WIPEOUT 2097/XL The Original FAQ FAQ Edition 1.08 by Matthew Sephton ============================================================================= CONTENTS 1.0 Introduction 1.1 The Game 1.2 Graphics 1.3 Music 1.4 Gameplay 2.0 Playing Concepts 2.1 The Joypad 2.2 Driving 2.3 Teams 2.4 Classes & Tracks 2.5 Weapons 2.6 Ghost Racers 3.0 Cheats 3.1 Challenges 3.2 Hidden Options 3.3 Shortcuts 3.4 Fast Starts 4.0 What Do You Know? 4.1 Contacting The Author 4.2 Release 4.3 E&OE 4.4 Thanks 5.0 Version history --- 1.0 INTRODUCTION This FAQ aims to be the definitive source of information for the PlayStation game Wipeout 2097 (Wipeout XL in USA), henceforth WO2. It serves no other purpose. The PAL manual for this game is really quite poor, with some aspects of the game barely getting a mention. 1.1 THE GAME What a game! WO2 is easily on par with Motor Toon Grand Prix 2 as the best game on the Sony PlayStation. It's graphics are by far the best I have ever seen on any games machine, arcades included. They are shifted at such a rate that my eyes cannot keep up. It features time trials, arcade racing, challenges, different difficulty levels and lots more. 1.2 GRAPHICS Unbelievable! The graphics are unprecedented, making the original Wipeout look quite dated. Some of the explosion effects make a great showcase for the PlayStation's hardware. You really won't believe how fast the polygons are moved about (150k+ per second according to the Psygnosis web page). Track detail has also risen to a new level, with more animated roadside objects, and there are even up to 15 cars on track at once! The Designers Republic also deserve a mention as they have once again outdone themselves with their distinctive touch of graphic design. Red Bull, "advertised" in game, is an energy drink that is supposed to give you lots of energy to keep going all night at night clubs. I suppose at a push it may improve reaction time. Dunno, haven't tried it. 1.3 MUSIC Psygnosis have excelled themselves once more in putting together an even better line-up of artists for the soundtrack for WO2: TRACK TITLE ARTIST TRACK TITLE ARTIST Intro Herd Killing FSOL 6 Loops of Fury CHEM. BROS. 1 We Have Explosive FSOL 7 The Third Sequence PHOTEK 2 Landmass FSOL 8 Tin There UNDERWORLD 3 Atom Bomb (Instr.) FLUKE 9 Firestarter (Inst.) THE PRODIGY 4 V Six FLUKE 10 Canada COLD STORAGE 5 Dust Up Beats CHEM. BROS. 11 Body In Motion COLD STORAGE For those of you who are thirsty for more then 'Wipeout 2097: The Soundtrack' is available to buy in the shops: TRACK TITLE ARTIST TRACK TITLE ARTIST 1 We Have Explosive FSOL 8 Firestarter THE PRODIGY 2 Atom Bomb FLUKE 9 V Six FLUKE 3 Loops of Fury CHEM. BROS. 10 Musique DAFT PUNK 4 Tin There UNDERWORLD 11 2097 SOURCE DIRECT 5 The Third Sequence PHOTEK 12 Titan PHOTEK 6 Leave Home (UW2) CHEM. BROS. 13 P.E.T.R.O.L. ORBITAL 7 Herd Killing FSOL 14 Afro Ride LEFTFIELD 1.4 GAMEPLAY Newcomers may find the game difficult at first, but perseverance will be rewarded with hours of fun. Taking into account the different game modes, the number of courses and the additional bonuses makes for a great game. Experimentation with driving lines is the only way to improve lap times. Learning how each weapon operates and where is best to use it is the key to ploughing through the field in a race. --- 2.0 PLAYING CONCEPTS As with any other game playing skills will improve over time. Perseverance is the key. If you have played the original Wipeout then, you can probably select the AG Systems or the Auricom cars from the start without having too much bother. It's up to personal preferences really. 