Wipeout 2097 Review (Playstation)

There's no doubting the impact made by the original Wipeout on its release. The trendy design and cutting edge music (at the time) created a tempting package, but the gameplay itself just needed more refinement. Thankfully, Psygnosis realised this and created a truly amazing sequel. Ladies and gentlemen, we present Wipeout 2097.

Set some forty years after the original, Wipeout 2097 (or XL for our US readers) retains much from its predecessor. The same four teams compete (and are joined by a fifth, Pirahna), the Designer's Republic are still on board for graphical embellishments, the finest dance acts of the day are on musical duties (on the PlayStation version, anyway) and the weapons are back. However, it's the various tweaks – subtle but many – that strengthened the series, and led to the Wipeout we know today.

The use of weapons in the previous game resulted in a minor inconvenience to competitors, stalling their ship and costing them time. While that was a fine tactic, it all felt a little flat. 2097 ups the combat element considerably with the addition of health bars for each ship. Once depleted, the craft is destroyed and must leave the race. A 'pit stop' at the end of each lap now has to be considered to replenish lost health, but this will cost players precious seconds and possibly a position. The more combative edge simply makes the game more fun to play. The thrill of being in second place and unleashing a missile on the ship ahead, destroying it and securing a gold medal is hard to describe.

Since the focus here is more on combat, more power ups have been added. Some return from the first game (speed boosts, shields, rockets, missiles), but the new ones, such as quake, plasma and thunder bomb provide much satisfaction when unleashed. The quake causes a wave of destruction along the track, dealing out huge damage to opponents (and looking pretty good as it does it) while the plasma shot can destroy a craft instantly, but requires practice to use effectively. The weapons and their effects add much more excitement and a slightly darker tone to the game – something built upon by the game's general aesthetic.

The tracks and surroundings are similar in design to those of the original title but have, a grimier, more dystopian feel.  From Talon's Reach, a course set in a Canadian industrial complex, to Gare D’Europa, a track fashioned from the remains of a French Metro system, the circuits often feel oppressive, and add to the violent futuristic sports stylings seen in Speedball or F Zero. Combine this with music tracks like Future Sound of London's We Have Explosive and the Chemical Brothers' Loops of Fury and you have a game that's one of a kind (at least until everyone else started to imitate it.

There is no doubting this is a huge improvement on Wipeout. The design tweaks and gameplay additions make it a better game and other reforms such as allowing your craft to graze barriers instead of stopping you dead improve it further. It's the kind of sequel you would expect – take the good stuff from the first game, iron out the creases, add some new features and spread on a layer of gloss. Psygnosis didn't rest on their laurels, they new they had to innovate to keep the franchise going, and it paid off. The only real flaw here is the lack of a two player split screen option (system link makes a return in its place), but the single player offers a challenge with single races, time trials and tournaments. There’s plenty to unlock too, such as two extra tracks, animal ships (?) and an extra weapon (the minigun, if you're wondering). It's a game that still stands up today, even with the excellent Wipeout HD available, and hopefully it will see release on the PSN soon.

9/10

Written by Dan Gill

Wipeout Review (Playstation)

There are few pivotal moments in video games, but when they arrive it feels special to be a part of it. Space Invaders, Super Mario Brothers, Final Fantasy VII and GTAIII are among the titles I'd count as truly trailblazing, yet one of the more important titles in recent memory (and one to take some credit for the success of the last two on the list above) is Psygnosis' Wipeout. Seen as something of a poster boy for the PlayStation generation, it has introduced a new crowd to gaming, infiltrated nightclubs and birthed a massive Sony franchise which lives on to this day. But how does the original stand up to scrutiny so many years after its release?

Sadly, not well. As a PlayStation launch title in Europe (and the first non-Japanese game to be released on the format, fact fans), it suffers from the same problems of many games from that era – poor draw distances, ropey controls, and a lack of substance. While there's no doubting there is a game in here, what's on offer is limited. Being an amalgam of Super Mario Kart and F-Zero, Wipeout tends to focus on racing more than combat, so it would be expected that the racing is well honed and exciting.

What we actually have is oversensitive handling and a demanding challenge. This isn't a game you can just dive into and enjoy straight away and you have to play by its strict rules to get the most out of it. The learning curve for Wipeout is steep, but if you have the determination to succeed, you will reap the rewards.

