WipEout Omega Collection - Review

WipEout Omega Collection

Speaking of famous PlayStation brands, it's kind of hard to get out of conversations and WipEout titles. Although they were not numerous, these futuristic racing titles greatly influenced the popularity of the console. The reason lies not only in the look of these games, which left a wow effect during the era of the PSX, but the gameplay was equally well-followed by visuals, all spiced up with excellent electronic music from the end of the century. It would be wise to discuss what is the best continuation of WipEout, but now it's superfluous because the new Omega Collection does not look too much in the past, but presents us the last three games in the series.

The last part that saw the light of the day got the first place in the campaign's selection. It's WipEout 2048, which we played on PS Vita five years ago, but in this collection we only got the true vision of what the game was supposed to represent. Thanks to the technology lying in the PlayStation 4 case, the game is almost rediscovered, although mechanically still rests on the same foundation.

In addition to 2048, there are still WipEout HD we played many years ago on the trio and its Fury expansion, which was also available on the same console. All three games are separated and are available as soon as the race begins, that is, through campaigns only unlock new weight and vehicles for the piloting with the late addition. The rest is all the same as when the titles went out, which ensures that "original" feeling of WipEout racing that you may already be familiar with.





"All three games are separated and immediately available, and only new weights and additional vehicles are unlocked."

That is why all three campaigns have their own "personality" and do not differ only on the paths. The earliest game, or HD extension, is closest to the original formula of the series because it is most focused on clean driving, or there is not too much focus on destroying the opponent. In addition, HD is actually processing two WipEout games from the PSP, so it might leave the impression as the least stratified game in the collection due to the then hardware limitations. However, due to the focus on driving, it is probably the best entry point for all new players who are first introduced to this series.
On the other hand, Fury is in total contrast.

Here, the elimination of opponents is more pronounced, and new mods have come up with expansion, which have enriched the gameplay towards an aggressive approach to driving. Since the game was originally made for the PlayStation 3, there is also progress in the paths that have more detail and they carry more atmosphere through racing. It does not mean that the tracks in HD are poor or less quality, but such little things are noticed when driving through the first few chapters. Later when they get a much higher speed, then only one looks at how best to drive and secure the first place.





"While WipeOut HD is primarily focused on clean driving, Fury drives players in an aggressive approach while racing."

The aforementioned 2048 stands out for the best visual style thanks to the art direction, and according to some personal assessment it is also the most difficult part for me to perform tasks. Namely, here the races always vary according to what is available within them.

Gameplay is through all three games is different enough to make the whole collection interesting for driving, because the content really has a lot. Online racing is, of course, a completely different thing. Although all opponents are challenging, they sometimes get the impression that they have a catch-up system and do not play fair. Therefore, the greatest challenge is provided by the skill of another player. It is worthwhile to mention that online is stable so it makes no sense to use the distinction as to how technical difficulties are guilty if the others pass without problems.





"Opponents are challenging, but sometimes they use a catch-up system that makes you exactly what to expect from them."

However, not everything is perfect in this collection, at least looking, or listening from my perspective. Although Omega Collection looks to modern times, the prepared soundtrack is not at the level of the previous titles. Simply, there are several things that would add up to the adrenaline during tense racing. Of course, one can agree on one's own list of songs, but the series has always been strong on this issue, and here it is a bit disappointing that the quality of the selected things is not at the same level as in the original.

Everything else is simply at the top level where the party is in the first place. It is said that the donated horse is not looked at in the teeth, so if the sale of this collection is satisfactory, we may also get a new, full-blown sequel of WipEout. Until then, this collection is simply overvalued so that one fan of WipEout is bypassed. True, it's about already seen content without the right novelties, but thanks to the technical side, top-notch graphics follow the feeling of speed is the best so far, which means a lot for this type of race. After all, it's not like you'll find many games on the market that are turning in native 4K resolution and smooth 60 frames per second.