2.1 DRIVING Craft control may be the hardest part of the game, especially for newcomers. It is essential to understand that they are anti-gravity machines and so will handle more like a hover-craft than a conventional car. Steering can be difficult, especially when travelling at the high-speeds of Rapier and Phantom classes. There is one method that can be easily adopted. Instead of pressing left and right with separate movements of your thumb (which is far from ideal when trying to achieve quick reaction times) hold your thumb centrally on the joypad and roll it in the relevant direction. I think you will find that this saves time and increases reaction time. To turn tight corners more easily tap the relevant air-brake whilst still accelerating, causing your machine to skid or slide. It is sometimes more beneficial to hold down the air-brake to really make your back end slide out. You can use the d-pad to give you tighter and looser truns by pressing down and up, respectively, as you turn. So for a tight right turn, press down and right and so on. It is essential that a good driving line is taken. Try to enter corners wide and get as close to the apex as you can without hitting it, never forget that you do have left and right air-brakes. Take time to learn the layout of each track, especially prior to a challenge. 2.2 THE JOYPAD Here is a list of the default joypad buttons and their functions. BUTTON FUNCTION Up Nose down Down Nose up Left Turn left Right Turn right Square Discard weapon Triangle Change view Circle Use weapon Cross Accelerate L2 Left air brake R2 Right air brake Start Pause menu 2.3 TEAMS Each team has their strengths and weaknesses, with top speed increasing through the teams. In my opinion the best all round standard car is the Auricom. Die hard racers may prefer the Quirex. There are five teams. TEAM THRUST TOPSPEED TURNING AERODYNAMICS SHIELD Feisar 6 3 7 7 6 Beginner AG Systems 7 5 6 6 3 Amateur Auricom 5 6 5 5 5 Intermediate Quirex 4 7 3 5 7 Expert Piranha 10 10 10 10 10 No Weapons 2.4 CLASSES & TRACKS There are a total of eight tracks over the four classes. See 3.1, gaining Phantom class also lets you race any of the 8 tracks at any class - you are not limited to the first two at Vector, the next two at Venom etc. VECTOR VENOM Talon's Reach EASY Valparaiso TRICKY Sagarmatha EASY Phenitia Park TRICKY RAPIER PHANTOM Gare D'Europa HARD Vostok Island VERY HARD Odessa Keys HARD Spilskinanke VERY HARD 2.5 WEAPONS To master the game it is essential that you learn what each weapon does and where or when is best to use it. Key usage of weapons makes the game more forgiving if you make a mess of one part of a track. WEAPON USE IT WHEN? Mines After overtaking. E-pak Low shield level. Any time. Autopilot Difficult chicane or turn. Just before the pit lane. Turbo boost Any lengthy hill or straight. Rockets Many enemy on screen. Mines ahead. Missiles Lock on. Rear lock on. Mines ahead. Electro bolt Lock on. In a group. Thunder bomb Many enemy on screen. Mines ahead. Shield In a group. Difficult section. Low shield. Mines ahead. Plasma bolt Sure fire target. Beware of charge period. Quake disruptor Many enemy on screen. Just for fun. For instance, Autopilot is best left until a section of the track that you know is difficult - so you can make up for a previous mistake. Also remember that you can cancel Autopilot whilst it is activated by pressing SQUARE. This is very useful if you know that you can handle a chicane etc. better than the Autopilot and you aren't too sure if the Autopilot will last you through it. 2.6 GHOST RACERS Time trials offer the ability to test your skills against ghost racers. These are preset for each track and class. Once you have beat the ghost your race will replace the ghost you beat and remain valid until you change tracks, so you can still change cars. It seems to me that the ghosts aren't saved to the memory card, so they are only really useful for getting up to speed on a certain track, or just to learn the racing line of a track. --- 3.0 CHEATS Here are a list of cheats known to date. WHILST GAME LOADS Animal Teams L1+R2+START+SELECT Normal team crafts are exchanged for a bee, snail, UFO, pig and shark. All Cheats L2+R1+START+SELECT All Cheats active, that is all pre- game cheats. See below. The following button press combinations can be used by holding down L1, R1 and