Wipeout Pure for the Sony PSP

Graphics: 9.5/10
Replay Value: 10/10
Sound: 10/10
Performance: 9.75/10
Functionality: 9.5/10
Overall: 9.75/10

ESRB Rating: Everyone
Players: 1-8 simultaneous
Memory Usage: 450Kb

Overview:
Wipeout Pure is a racing game for the PSP which came out on 3/16/2005, before even the system.  The game has five speed difficulties, eight different racing vehicles, and 16 tracks total.  There are five modes of play in single player, as well as more multiplayer and internet modes.  Graphics, sound, and performance are excellent, and it is an addictive game.
       
Story:
"In the decades after the fall of the F9000 league, only the enthusiastic amateur pilots would keep Pierre Belmondo's dream alive.  With their hand bulit craft and meager budgets, those ture fans of the sport would pave the way for professional racing to return one day.  The year is 2197 and that wait is over.  Six historic and two new teams are making final preparations to their racecraft on the Pacific Island of Makana -host for the dawn of a new era in Anti-Gravity racing.  As the world awaits, the FX300 League is ready to go." -Wipeot Pure Operation Manual
     
Features:
Wipeout Pure has 16 race tracks, 4 tournaments, 7 modes of play, 5 speed difficulties, and 10 racing vehicles. Additional tracks, tournaments, and racers can be downloaded with the built-it web update feature.  The game also has an extensive reward system, featuring bronze, silver, and gold medals.   

Modes of play that are available are "Single Race," which is one competetive race at any selected track.  Medals are awarded for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.  The next mode is "Tournament," which is a series of 4-8 races of a given league, or track group.  There four tournaments are Classic, Alpha, Beta, and Ascension.  Each has a unique combination of tracks except for the Ascension, which consists of all Alpha and Beta League tracks.  Alpha, Beta, and Classic tracks are also available in the other modes of play, except for Zone.  Usually, to unlock a new League, one must get first place on all races of a given tournament.  For example, if this is achieved on Alpha Tournament, Beta League is unlocked.  The next mode of play is "Time Trial," in which there are races against time on any track in the Leagues.  Fourth, there is "Zone" mode, where the vehicle constantly accelerates.  The goal is to keep the ship intact for as long as possible, successfully completing as many laps as one can.  After each 1/2 lap, ship speed increases, and note that the ship cannot be stopped during gameplay.  The final single player mode is "Free Play."  In this mode one can practice on any track for any amount of time, but no awards are given there.  The other two modes are "Multiplayer", and "Internet."  Though internet play for the US is not yet developed, it will soon.  In these modes, racing with friends over Wi-Fi or the internet is possible.  Up to 8 players may play simultaneously.

There are four tracks in each league, and four Zone tracks available in the game.  The tree leagues, as mentioned earlier, are Alpha, Beta, and Classic.  Tracks in the Alpha League are called Vineta K, Modesto Heights, Chenghou Project, and Blue Ridge.  In Beta League, there is Sincuit, Otta Nuova, Sebenco Climb, and Sol 2.  Finally, in Classic League, there is Karbonis, Sagarmatha, Manor Top, and Mandrashee.  Tracks in Zone mode are Pro Tozo, Mallavol, Coridon 12, and Syncopia.  For each difficulty, the tracks have to be unocked separately.  By default, Vector and Venom are available, each with only Alpha League.  In Zone mode, only the first track is available, but silver medals earned there unlock the next ones.  Three Zone gold medals, however, are required to unlock the final Zone track.

In competetive races in "Tournament" and "Single Race" mode, there are dash plates as well as pickup plates on the track.  A dash plate accelertes the ship, while a pickup plate provides the racer with missiles, rockets, bombs, mines, autopilots, boosts, shields, earthquakes, plasma launcers, disruption charges, and more.  The pickups can either be used/fired or absorbed.  When absorbed, pickups restore vehicle energy.  Offensive pickup can be used to destroy or slow competitiors when racing.

The five difficulties are Vector, Venom, Flash, Rapier, and Phantom, starting from the easiest.  As you go farther down the list, your vehicle's maximum speed increases in each race, making control harder, but offering a great deal of entertainment.  Flash, Rapier, and Phantom have more laps in each race, also.

The reward system in the game is easy to understand, and uses a nice chart when rewards are viewed.  In "Single Race" and "Tournament" mode, medals are awarded for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.  In "Time Trial," medals are awarded depending on your time. Criteria is displayed under the track information when playing.  In "Zone" mode, medals are awarded based on the amount of zones cleared.  There is also a statistic area which displays racing statistics as well as other unusual ones.
     
Multiplayer Modes:
I have not yet played any multiplayer modes, but more information is coming soon.  Also, internet play is available through Kai.  1-8 players can play over Wi-Fi.  There is an additional download feature in the main menu in the game which connects to the internet and lets you browse through new tracks and alike.  It has been found that if you set your DNS server to 67.171.70.72 in the PSP network settings, this download feature will turn into a fully-functional web browser.  It actually works!

