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Wipeout-hd-zone

Zone Mode in Moa Therma (Wipeout HD)
Note the music visualizers embedded into the track

Zone is a game mode first introduced in Wipeout Fusion. In Zone, players are given a special kind of ship known as the Zone Ship that starts from the lowest speed class and gradually speeds up as it progresses through the Zones. The Zone Ship possesses no way of slowing down and will continuously keep speeding up as the player laps the track chosen for the event. The objective of Zone is to navigate successfully around the track without damaging the ship for as long as possible before suffering too much damage, destroying the ship.

Gameplay[]

Before starting a Zone event, players may be prompted to choose which team they wish to race for, just like they do in any other event. The ship used for Zone is a unique kind that cannot be used outside of the game mode. At the start of the session, the ship stands still, then launches off from Zone 0 and gradually speeds up. Picking up speed makes the ship move through the Zones and also through the Speed Classes.

Players can navigate the Zone Ship using the standard controls and airbrakes. However, in Zone, the ship will accelerate automatically, making the thrust button useless for the session. There is absolutely no way to slow down the ship from its current speed, not even by opening both airbrakes. Slamming into a wall will stop the ship for a while but it will automatically accelerate to its current speed once contact is gone from the wall. Careful though, it is not necessary to speed through the track in the wrong direction, as it will cause the ship to start draining energy if the player doesn't turn around immediately. This also occurs on Zone Battle and Detonator.

As the ship advances through the speed Zones, it becomes gradually faster and more difficult to control, requiring more skills in navigation to successfully lap a track with minimal damage done to the ship. If the ship has taken damage and then manages to run without taking any further damage for a period of time, the ship will gradually recover its own energy. However, the recovery timer is reset every time the ship sustains damage. This makes it harder to keep the ship going in the faster Zones and, eventually, the ship becomes virtually uncontrollable, diminishing the chance of survival.

Destruction is ensured in Zone Mode. Once the shield energy reaches zero (and the ship gets hit once again), the ship will explode, bringing the event to an end before proceeding to the Results screen. Here, players can view their stats; how many Zones they cleared, how many were perfect, top speed achieved, etc.

Where applicable, loyalty points are also awarded to players based on how many Zones they cleared and how many were perfect, as well as perfect laps (the ship does not hit the wall for a whole lap). Zone mode is one of most effective methods of increasing loyalty points as a skillful pilot can amass approximately 3,000 points in a 15-minute run.

Tracks[]

In Fusion, only ten of the playable racetracks are available for Zone. Pure, on the other hand, has four tracks made specifically for the mode, while there are some tracks in Pulse that are unavailable for the mode, e.g. Metropia. All tracks in HD/Fury and 2048, however, are available for the mode.

There are only two differences between normal tracks and Zone tracks. In Zone, only speed pads are available to the player, much like in Time Trial and Speed Lap. Weapon pads are removed. The speed pads retain their normal spots and remain in their original color.

The second difference is their appearance. Zone mode is a simulation of an ever-accelerating ship on a track. Thus, the track chosen for the event keeps the same layout, but appears in a Tron-like digital world. The appearance differs between the games that feature Zone mode:

  • Fusion - The worlds retain their original look.
  • Pure - The tracks are lightly colored with white and outlined with light cyan. Surrounding track details are colored in light to medium blue.
  • Pulse - The worlds are covered in 2 colors, normally white with a various second color. Each track is colored differently.
  • HD/Fury - The world color scheme changes as the player successfully travels through the Speed Classes. The tracks are also embedded with music visualizers which replicate whatever soundtrack is being played, including custom soundtracks.
  • 2048 - The track layout is covered in a reflective black that never changes color. The rest of the world changes color scheme as the player traverses through the speed classes. Music visualizers are embedded into signs and buildings surrounding the track.

Trivia[]

  • The appearance of the tracks in Zone mode starting from Pure and onwards may suggest that the environments are completely within a virtual realm, as if inside a simulation.
  • Development of HD showed that Zone mode has caused the game to fail epilepsy testing at first, due to the dynamic visualizers on the track, and possibly other factors such as animations of the tracks changing color when the ship reaches a faster speed class, and the sense of speed, which may cause bright light patterns that may affect photosensitive players and spectators.

Ships[]

Fusion[]

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The first ever Zone craft, as seen in Wipeout Fusion, capable of speeding up to an unworldly 3500 km/h in skilled hands.

