Nintendo Okie

I’ve said before that Wipeout has been one of those guilty pleasures of mine for a few years. The things that people do on that TV show are insane and seeing the way their bodies fly about is often times hilarious. Last year saw the release of the first game based on the hit TV show and it was a bit of a disappointment. Terrible physics, ugly graphics and repetitive gameplay on the DS turned what could have been a great game into a disappointing experience. Wipeout 2 marks the third entry into the game following the first game and Wipeout: In the Zone for Xbox Kinect. Is the third time the charm for the franchise in video games?

What You Need to Know

Wipeout 2 is based on the television show Wipeout. Contestants compete in crazy obstacle course challenges for a chance at winning $50,000. In the DS version of the game 12 contestants compete in a series of obstacles and are pared down to four after one round. The second round sees two remaining contestants eliminated by a spinning obstacle that they all must dodge. The final two contestants then compete in one last challenge called the Wipeout Zone. The winner takes the $50,000 prize. The obstacles will come in the form of jumping challenges where they must move from one platform to the next, avoiding moving obstacles that attempt to knock them into a pool of mud below. There will be hydraulically controlled fists that attempt to punch you off a platform, spinning log that will knock you off platforms and giant rubber balls that you must attempt to jump over.

Better Physics

The biggest issue that I had with the DS edition of last year’s game was that the physics model was just terrible. Missing a platform would not cause character to rag doll as expected. Rather they turned into planks of wood, and didn’t bounce off of any of the obstacles as they fell straight down into a pit of mud. If you’re playing a game like Wipeout you expect insane things to happen to people when they miss a jump, get pushed off a platform or punched in the face by a punching bag. None of that would happen.

This year the developers made sure to improve on that model and characters will actually bounce around off the big balls, float properly in the air over large fans and react appropriately when they miss jumps. It’s still not great, but the DS can’t really handle all the stuff that would go on if this were actually happening. It’s great to actually see people bounce around as they should now.

More Obstacles

If you watch the TV show Wipeout you know all of the different things that they have contestants go through as they attempt to win a large cash prize. Many of the games really do boil down to doing the same thing over and over again, with just a different coat of paint on the obstacle. With a video game, though you have so many more options and this version of the game has plenty to do. Rather than randomize the same half a dozen or so different obstacles I noticed a considerable amount of things to do. This game reminded me a lot of Dorito’s Crash Course, which was a free downloadable game on the Xbox 360. There are a lot of different things you’ll be doing in Wipeout 2. Many of the obstacles that have made the TV show so popular make an appearance. You’ll see the Big Balls, the Sucker Punch, many of the different sweepers and the Motivator. The developers took the time to actually add more in there that can only be done on a video game. Now you’ll have to do things like ride giant fans over gaps, run on treadmills while avoiding giant foam hammers and avoid paint balls that cause you to lose momentum.

I called Dorito’s Crash Course the best Wipeout game that I’ve ever played, but Wipeout is catching back up. This game is so much better than last year’s game in just about every way possible.

Terrible Characters

The people you see on the TV show are generally pretty crazy characters. Some of them are probably just acting that way to get their face on TV, while I’m sure others actually are the way they are in real life. The game tries to portray those crazy characters with weird stereotypical characters. You’ll get crazy hick farmers, nerds, cheerleaders and others. While it’s good that they try to get the feel for the TV show it just comes off as silly. There should be some sort of character creator that you can use to create your own weird characters, or just give some less oddball selections for people to choose from. The characters in the game aren’t interesting in any way.

Still Repetitive

There are more obstacles to play through, and better physics, but it still boils down to run to the right, avoid some form of sweeper arm, futilely avoid the Sucker Punch and fail miserably at the big balls. It’s fun to watch on TV, but with a video game you want some sense that you can actually succeed at the task in front of you. Wipeout still boils down to a few basic concepts, many of which I don’t think can actually be beaten.

In that respect it gets very repetitive, very quickly. A round of Wipeout can take less than four or five minutes and while there are a lot of different “games” to unlock they all still have you doing the same thing. Maybe it’s the fact that all of the games take place in front of the same backdrop, or that all of the obstacles are still generic red foam platforms. Whatever it is the game, on the DS, still isn’t a very exciting experience.

Conclusion

I like Wipeout. I like silly obstacle course games. That alone should be a marriage made in heaven. However, Wipeout 2 on the DS isn’t a great experience. The dialogue spoken by all of the hosts is stiff and doesn’t come off nearly as funny as it does on the TV show. The characters are bland and the obstacles are either too easy to finish, or impossibly hard. It’s a better effort than last year was, but I don’t think the DS is the right platform for a game like this. There are simply better alternatives, like Wipeout 2 or Dorito’s Crash Course, on the consoles.

Final Score:

Review copy of the game provided by Activision
Played through all of the different game modes.
Total Play time: 3 hours

No screenshots were available at the time of posting.  I’ll update the review with proper screens when I get them.