Wipeout HD Fury was quite the unexpected find. Word of mouth was nonexistent, it didn’t show at Sony’s press conference, and it could only be found at one lonely kiosk on the show floor. Furthermore, I had to go through four Sony reps before I could locate someone who could tell me anything about the game. But I got some details, eventually.
Of particular interest are a couple new modes. The first was Detonator, which functioned, essentially, as Zone mode with a few minor changes. Bombs were placed all over the track, and your ship was granted machine guns to deal with the newly placed hazards. I also found a few other pickups, which seemed to boost my score and project me through a zone level faster than usual.
The other new mode, pulled from Pulse (I was told), was Eliminator. More of a battle mode than a race mode, I spent most of my time doing 180’s and firing an arsenal of weapons at my opponents. Zone Battle, where you can sacrifice your zone score/advancement to restore energy to your ship.
I got all the way to the last campaign block before I gave up in Wipeout HD, and the portions of fury I got to sample Fury definitely matched the original HD in intensity. I’m still not entirely sure that it’s possible for normal, non-cyborg humans to win at the highest speed class in that game, but it’s still fun trying anyway.
On the fact sheet side of things, Fury, rather than a standalone game, is a mission pack for Wipeout HD. When downloaded, the initial title screen splits into two, and you’re free to select Fury as an almost entirely separate game. Aside from the previously mentioned game modes, other new features include a new set of campaigns, eight new tracks, and thirteen new teams (including multiple variants of each ship). And it probably goes without saying, but the game is still one of the most beautiful games to grace the PS3. Sony wasn’t talking pricing, but I’d be shocked if Fury was more than $10.
