :D
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DDaryl...i typed the whole thing out..there is no site that has this information as far as i know or knew...
Anyway...the Game is going to be alot of fun...the enviroments are mind-blowing big....cannot wait:)
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you the man :nerd:
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Originally posted by Megiddo
DDaryl...i typed the whole thing out..there is no site that has this information as far as i know or knew...
Anyway...the Game is going to be alot of fun...the enviroments are mind-blowing big....cannot wait:)
wow you have alot of free time, damn
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Bloody hell!
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This game is going to be so cool. Is there any word on a release date?
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good work Megiddo.. Me want Wipeout:Fusion..
It\'s not confirmed in america (altho 99.9% chance it will be) i\'d think 1st qtr 2002.. :D
As for us PAL gamers... November! :D
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Wipeout rocks. Especially the music, I love techno/trance or progressive house.
And we here in the uk are getting it first right?? :)
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Originally posted by Megiddo
3. SPEED WITHOUT FRONTIERS
A big issue with WipEout Fusion\'s predecessors was that the speed got ridiculously fast, often faster than a human could handle. What if the capacity for speed was limited only by the player\'s skill? And maybe showcased with, say, a special nosebleed-level \'speedway\' track?
"We can do better than that," says Francis, and Burrows calls up \'Zone\' mode - an entirely new challenge where the player controls a ship on constant accelerate with no brakes. The speed gets faster and faster, and the longer you last, the higher the score clocks up. There are special multiplier bonuses for shield energy, hitting all the speed-ups, perfect laps and so on. Francis claims that it\'s the mode that the designers most frequently play against each other. "The idea came from Tetris - the way the blocks fall faster and faster It\'s theoretically Infinite, but eventually, it Just becomes too fast to cope with. The only question is - what level can you reach? I\'d say that you could probably hit around 3OOOkph In Zone mode"
Didn\'t anybody else see this?! This has got to be one of the coolest features in a videogame that I have EVER heard of. This game just jumped up ten notches on my MWL (Most Wanted List), I cannot wait to play this mode!
It must be outrageous when you start going 3000km and you don\'t even have time to react to whatever\'s around the nest bend! Mayhem :D !
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You\'ve impressed me so much by typing that all out that I\'m gonna buy the game!!!
Just joking, I was gonna get it anyway. But time I here about this game I get more and more impressed.
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From the latest batch of screenshots of this game its clear they have done some work on getting rid if the terrible jaggies from the early screens and videos. :bounce: Great thing is, they could have released it about 2 months ago, but they wanted everything perfect, and by the looks and sounds of this game, it darn well will be!
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Okay, this is like the first time I post here in weeks, so I\'ll just add to this thread by saying something constructive and very intelligent :
*DROOOOOLLLL*
Hezuz! Devil May Cry, woFusion, MGS2, FFX, Hawke\'s one happy bird now *steals Sammy\'s crackers*