Wipeout is harsh. Make that very harsh. The demands it puts on the player are high, it expects you to make few mistakes on the track. If you do, it will punish you. While replaying Wipeout for review, I found myself swerving all over the track, from barrier to barrier. Any time your craft clips the sides, you stop dead. Now I like to think of myself as a fairly decent Wipeout player, but finishing in seventh place humbled me somewhat. I realised it was merely a lack of refinement on the game's part, and that the sequels had improved on this foundation (but let's save that for another time).

However, it is a decent foundation. The basic principle of Wipeout is sound (race floating craft around futuristic tracks while shooting at other racers), it just needed a bit more playtesting. For instance, the weapons do little more than slow down your opponents, and lack any kind of excitement. It does feature a decent two player mode in the form of system link (if you can find a mate with their own PS, TV and copy of the game), the dance soundtrack and graphics fit the tone and the tracks themselves are pretty good. It just doesn't help that your craft handles with all the grace of a three-wheeled shopping trolley.

Despite all the complaints that run throughout this review, Wipeout still has its place in the annals of gaming history. It was a very important release for Sony, it ushered in a new era for gaming and it laid the groundwork for what was to come. Its problem is that it's a product of its time, and it has lost most of the magic it had upon release. Is it worth playing now? That depends on your patience.

If you have the time to dedicate yourself to a blurry, cumbersome PSOne title and can overlook its flaws, you'll get something out of it. I think it is worth owning for the completists among you, and perhaps even those who want to see where it all began. It's available to download on PlayStation Network for around £3.50, but it may be best to wait for 2097 to make its way to PSN and buy that instead.

5/10

Written by Dan Gill

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures Review (Game Cube)

A new Zelda title accompanies each new generation of Nintendo hardware as surely as the controller and connection cables in the packaging. Along with this event comes some form of gaming innovation to get both fans and critics bouncing around like the proverbial thing on a spring. Despite these high expectations the latest addition, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures, offers  something very special. Gather three friends, have them bring along their Game Boy Advances and up to four players can work together to bring the light back to the land of Hyrule. More impressively, the charm and high levels of ingenuity still shine through as strong as ever when played solo. Ladies and gentleman this is how games were meant to be - original, charming and filled with small people wearing different coloured hats.

Unlike most Zelda titles the plot is truly lacklustre. All that we can recall about it is that Princess Zelda has been kidnapped and for some reason there are lots of evil shadow Links running around because of a nasty mirror. Apparently plot writing day happened to fall on the same date as the company picnic for the Nintendo team. Fear not intrepid gamers because where the story is normally a pivotal point in a Zelda title the same is not true in this case. Four Swords is all about bite sized chunks of action. In that respect it delivers.

Layout of the title poses another departure for the Zelda series. Instead of the usual idea of one huge landscape to explore, everything is split into a number of levels. Eight areas, each consisting of three parts, can be revisited at any point. After the initial unfamiliarity wears off this different approach brings a welcome sense of freedom for the player. No longer do thoughts that you may have left some important object on the other side of the world intrude on your enjoyment. In fact, once you reach the end of a level all objects are removed from your hero. Furthermore, the Links can only carry one object at a time so the hording and painstaking item searching of old is long gone.

The new level format works masterfully and allows for solo play that seamlessly becomes multiplayer. When friends wish to join they can immediately enter at any level meaning you never sit around waiting for people to get off their back sides and get playing. Cruise through a few levels then let them join in at the new point you just reached; or simply select a level you have previously played through. So simple, yet so effective.

Graphically this  is simple yet sublime. What we have is and updated take on the SNES classic A link to the Past mixed with subtle and beautiful fire and explosion effects plucked from The Wind Waker. Zelda Four Swords is all about the little things being done right to come together in creating one excellent greater thing. The reasoning behind the use of 2D graphics becomes clear when your character enters a house or cave, and action switches to your Game Boy Advance screen. If the Cube version of the title had more complex 3D graphics (a la Wind Waker) then all continuity in the style would have been lost upon the move to the GBA.

