We were lucky enough to get our hands on with Studio Liverpool’s latest entry into the WipEout series, WipEout 2048, on the new Sony handheld, Playstation Vita. This is the 8th entry into the franchise, and yet it takes place before previous entries, therefore allowing Studio Liverpool’s art teams to run with the emerging aesthetics of anti-gravity racing. Now tracks don’t solely take place in some nondescript floating environment, now you race through city streets and parks as well as highways and occasionally a purposefully developed racetrack. It certainly is an interesting, and refreshing, ‘restart’ to the franchise.

As you would expect from any WipEout game, visually this is a feast for the eyes. When placed next to WipEout HD/Fury it’s astounding that the PS Vita can pump out something that easily rivals the PS3 game, which even 3 years on still looks every bit as good as it used to. Arguably 2048 is actually better looking just because of the lush OLED screen that the Vita boasts. The ships themselves have a rough and ready quality about them, something that doesn’t quite match up with the sleek sheen the ships had in Fury, but also not as worn and beaten as some of the textures of HD‘s ships. The ships fit in perfectly with the environment of semi built tracks, grassy routes through parks, and the more developed meccas that you’d find in its PS3 counterpart.

The track design has also changed, in the four courses we had the chance to play through, every single one of them felt different, yet still contained that unmistakable wipeout flair. Other than the environments for each of the tracks being significantly different from previous WipEout outings, such as more contemporary buildings and a surprising off road section of track, the most notable difference is the width. Yes, thats right the width. For WipEout 2048 Studio Liverpool have widened the tracks out from their nefariously narrow origins. Upon speaking to two of the developers from Studio Liverpool, the decision came from a joint wish of making the title more accessible, and shifting the focus from navigating the track to negotiating with your opponents. After getting used to the reasonably wide birth we had on the tracks it’s a very satisfying change, and the AI seems to be more aggressive during races to compensate; regularly races ended on a knife edge finish, and had been pleasing for the entire race.

Another new addition to the tracks are ‘skillcuts’. Skillcuts are shortcuts that require skill to take, if any of you are hardened WipEout fans you’ll have enjoyed an early version of these on Anulpha Pass in HD/Fury. These Skillcuts may be incredibly handy once taken, but if you do try to take one and miss it then you’ll be strewn across the track waiting to get back into gear again, or worse you may fall off and have to restart back on the track having lost precious seconds. They are a wonderful addition that allow the more daring drivers to shave bigger chunks off their track times. Alongside these Skillcuts is the addition of an extra weapon pad. Instead of the previous, and rather sporadic, way of distributing weapons over red pads, 2048 has green and yellow pads, as well as your standard blue speed pads. The green pads dole out defensive weaponry, whilst the yellow pads give you offensive weaponry. By splitting the weapons into two pads it now allows you to play either offensively or defensively depending on your race position. It does take a little getting used to but it’s a brilliant strategic addition to a fast paced racer. Finally, the most helpful addition is an automatic shield cover. Now when you are carrying a shield, you don’t need to deploy it for it to work!

Playing with Wipeout 2048 on the Vita is an incredibly gratifying experience. The standard controls feel natural and the addition of proper sticks feels great for playing, although we still opted for the d-pad for fine tuned play. You can also use the motion controls to steer and pitch the ship, as well as the touch screen to absorb and fire weapons; it takes a bit of getting used to but as expected it’s intuitive once adjusted to.

We’re just over a month away from Wipeout 2048‘s launch, and indeed the PS Vita launch, but from the demo we got to play, which we were told was an old demo, far from what the game looks like now. Seeing as what we saw today was incredible for a handheld game, heck it was brilliant for a console game, we can’t wait to see what the finish product will be like. It seems that Studio Liverpool have once again provided the Playstation platform with a killer game for a consoles launch.

Below you can see some photos of the menu screens and  cross play feature, as well as a video of the race introduction and a video of some gameplay.