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Wipeout 3 (released as Wip3out in Europe and Japan) is a futuristic racing video game developed and published by Psygnosis exclusively for the PlayStation. The title is the fourth game in the Wipeout series, and was released in Europe and North America in September 1999. The game was re-released in Europe as Wipeout 3: Special Edition in july 2000.

Wipeout 3 is set in 2116, where players participate in the F7200 Anti-Gravity Race League and control extremely fast anti-gravity craft that also use weapons to force opponents out of the race.

Developer Psygnosis hired design studio The Designers Republic to create a simple colour scheme and design for in-game menus and race courses, to create what a Psygnosis staff member called "a believable future". The game is one of the few PlayStation titles to run in high-resolution mode, offering crisper graphics and visuals. The game soundtrack is composed of techno and electronica tracks selected by DJ Sasha and features contributions by Orbital and The Chemical Brothers.

The game was positively received on release; critics lauded the graphics, music, and minimalist design elements. The high level of difficulty, perceived lack of new content and courses, and lack of new game features were seen as the game's primary faults. Despite generally good critical reception, the game was a financial disappointment. Wipeout 3 was the last title in the series for the PlayStation platform; the next entry, Wipeout Fusion, was released exclusively for the PlayStation 2 platform in 2002.

Gameplay[]

F7200

Official logo of the F7200 Anti-Gravity Racing League

Wipeout 3 is a racing game that retains the same basic elements of its predecessors, and introduces players to the F7200 Anti-Gravity Race League. Players control futuristic anti-gravity craft owned by racing corporations and pilot them on eight circuits. Each craft is equipped with an energy shield that absorbs damage sustained on the track; if the shield is disabled, the player's craft can be knocked out of the race. Shields are regenerated in a pit lane that is set apart from the main course. The more time spent in the pit lane, the more the shield will regenerate.

In addition to shields, each racing craft contains air brakes for navigating tight corners, as well as a "hyper-boost" option. Players can activate this boost function to increase their speed, but the boost drains energy from the shields, making the craft more vulnerable. Using special speed pads on the course allows players to increase their speed without resorting to the boost.

Scattered across each raceway are weapon grids that bestow random power-ups or items. Wipeout 3 adds new weapons in addition to the five retained from previous games. Several weapons are defensive; for example, the gravity shield protects the craft from attacks and collisions for a time period. Offensive weapons are also available; craft can use rockets, missiles and mines to disable competitors. Players can use an auto-pilot power-up to safely coast through difficult turns.

The default game mode awards medals to the top three finishing craft. Each contestant must reach checkpoints on the course within a certain amount of time, or be ejected from the race. Winning consecutive gold medals unlocks new circuits and AG craft. Wipeout 3 features several other game modes, including challenges to complete courses in a set time. In the "Eliminator" mode, players gain points for destroying competitors and finishing laps. The "Tournament" mode has players compete on four or eight rounds, with points being awarded on race placement. Players can engage in two-player racing via a split-screen option.

Development[]

In developing the next entry in the Wipeout series, developer Psygnosis retained many of the developers of the original game in order to preserve the distinctive racing experience of earlier games. At the same time, Psygnosis sought to make the game more accessible to new players of the fast-paced racer, and kept early courses easier for these players; the difficulty was adjusted for later courses so that experts still experienced a challenge. Wipeout 3 was the first Wipeout game to take advantage of PlayStation controllers with analog sticks, used to offer smoother control of the player's craft.

Psygnosis turned to the graphic design studio The Designers Republic to assist in development. The Designers Republic, known for its underground techno album covers, provided "visual candy" to the game graphics, designing the game's icons, billboards, color schemes, and custom typefaces.The look and feel of the futuristic courses was bounded by a desire to retain a believable sensibility; Wipeout 3 lead artist Nicky Westcott said that "Psygnosis tried to make it look like a believable future, instead of making the sky toxic orange with 10 moons flying around and the world gone mad. It's very low-key and a lot more refined." The game graphics were improved over previous games in the series, and the title was the first in the series to run at high-resolution mode (720 x 480i, or 480p).

Tracks[]

Instead of being based on real world environments, all the tracks in the game are based in a fictional in-universe location called Mega City.

