Wipeout Pure

Blasting through the sky city, hovering over the curvy concrete track, neon lights are a blur in this time-stopping moment. Tire tracks are nowhere in sight, but the invisible blaze is somehow noticed.

Not a care in the world? Yeah right! Tell me you're carefree when you're in the driver's seat of a vehicle that can travel at several hundred miles per hour. Armor doesn't last forever – collisions turn futuristic ground-based aircrafts into a flames. Scrap metal is no good when it's been burnt so badly that you can't figure out which part of the vehicle that it came from.

Life is dangerous in the meticulously designed, outrageously layered world of Wipeout. Earning praise from gamers all around the world as the top PSone launch title, Sony is all but guaranteed to do the same with the best PSP launch title, Wipeout Pure.

Condensed in hardware, not in gameplay, Wipeout Pure is faster than the original. It's nearly as beautiful as the PS2 edition, Wipeout Fusion, and is just as immersive. I have never played a racing game on a portable system that had as much creativity and longevity as Wipeout Pure. Its addictiveness is indescribable. You'll watch the videos, and maybe a commercial if Sony makes one, and wonder what all the fuss is about. They can't compare. The first time you play it won't compare either. However, the second time you play it - that's when Wipeout Pure's beauty is revealed. That's when you realized that the PSP is very close to being what Sony hoped for: a portable version of their best-selling console, PlayStation2.

Tracks are exquisitely designed, matching the quality of the previous games. Driving is a breeze with the PSP's thumbstick (well, as breezy as they can possibly be for a game that moves so fast). Speed is the reason you'll love this game. That and the immensity and intensity of the competition. And the tracks, which I must say are perfect. The first reason though – speed – is also the reason why your first impression might not be a memorable one. Wipeout Pure starts off relatively slow to ease players into the experience. They warn you of this, telling you that the first level difficulty (Vector) has the slowest tracks in the galaxy. Nonetheless, everyone will go into this game expecting to be blown away immediately. Be patient.

Once you familiarize yourself with the controls, hit a few speed boost markers and grab a few power-ups, Wipeout Pure really begins to shine. The Venom series of races are fast, challenging, and full of unexpected course changes that will have you crashing into walls time and time again. This might become frustrating in other racing games, but in Wipeout Pure, that's just the way it should be. I wouldn't have it any other way.

The race to the finish line is doubly exciting with combat that weighs heavily on your chances of success. Should you combat your opponents successfully, chances are you'll make it in the top three. If you succumb to more than one of their attacks, it's unlikely that you'll be able to make it back into first place, assuming you held that position in the first place. Wipeout Pure is forgiving at times, perhaps more than Wipeout Fusion. But it's never, ever, easy. It's never anything but a great, rewarding challenge that pulls you in like the retractor beam in Star Wars. The only difference is that with this game, you're getting sucked into a world you can happily embrace.

Wipeout Pure is not only the best PSP launch title, it's also the best looking. The screenshots are nice but do not do the frame rate justice. You're looking at one still image, while those who play the game get to see the vehicles fly through the course at unprecedented speeds for a portable game console. The background detail is unbelievable, but it's the depth of field that really took my breath away. No fog! No pop-up! Look straight ahead and all you'll see is beautiful polygons. PS2 titles didn't look this good at launch. If what developers say is true, PSP will someday surpass the PS2 in graphical power.

I'm hooked. I'm in awe. My jaw is in the floor. And all I want to do is pick up my PSP and continue playing the best futuristic racing game since Wipeout Fusion. Wipeout Pure is a great achievement in every way you look at it: gameplay, graphics, controls, sound, everything. This is the showpiece for PSP, the game that Sony should use to promote this device as the ultimate portable gaming machine. The world will be amazed by the PSP's DVD-quality real-time video capabilities (Spider-Man 2 is a hundred times better than I had anticipated). But when they get their hands on Wipeout Pure for the first time – that's when you'll realize what Sony has created. That's when you'll see that what they say is true: the PSP could become the Walkman of the 21st century. The fact alone that Wipeout Pure can do all that is proof that it's more than a must-own launch title. It's a reason to get in line and buy the system when it's released this week.

Gameplay: 9.5
I'm like a bird in a tree, singing its happy song on a warm summer morning just before the sun comes up. Wipeout Pure is quintessential. It's PSP racing in its purest form. If you don't buy it, you will rent it, play it in-store or at a friend's house. The first thought that will come to mind: "Why didn't I buy this at launch?" Nothing you buy could better – just different. No game is faster, we know that for certain. The controls are so good that it's hard to imagine that another PSP racer controls better. This is the leader of the pack; the king that all other racing games must bow to. And it will wear this crown until Burnout arrives. That's when the real battle begins.

Graphics: 9.5
Jaw-dropping. I know PSP games will only get better – by the time Christmas comes we'll be playing games that look twice as good as most of the launch titles. This makes me hate to give out a high score like a 9.5 to any game for its graphics. Wipeout Pure is beautiful though, so beautiful in fact that it will shock you. I've played five of the 15+ launch titles. I've seen videos of almost all of them. From what I know thus far, none can compare to Wipeout Pure. If nothing else, this game moves faster than any other PSP launch title. The polygon count must be unreal, though I'm sure it's the frame rate that will impress you the most.

Sound: 8.5
The king of techno is back. Repetition is not a part of this soundtrack, except for one annoying song. The rest is pure ear-pleasing bliss, pumping original beat-filled tracks through the PSP's tiny speakers. Fans will not be disappointed. The rest of you will be amazed that, with the right composer, techno music can actually be good.

Difficulty: Med/Easy
Step right up, step right up. Watch in amusement as this volunteer gamer tries to conquer Wipeout Pure but can't. It's a rare site folks, to watch a gamer not beat a racing game immediately after purchasing it. Only $5 to see it all happen at the Carnival of Weirdness.

Concept: 8.5
Wipeout for the small screen. It didn't take a rocket scientist to come up with that one. The PS2-quality gameplay, the near-PS2-quality graphics, the amazing sound, the unforgettable course creations ... Wipeout Pure is out of this world.  Lucky for you, you don't have to leave the galaxy to get it.

Multiplayer: 9.0
WiFi-connected gamers can race up to seven opponents in multiplayer. With many airports, cyber cafes and even Panera Bread offering free WiFi access, the PSP is becoming a true portable multiplayer gaming device.

Overall: 9.5
Pure gets props for being just as good on the PSP as it is on PS2. It gets props for having incredible graphics, for moving at lightning-fast speeds, and for never, ever showing signs of technological inferiority (gimmicks like fog, slowdown, etc., are not a part of Wipeout Pure's beautiful world). It gets major props for having great controls without the use of a true analog stick. The PSP sliding-thumbstick thingy is more sensitive than it appears at first. No one will walk away unimpressed.