When Sony launches a new console, there's normally a new WipEout to go with it. The company's new handheld, the PS Vita, is no exception. But after all these years, can the sleek, science-fiction sledges-with-guns racing series still cut it? Does WipEout 2048 innovate and amaze enough? Or has the shock of the new died off?

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Sony

Visually, WipEout 2048 is a winner. If you want a demonstration of the raw processing power of the PS Vita, simply boot up the game and watch as eight racers spin round a complex, visually stunning track, all while explosions, light trails and a pumping soundtrack amp up the atmosphere. WipEout 2048 looks nearly as good as its WipEout HD PS3 sibling.

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The Vita's dual analogue control sticks give WipEout 2048 a huge boost against its racing rivals on other systems. And WipEout 2048 has little of Uncharted's unnecessarily faddish adoption of the Vita's features (here you can opt for a tilt-to-turn control system, but it's a hardcore gamer indeed who'd hobble themselves so heavily). However, there's arguably too little control innovation. Tying directional airbrakes to the second analogue stick could, for instance, have been a smart move. Or even allowing thrust on the stick, shifting airbrakes to the shoulder buttons. In the end, the controls, while familiar, aren't very customisable or ideal.

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There's also, arguably, too little innovation elsewhere. When WipEout first came out, it looked stunning - futuristic, sleek and like nothing else around. It chimed perfectly with the 90s rave culture it stole its music from. The original WipEout (with its pop-culture, edgy capitalised 'E') did more to make the PlayStation brand cool than anything else. Now? It looks and sounds a bit dated, like a retro-ironic hipster rave party. Sure, 2048 is never less than stunningly fluid racing action. But it would have been nice to see some real visual innovation to bring back some shock to the series. Instead it's the same music, same weapons, same ships, same nigh-on everything.

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Sony

What changes there are see the series drifting further from its roots. Weapons seem less brutally effective and race-changing than before, tracks are wider and more forgiving. The end result is there's more emphasis than ever on learning the 'race line', and less emphasis on bruising, close-quarters scrapping. The decision to set the game as a prequel, in a semi-futuristic, semi-current New York also seems to move away from the futurism and cleanliness of previous games - with more stuff around the track to distract visually.

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So we have some gripes, but don't let those put you off. WipEout 2048 delivers what a WipEout game should - speed thrills, spectacular spills and a racing-with-guns template that steers round the knockabout last-minute upsets of Mario Kart and aims for something much more strategic, yet frighteningly fast-paced. When 2048 is running at its peak - as it does much of the time - and the ships are screaming round yet another colour-splashed corner, with mines, rockets and pulse-waves going off everywhere, or when the track drops away and you're flying, it's a genuinely slick set of thrills.

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In single-player, WipEout 2048 delivers a rock-solid campaign mode - which sees you unlocking four ships from each of the standard rosters. Each ship has its own handling qualities (and some are even limited in terms of the weapons you can pick up). This mode sticks mainly to straight races, periodically throwing in time trials, deathmatches and brilliant 'Zone' runs - where you have to keep your ship in one piece for as long as possible, as your speed goes up and up.

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If single-player is solid and dependable, at least in multiplayer there's some innovation at last. There's a new kind of campaign mode - where you don't just choose straight races, but also progress through a series of challenges, with each race offering up a new goal. There's also, thrillingly, the option to play WipEout HD on the PS Vita versus a friend playing WipEout HD on the PS3. If nothing else, it's another way of showing off how cool your new Vita is.

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Single or multiplayer, there are a few other issues that crop up with WipEout 2048. Firstly, and most annoying, are load times. On a handheld console, you do not want to wait 30+ seconds to load a track, as you will often find yourself doing here. Secondly, tracks include more shortcuts that, in later races, you really need to take. Again, this design decision sees 2048 move further from combat-and-racing towards almost simulation-style racing, with some combat.

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To deliver the rush WipEout 2048 does on a handheld console is a serious acheivement. And the game is never exactly a let-down - if you want slick, speed thrills, aggressive ship-to-ship combat action and everything done to a pulsing dance beat, you'll be right at home here. But, but, but... there's a real sense that the WipEout series is increasingly settling into a staid holding pattern. While the future-shock of the series is fading into familiarity, a few design decisions risk pushing the series away from what it has always done best.

Score: 7/10

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