Downloadable Content:
So far, eight update packs are available for Wipeout Pure.  Below is a table about their contents:

Racing Vehicles:
There are 10 teams available, and each has a different vehicle.  All but the Zone and Medievil teams are unlocked by default, and they are described below:

Feisar- 2/5 speed, 3/5 shield, 5/5 handling, 4/5 thrust
Auricom- 4/5 speed, 4/5 shield, 3/5 handling, 2/5 thrust
Qirex- 3/5 speed, 4/5 shield, 3/5 handling, 3/5 thrust
AG Systems- 2/5 speed, 2/5 shield, 4/5 handling, 5/5 thrust
Piranha- 5/5 speed, 3/5 shield, 2/5 handling, 2/5 thrust
Assegai- 3/5 speed, 3/5 shield, 3/5 handling, 4/5 thrust
Triakis- 4/5 speed, 5/5 shield, 2/5 handling, 2/5 thrust
Harimau- 3/5 speed, 2/5 shield, 4/5 handling, 3/5 thrust
Zone- 5/5 speed, 1/5 shield, 5/5 handling, 4/5 thrust (Unlocked by getting a gold medal on all Zone tracks)
Medievil- 4/5 speed, 1/5 shield, 4/5 handling, 5/5 thrust (Unlocked by getting a total of 70 gold medals)

Speed, obviously, is the maximum speed, shield rating is how strong the shield is, handling is balance and turning, and thrust is the rate of acceleration.  My favorite vehicle is Zone, followed by Feisar and Medievil.

Sound:
Game sound is very good, and there is a selection of music tracks for in-game play.  There are about 15 different tracks, and individual ones can be selected to be used or not.  Order can be set to be sequential or random.    
     
Performance:
The in-game performance for Wipeout Pure is flawless, and the game does not stutter even when large explosions are made.  There are five speed modes available, each successive one being harder.  However, it does take about five seconds for a race/tournament to initially begin, and that is just a little bit long.  The PSP can also be turned of during gameplay, and when turned back on, the game will resume exactly where it was turned off.
         
Functionality:
All the modes of play in the game make it really fun, and one can keep playing for hours.  There are almost no performance problems, and all functions work perfectly on the PSP, which is a great system itself.
   
Graphics:
The game graphics are excellent!  All tracks have full-resolution graphics except for a Zone mode track and the first Classic League track.  Menu animation and management is great.
   
Replay Value:
Wipeout Pure is a very addicting game, and one gets caught into it to improve times, to complete tournamets, and to win medals.  All the modes of play give the game extra fun, and they make you play even more.  Overall, I rate the replay rating for Wipeot Pure the highest of any other non-console game that I have ever played: 10/10.
    
Overall:
This game is the most fun of all my portable games.  It simply puts Game Boy Advance games to shame, and I am now selling all of them.  All the features in the game, combined with the great sound, graphics, and performance, make it appear and work very, very well.  Wipeout Pure currently costs $39.99, but it is worth it for sure.

Product Reviewed by Adam Melis Oest

 Lumines for the Sony PSP

Graphics: 10/10
Replay Value: 10/10
Sound: 10/10
Performance: 10/10
Functionality: 8/10
Overall: 9.7/10

ESRB Rating: Everyone 10+
Players: 1-2 simultaneous

Overview:
Lumines is a remake of tetris that incorporates only square (2x2) pieces that fall onto the playing field.  Each square has 4 smaller squares- each colored one of two ways.  The objective is to create squares with 4 blocks of the same color by dropping pieces onto the board.  These squares then get eliminated from the board and points are scored.   This game is very addicting, and with practice, one can play a single game continuously for hours without stopping.
     
Features:
Lumines has four modes of play: 1 Player mode, 2 Player Vs. mode, Vs.CPU mode, and Puzzle mode.  In  1-player mode, a game of Lumines is played until blocks fill the the entire screen.  New skins can be unlocked, and hi-scores can be logged.  In 2 player and vs. CPU mode, 2 players control the game, and the player who's screen fills up with blocks first loses.  On the other hand, the objective of puzzle mode is to drop the squares to form single colored shapes.  The only goals in Lumines are to gain new skins and hi-scores, and to have fun.

Skins are templates for each game- with different backgrounds, colors, music, layout, and bricks.

Sound:
You can keep on listening and listening to the music in each Lumines skin.  It is wonderful.
     
Performance:
The performance of Lumines is virtually flawless, and there are so many details that they are hard to all be mentioned
   
Graphics:
Graphics are as good as the sound: amazing and very sharp.
   
Replay Value:
You can play this game over and over, just to unlock the last skins and to get new records.  My record at the moment is a little over 512,000 points in challenge mode (from a 70 minute continuous game I managed.)
    
Overall:
This game is amazing in all aspects- it could use some more play modes, but it is still very addicting and fun.  It is a great buy for sure, and it provides hours of entertainment.

Product Reviewed by Adam Melis Oest