WipEout XL

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Description

WipEout XL is set in the year 2097, around four decades after its predecessor. Instead of the F3600 anti-gravity racing competition, the game features an even faster and more dangerous tournament: the F5000 AG league. The gameplay system is similar to that of the previous game: players race against each other or computer in high-speed futuristic environments, liberally picking up weapons scattered around the stages and using them against the opponents to finish the race in the highest position.

Each vehicle is provided with a shield; once this shield is breached (by weapons or other kinds of damage), the craft explodes. As in the first game, the vehicles move at very high speeds. The game's four difficulty levels are used to crank the speed up and down, with the highest setting corresponding to the highest speed. In addition to the main championship mode, there are also challenge modes, winning in which rewards the player with faster game settings, new tracks, and new vehicles.

Screenshots

Promo Images

Alternate Titles

• "ワイプアウトXL" -- Japanese spelling
• "WipEout 2097" -- European title

Part of the Following Groups

• Genre: Car / motorcycle combat
• PlayStation Platinum Range releases
• WipEout series

User Reviews

A milestone in Sci-Fi racing

Windows

Firefreak (5)

Critic Reviews

P.S.X. (Playstation Experience)	PlayStation	Dec, 1996	98 out of 100	98
Coming Soon Magazine	PlayStation	Nov 15, 1996		90
Amiga Active	Amiga	Dec, 1999	9 out of 10	90
Mega Fun	SEGA Saturn	Aug, 1997	87 out of 100	87
Macworld	Macintosh	Jul 01, 2002		80
PC Jeux	Windows	Jun, 1997	76 out of 100	76
Defunct Games	SEGA Saturn	Aug 12, 2006	75 out of 100	75
PC Joker	Windows	Jul, 1997	72 out of 100	72
Computer Gaming World (CGW)	Windows	Oct, 1997		70
PC Player (Germany)	Windows	Jul, 1997		60

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Trivia

1001 Video Games

The PS1 version of Wipeout 2097 appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

2097

This game takes place in the same year as One Must Fall: 2097.

Multiplayer

The game shipped without a multiplayer feature, but a patch was released with support for IPX, TCP/IP, serial and modem connection.

Music

The music is actually "red book" audio which means that you can pop the CD into your audio CD player and listen to it.

References

The name of the most powerful weapon in the game is composed of the names of two first person shooting games. The weapons name is the Quake disruptor.

References to the game

The game made a cameo appearance in the 1995 movie Hackers (it's the game Angelina Jolie and Jonny Lee Miller play on a giant screen (also notice they are using the dual analog Playstation controller)).

The version of Wipeout seen in the Hackers movie was from a very early SoftImage animation created before the original Wipeout, to see how the game could possibly look. It was spotted by some movie people who wanted to put it into Hackers, so an extended version was created and tailored for the film. The sound effects track was created by PC Music.

Soundtrack

The game's soundtrack includes music by Prodigy, Future Sound of London, and The Chemical Brothers. However, all the songs are licensed versions of previously released material, so there is no new music except the intro and outro musics by by Tim Wright (aka CoLD SToRAGE). However, the PC version of the game does not include licensed music - its whole soundtrack was written/performed by Tim Wright (aka CoLD SToRAGE.)

Awards

• Electronic Gaming Monthly
• March 1997 (Issue 92) - Best Graphics runner-up (PlayStation version) + Best Music (PlayStation version) + Best Music runner-up (PlayStation version) (Readers' Choice)

Information also contributed by Brolin Empey, Felix Knoke, glidefan, Mike Clarke, and Zovni

Related Web Sites

• Wikipedia: Wipeout 2097 (article in the open encyclopedia about the game)