For those concerned you need both a GBA and a Cube to play the game, don't worry too much. If you plan to go through the game in singleplayer, then any action that would move onto the GBA screen is brought up in an overlay window on the TV screen. However, multiplayer requires each player to have a GBA for independent movement in order to try and find treasure before anyone else gets their hands on it.

Whether in singleplayer or multiplayer Link (or the Links as it were) are never difficult to control. The friendly control system lets you organize the four Links into different formations at the touch of a button. Furthermore you can take control of individual Links as needed meaning there is nothing you cannot do in singleplayer that you can in multiplayer. When controlling a single Link the others fade slightly and become invulnerable. This classy touch removes any worries when you have to go far off to find a switch leaving the other Links behind.

Four Swords Adventure is the sort of game Cube and GBA owners have been waiting for ever since the Link cable existed. It's a joy in singleplayer and borderline heavenly in multiplayer; the challenge is set just right; the puzzles are set just right; everything from the box art, the feel and most importantly the playing is just right. This is what Crystal Chronicles should have been and finally shows how truly great connectivity can be. If there is a sour note it is that the Japanese Tetra Tracker mini game has been removed due to technical limitations; but it is questionable if you will miss it anyway. All we can say is go and buy it. Find friends or enjoy it alone, just get hold of it and see how much fun games can be.

8/10

Mario Vs Donkey Kong Review (GBA)

In 1981 Donkey Kong made his video game debut and then promptly ran off with Mario's (then Jump man's) girlfriend. To rescue the girl players had to negotiate four levels, climbing up Donkey Kong's tower before finally knocking his platform away. Ever since then the Mario vs Donkey Kong franchise has been rarely used, with both characters taking on many other roles. Indeed only the NES version of the arcade game (and an excellent title designed for the Super Gameboy in 1984) have seen the two Nintendo properties clashing head on.

Now on GBA the two giants of the Nintendo world clash again in a platform come puzzle game, which is a slight departure from the previous iterations in the highly enjoyable series. Anyone who has played the Super Gameboy version will be on familiar ground, though the impetus has now been placed heavily on the puzzle element of the title rather than the platforming fun of old. The manoeuvres that the mighty plumber can pull off are much the same as before. For the uninitiated Mario can jump, pick up enemies/other objects and do a hand stand-to-hand spring jump which gets him to high places. In a round about way what we have is Mario 64 moves plus a touch of Super Mario 2.

A new system brings with it a new graphical overhaul; everything is given the muddy, mock three-dimensional style that is beginning to creep into GBA games at an alarming rate. We have yet to see this technique pulled of completely successfully and again here it proves to be more of a hindrance than a help to the gameplay. The extra animations needed to pull off moves - mean that at times - Mario can seem to be slightly off the pace. It doesn't happen that often, but enough to make you consider throwing the cartridge at something.

The goal for the initial six worlds is to get Mario to a locked door with a key found somewhere on the screen. On the way you can pick up little present boxes, which if you collect them all give you a bonus. Luckily, (though the graphics can hinder the play some of the time) on the whole Mario is more than equipped to make it around the levels without the controls causing a problem which is good as players need to use all of Mario's abilities in order to do achieve the simplest of tasks. The game really does have some hidden depth in this respect.

In order to make it through safely you must be thinking right from the off, as solutions are rarely as straightforward as they first appear. Mario vs Donkey Kong is more about planning an effective route than the fast paced Mario action we have seen previously. However, though the levels are clever and the controls hold up the majority of the time, there is a distinct lack of an addictive quality in the title. Furthermore the game really is not that much fun to play, meaning what you are left with is a taxing puzzle game which you are not really driven to solve.

The title is not a bad game, it just lacks the little touch of Nintendo magic that make Mario titles such a compelling affair, something that the previous version of the Mario vs Donkey Kong franchise had in abundance. True there is some joy to be had during the boss battles, and when you solve a particularly tough puzzle the feeling of relief is a rare joy, but more often than not you will end up frustrated and worn down.

Mario vs Donkey Kong is not a bad game by any stretch of the imagination, and the franchise deserved to be revived and contains a lot of promise. But this title simply is not enough to launch the plumber and the big ape's feud into the Nintendo hall of fame. It tries to be Mario platforming crossed with all the goodness of lemmings but really it ends up showing only glimpses of the brilliance of each.

6/10