The original Zone ship is a special, unmarked, quadruple-thrusted ship. It has only a single paintjob: argentine-white with F9000 logo featured on its hull. Differently from the subsequent games, this particular Zone ship cannot change its appearance at all, because the player cannot use it on behalf of any team (perhaps it is a property of F9000 AG League). It has very good handling, but is also very weak - only 35 points of shield strength.

Pure[]

The Zone ship in Pure likely reflects the performance of its regular version, where it is incredibly fast, accelerates quickly and has superb handling, but its shields are really weak, making it very easy to destroy. Like in Fusion, the Zone ship does not represent any team, and thus, is a privateer ship likely owned by the Belmondo Foundation.

Stats[]

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The Zone ship in Wipeout Pure, as it appears in a regular race

  • Speed - 5/5
  • Handling - 5/5
  • Shield - 1/5
  • Thrust - 4/5

Pulse/HD/Fury[]

Each Zone ship is identical in terms of stats and appearance. The only difference is the logo or livery applied onto the ship, depending on which team the player has chosen. As the stats suggest, the ship's performance is completely maxed out with extreme speed, powerful acceleration, incredibly sharp handling and tough shielding to last as long as possible.

Stats[]

  • Speed - 10/10
  • Thrust - 10/10
  • Handling - 10/10
  • Shield - 10/10

Trivia[]

  • In Wipeout Pure, beating all the 4 zone tracks with gold medals unlocks the Zone ship for use in regular events. However, AI opponents will never use this ship even after it is unlocked.
  • In Wipeout Pulse, the Zone ship can be unlocked for use in the other modes when the player accumulates sufficient loyalty points. However, this ship is actually a skin when used outside of Zone, as the standard ship stats will apply depending on which team the ship represents.
  • In Wipeout HD Fury, the Zone ship stats is also applied on Fury ships (Zone Battle mode only) and Detonator ships.
  • Wipeout 2048 is the only game that does not offer a unique Zone ship model of any kind. Instead, players can choose from the unlocked ships for use in the event. The ships also retain their normal stats, but only Handling and Health play role in Zone, as Speed and Firepower, as well as some of their special abilities, are nulled for the event. Agility ships are best suited for this event due to their high Handling stats, as well as decent Health stats. However, there are exceptions for two Speed ships: the FEISAR Speed and the AG Systems Speed. Even though they do have low Health stats, they are also somewhat good for Zone, as they have unusually high Handling stats for their own class.
  • There are two anti-gravity ships originating from games before Wipeout Fusion that could be considered "spiritual" predecessors to Zone ships.
    • In Wipeout 3: Special Edition, there is a secret Drag Prototype craft sporting a ludicrous top speed stat, with livery depending on the chosen team, and only playable on dedicated tracks against other Drag Prototypes.
    • The even older forerunner to Zone ships is the original Piranha craft from Wipeout 2097, another secret craft that has maxed out stats and no restrictions for track (or speed class) selection, but lacks the ability to use weapons.

Scoring[]

Apart from number of Zones, there is also a scoring system featured in nearly all the games that feature Zone mode (except Wipeout 2048, as it only displays XPs), but it won't affect the leaderboard rankings, as only the number of Zones matters. During the event, the score increases over time, and this list shows how the score increases:

  • Time Elapsed - 60 points per second
  • Speed Pad - 100 points each
  • Cleared Zone - 500 points each
  • Perfect Zone - 1,000 points each
  • Barrel Roll - 1,200 points each (No points if failed)
  • Perfect Lap - 2,000 points each

Damage[]

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The Zone Ship destruction sequence. Note how the ship separates into many fragments during destruction.

Like all other ships, the Zone Ship is also capable of sustaining damage. The damage taken is indicated by the shield energy remaining. The ship's shield energy depletes as it takes damage. If the ship receives too much damage, it will eventually explode or disintegrate. The shield energy can only be recovered by scoring a Perfect Zone, giving the ship a 10% energy recovery. The HD/Fury HUD shows your energy remaining as a clear percentage at the top, Fusion shows the absolute number (35 points being the maximum), whereas Pure and Pulse contain a plain bar, requiring players to observe it manually and determine how much energy remaining. This list shows how the damage is received and how much energy lost:

  • Hitting wall - Variable, depending on speed and angle (higher zones cause much more damage as the ship becomes much faster, making recovery much more difficult).
  • Barrel roll - 15% each, even if failed. A successful barrel roll is worth 1,200 points, while a failed barrel is worth 0 points. Barrel rolls do not void perfect zone or perfect lap.
  • Falling off the track - 5% each. A threat on tracks without side wall on some of their sections. At very high speeds, falling off the track can occur on other tracks. Falling off the track voids perfect zone and perfect lap.
  • Going the wrong way - Depletes shield energy over time as long as the ship goes in the wrong direction. Variable over duration and distance.