Tracks available at start:

Unlockable tracks:

Special Edition[]

Special Edition added 8 more tracks from the two previous games. As a result, the base game tracks are now referred to as "Wip3out League", while the new tracks are referred to as "Classic League".

Tracks available at start:

Unlockable tracks:

Prototypes[]

In addition to the standard tracks, there are four secret prototype tracks, and two more are available to unlock in the Japanese version and Special Edition. The four standard prototypes are made in wireframe rather than fully rendered. The two secret prototypes appear like normal tracks. They are unlocked by getting all 64 gold medals in each particular speed class.

Standard prototype tracks:

  • LS101/NP62
  • LS102/MG71
  • LS103/AW72
  • LS104/AW73

Secret prototype tracks (Only in the Japanese version and Special Edition):

  • LS105/GP02
  • LS106/GP73

Teams[]

Teams available at start:

Unlockable teams:

Weapons[]

Offensive[]

  • Multi-Missile (MM)
  • Energy Drain (ED)
  • Rockets (RK)
  • Plasma Bolt (PB)
  • Quake (QD)

Disruptive[]

  • Force Wall (FW)

Defensive[]

  • Mines (MI)
  • Gravity Shield (GS)
  • Reflector (RF)
  • Cloak (CK)

Assistive[]

  • Autopilot (AP)

Music[]

Wipeout 3 contains techno and electronica offerings from various artists, including The Chemical Brothers, Orbital, and Propellerheads. Psygnosis' development manager, Enda Carey, focused on bringing together music early in the game's development cycle, instead of as an afterthought or last-minute addition to the game. Unlike previous soundtracks, Psygnosis selected a single music director, Sasha, who worked with artists to create a cohesive soundtrack. Sasha included several of his own tracks made specifically for the game. The game disc is a Mixed Mode CD that allows the game soundtrack to be played in a standard compact disc player. To promote Wipeout 3 and its game music, Psygnosis sponsored a Global Underground tour for Sasha. Game pods featuring Wipeout 3 were placed at parties and venues, accompanied by a tie-in marketing campaign.

  • Sasha - "FEISAR"
  • Underworld - "Kittens"
  • Sasha - "Icaras"
  • Orbital - "Know Where to Run"
  • Sasha - "Auricom"
  • MKL - "Surrender"
  • Propellerheads - "Lethal Cut"
  • Sasha - "Goteki 45"
  • The Chemical Brothers - "Influence"
  • Sasha - "Piranha"
  • MKL - "Control"
  • Paul van Dyk - "Avenue"
  • Sasha - "Xpander"

Splitscreen Multiplayer[]

Wipeout 3 is the first game in the Wipeout series to include a splitscreen two-player mode. All previous games only had a multiplayer link mode that required two PlayStation units. However, the splitscreen mode needs more memory (since it's hosted on only one PlayStation unit), so most of the tracks in two-player mode have different aesthetics (some textures are removed, the time of day and the weather aren't the same) for resource saving reasons.

Reception[]

Aggregator scores

  • GameRankings 87%
  • Metacritic 89%

Review scores

  • GamePro 5/5
  • Game Revolution 8.3/10
  • GameSpot 8.3/10
  • IGN 9.1/10

Overall, critical reception of Wipeout 3 was positive; the game has an aggregate average of 87% based on 29 reviews at Game Rankings, and a metascore of 89 at Metacritic. IGN named Wipeout 3 the most accessible game of the series, and in 2007 the title was named the 92nd best game by the site. Despite generally positive reviews of the game, Wipeout 3 was not a commercial success.

The fast-paced gameplay and graphics were singled out as strong features of the game. Jack Schofield of The Guardian was surprised by the level of detail, stating that the "graphics are better than you'd expect the PlayStation to deliver." Both GamePro and Game Revolution reviewers praised the new game features, specifically the new weapons and ability to challenge friends via splitscreen. The Designer Republic's style was consistently praised as helping to make the racing locales seem real, though David Goldfarb of the magazine International Design stated that the "techno-meets-Nihonpop-art visuals" had been executed better in previous entries of the series. The soundtrack and sound effects were also lauded.

A major fault reviewers found with Wipeout 3 was the steep learning curve of the game. David Canter of The San Diego Union-Tribune described the difficulty progression as "ludicrous", with the tournament game mode going from "easy as pie to tough as nails". Though the use of the analog stick was positively noted as helping to increase control over the onscreen craft, GamePro found that proper handling required large amounts of patience and practice.