SELECT anywhere in the relevant menu. Using the codes again will toggle the cheat off/on. Are there any more? PRE-GAME (MAIN MENUS) IN-GAME (PAUSE MENU) Piranha Team X X X X O T S Machine Gun S O X S O X T Phantom Class T T T O O O Infinite Energy T X S O T X S O Eight Tracks S O T O S Infinite Weapons X X S S O O T Infinite Time T S O X T S O X The following passwords can be entered via the options menu: PASSWORDS Challenge I S O S T O T T O S S S T X S Challenge II S O S T O T X S X T T X O O 3.1 CHALLENGES Once you have got gold medals on the initial 6 tracks then Challenge I becomes available. This consists of racing a season of all six courses at Rapier class. Once this is completed, you get Phantom class (which is 50% faster than Rapier!) and two extra hard tracks to race on. When gold is achieved in the two Phantom tracks, Challenge II becomes available which consists of all eight tracks at Phantom speed. This will prove to be the most difficult challenge of all. 3.2 HIDDEN OPTIONS Psygnosis: any help? 3.3 SHORTCUTS There aren't any shortcuts in the true sense of the word, but it is possible to save a lot of time by cutting corners. You can use a turbo boost to do this in the extreme, or just pull back on the d-pad to raise your nose over some shallow corners as seen in the 'chicane' along side the train on the Gare D'Europa track. 3.4 FAST STARTS It is quite easy to get a fast start and essential if you want to put in a fast time-trial or race. What you have to do is land the gauge of the thrust- ometer in the first two large bars when Curly says "Go"! It is probably equivalent to a turbo boost. There are two ways to do this. The first is to accelerate until the thrust- ometer is around that mark, then make it hover by repeatedly pressing the accelerator until the race starts. The second, inferior method, is to find a suiitable delay before the race starts that is just enough for you to continually accelerate until the race starts and still get a fast start. This can also be done at any time you are put back on the track by a drone. Of course you have to have been of the track for sufficient time for your thrust to have diminished. --- 4.0 WHAT DO YOU KNOW? If you have any additions which you think should be included in this FAQ then please send them to me as below. Already there are a number of questions that need answering. 1 Are there any more cheat presses or secrets known? 4.1 CONTACTING THE AUTHOR The author of this FAQ, Matthew Sephton, can be contacted by e-mail or through his web page (which contains information about Björk, other music, Monkey (Magic), the Sony PlayStation and is the place to download some of my Windows 95 shareware). e-mail: matt@ewtoo.org www: http://www.ewtoo.org/~matt/ 4.2 RELEASE This FAQ is obtainable from various places on the Internet, but the latest version can always be downloaded from this URL: http://www.ewtoo.org/~matt/PS/ I have written FAQs for Choro Q Racing/Penny Racers, Hermie Hopperhead, Micro Machines V3 and Motor Toon GP 2 which are also available. 4.3 E&OE All errors and omissions excluded. As far as I know the information in this document is accurate. Correct me if I'm wrong. Use at your own risk. 4.4 THANKS Original FAQ by Matthew Sephton. Button press cheats from Daniel Beretzki . Animal cheats from Klaus Timmermann (aka Mr Bean) . More turbo start stuff from Jean-Alexis Montignies . Thunder bomb where and when mines ahead from Dem. All Cheats cheat from Henry Rexroad . Nose turning from Bill Baxter . -- 5.0 VERSION HISTORY 1.00, 21 Oct 1996 Original release. 1.01, 23 Oct Cheats added. Challenges enhanced. 1.02, 28 Oct Slight modifications and tidying up. 1.03, 29 Oct Music, Ghost Racers and Fast Start sections improved. 1.04, 01 Nov Animal teams and challenge passwords added. 1.05, 08 Nov Slight modifications and tidying up. 1.06, 15 Nov Fast start section enhanced. Red bull added. 1.07, 16 Jun 1997 All Cheats cheat added. 1.08, 06 Jul Added nose direction affects turning.