Trivia[]

  • There are different elimination effects in Zone mode depending on the game. Fusion and Pulse would show the ship destroyed in a similar manner to how it would normally, while in Pure, the ship implodes, releasing spark pixels, before bursting into even larger pixels until they fade away. In HD/Fury (including in 2048 and the Omega Collection), the ship will pixellate and split into fragments while the track fades into a black void (white void in 2048 and the Omega Collection). 2048's own unique Zone mode shows the ship disintegrating before bursting into pixellated fragments, although the track's surroundings will no longer fade into a void.
  • Keeping the ship from taking damage within a zone will score a Perfect Zone, thus awarding the player with a slight recovery of 10%, and after hitting a wall, this will reset, and the next zone will be eligible for the award.
  • 2048 Zone mode in the Omega Collection is the only instance in the series where the announcer says "Contender eliminated" when the session ends.

Speed Classes[]

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A Zone ship going through the Mach 1 speed class. Note how the lights at the sides of the Zone ship display your Shield Energy remaining. Once the energy drops to critical condition, the shield meter starts flashing red, as indicated above.

Every certain number of predetermined Zones, players advance through a series of Speed Classes.

Wipeout Pulse Speed Class List[]

  • Sub-Venom (Zone 0)
  • Venom (Zone 2)
  • Sub-Flash (Zone 3)
  • Flash (Zone 5)
  • Sub-Rapier (Zone 7)
  • Rapier (Zone 12)
  • Sub-Phantom (Zone 14)
  • Phantom (Zone 20)
  • Super Phantom (Zone 22)
  • Zen (Zone 35)

Wipeout HD/Fury Speed Class List[]

  • Sub-Venom (Zone 0)
  • Venom (Zone 2)
  • Sub-Flash (Zone 3)
  • Flash (Zone 5)
  • Sub-Rapier (Zone 7)
  • Rapier (Zone 12)
  • Sub-Phantom (Zone 16)
  • Phantom (Zone 20)
  • Super Phantom (Zone 27)
  • Zen (Zone 35)
  • Super Zen (Zone 42)
  • Subsonic (Zone 50)
  • Mach 1 (Zone 60)
  • Supersonic (Zone 75)

Wipeout 2048 Speed Class List[]

  • D Class (Zone 0)
  • C Class (Zone 2)
  • B Class (Zone 9)
  • A Class (Zone 17)
  • A+ Class (Zone 33)
  • Mach 1 (Zone 40)
  • Mach 1.1 (Zone 45)
  • Mach 1.2 (Zone 50)
  • Mach 1.3 (Zone 55)
  • Mach 1.4 (Zone 60)
  • Mach 1.5 (Zone 65)
  • Mach 1.6 (Zone 70)
  • Mach 1.7 (Zone 75)
  • Mach 1.8 (Zone 80)
  • Mach 1.9 (Zone 85)
  • Mach X (Zone 90)

Trivia[]

  • In 2048, once the player reaches Mach 1, the event will continue through the Mach speed classes until Mach X, after which the Zone number raises infinitely until the event ends (ship destruction).
  • In HD/Fury and the Omega Collection, the announcer will announce the number of Zones cleared (every five Zones) until Zone 100.
  • Once the highest speed class is obtained, the player will no longer change speed class, but can clear further Zones, as Zones are infinite. Subsequent zones will result in higher speeds. On a further note, it is possible to exceed the speed of sound in Zone mode (approximately 1,235km/h). However, there is no "sonic boom" or any similar audio or visual effect. It is also even possible to reach 2,000km/h if the player manages to exceed way beyond the depths of Zone 100.
  • In HD/Fury, advancing in speed class changes the track color scheme and equalizer appearance.
  • In 2048, advancing in speed class changes only the color scheme surrounding the track. There are no equalizers in this game, as custom soundtrack is not directly supported.
  • Two unused speed classes are mentioned in 2048's sound files: "Transonic" and "Hypersonic".

See Also[]

  • Zone (ship) - the regular version of the Zone ship for use in normal races in Pure.
  • Zone Battle, a new mode in HD Fury, derived from this mode, which introduces a furious race of eight contenders in which the objective is to reach the target Zone before the others.
  • Detonator, another new mode in HD Fury, which combines this mode with shooter elements.
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