Reviewers who gave Wipeout 3 lower marks noted a sense of disappointment that the series broke little new ground. Stuart Miles of The Times admitted Wipeout 3 was a good game, but felt that he had been expecting much more from the sequel: "It's as if the programmers have concerned themselves more with the overall look and feel, rather than further developing the existing gameplay." Alistair Wallace of Gamasutra, in a retrospective on Wipeout 2097, remembered that, "I enjoyed Wipeout 3 because it was more of the same and I loved it, but I think the series ran out of its innovation. Doing loop the loops isn’t a big deal really." GameSpot summed up its review of the game by judging Wipeout 3 an excellent racer, but not able to beat Wipeout 2097 as the best futuristic racing game of all time.

Special Edition[]

An updated re-release of Wipeout 3 was released, under the name Wipeout 3: Special Edition, exclusively in Europe on 14 July 2000. Special Edition featured many minor changes to gameplay, such as stat buffs for two craft (Assegai and Icaras), reworked craft physics, game save auto-loading, AI bugfixes, unlock messages, and eight courses from previous Wipeout titles (three from Wipeout and five from Wipeout 2097), plus two hidden prototype circuits previously only available in the Japanese version of Wipeout 3, for a grand total of 22 tracks.[1] Special Edition also allowed four-person multiplayer, using two televisions and two PlayStation units. Wipeout 3 was the last game in the series to ship for the aging PlayStation.

Trivia[]

  • Apart from the original game, this is the only game in the series that does not use a subtitle in its title name, as it features a numbered entry in its place.
  • This is the first game in the series to be held in a single location, that being Mega City (just before the Classic Leagues). However, lore-wise, this is the second time in the history of the sport where the League is held in a single location, with the AGRC in Wipeout 2048 being the first.
  • The intro movie depicts the FEISAR F7200, AG Systems F7200 and Goteki 45 F7200 racing in a section of what appears to be Stanza Inter after all three ships were eliminated, albeit in reverse. When the intro movie is played in reverse though, it would show the Goteki 45 exploding first (likely self-destructing), followed by FEISAR, then AG Systems being caught in the blast radius, likely referencing Goteki 45's extremely violent racing tactics, to the point of a near-suicidal kamikaze attack.
  • This is the only game in the series that uses the Hyperthrust mechanic, which replaced the Turbo as means of boosting, although shield energy must be sacrificed in order to use it.
  • This is also the only game in the series to feature a cockpit view until the Omega Collection's VR support update.
  • Furthermore, this is also the only game where the vapor trails on a ship's exhaust are shown in different colors (team-specific).
  • This is the only game in the series to have the replay feature.
  • This is the first game in the series to show animations for ships using their airbrakes.
  • This is the last game in the series to use a checkpoint system within a time limit.
  • This is the last game where the player must adjust the thrust to get a boost start.
  • This is also the last game in the series to feature graphic designs by The Designers Republic.
  • Eliminated ships in this game turn black, disintegrating on the ground, with smoke coming out of it, as opposed to the previous game where the ship will burst into a fireball.
    • It is said that the game sacrifices detailed weapon and explosion animations for more speed and fidelity.
  • With the F7200 Drag Prototype ship and its dedicated "prototype" tracks, this is the only game in the series to feature racing on oval tracks.
  • Early prototypes of the game showed that the Multi-Missiles allowed for three missiles at a time, as well as three rockets like in the previous game.
    • There was also a cut weapon called the "Flametrail", with its purpose unknown, likely to damage opponent ships using the ship's exhaust with denser vapor trails.
  • The Special Edition has the most number of requirements for game completion in the entire series, with a total of 512 gold medals available from the Single Race mode (sixteen racetracks [excluding Prototype tracks], eight ships [teams], and four speed classes).
    • Coupled with 32 gold medals from the Challenges (eight for each: Race, Time, Weapon and Combo), this results in a grand total of 544 gold medals required for 100% completion.

References[]


All Wipeout Games
1990s: WipEout2097/XL64Wip3out
PS2/PSP: FusionPurePulse
PS3/Vita: HD (Fury) • 2048
PS4: Omega Collection
Mobile: Merge
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