OOHHH YES!

I got one of the original American Playstations many years ago and one of the selling points was this little game called Wipeout. For a 1st generation game, it was amazing, with fast racing graphics that many, including Star Wars Racer, have taken inspiration from. Its soundtrack was perfect for anti-grav racing and the tracks were all spectacular and unique.

I bought Wipeout XL, which improved on the series by adding the idea of shielding and the ability to destroy opponents. Wipeout 3 looks very much like Wipeout XL because it is not a radical departure. Most of the old weapons are still there including Plasma, rockets, and the crowd pleasing Quake Distruptor. Wipeout 3 adds several new racing teams with ships that have their own little advantages. The new tracks push the envelope... with bigger jumps, crazier turns, and a spiral downward in the Mega Mall track.

Wipeout 3 also adds several new modes of play. There are the traditional single track and tournament modes, but now there are also new challenges where you are given a task (win a race on a certain track with a certain ship or destroy a certain number of ships usually). And the Eliminator, where Wipeout turns deathmatch. The objective is to get to a certain number of points. Each lap gives you a point, but killing an enemy ship gives you a point also. Killed ships respawn back at the starting grid. Excellent modes of play.

The only problem is that only 4 ships and 4 tracks are available when the game starts. To get the rest of the tracks and ships, you have to beat each track with each ship. READ! USE A MEMORY CARD! For the faint of stomach, or those who don't like racing games all that much, Wipeout 3 may be too fast on some tracks and definetly if you get to the Venom and Raiper classes. For the rest of us Wipeout addicts, Wipeout 3 is a must have.