Wipeout HD Fury Hands-On

We really love the original Wipeout HD here at GameSpot, and even now we're frequently taking the game online to play the masses. Thankfully, a brand-new expansion is set to be released any time now according to Sony, and the publisher had advance builds of Wipeout HD Fury at its E3 09 booth.

Wipeout HD Fury is an expansion pack, so you'll need to own the original game to play it. Once it's installed, though, you'll notice that the menu system has been given a dark and moody overhaul, although you can revert to the original if you prefer. The biggest changes come with the four new tracks, which are playable in reverse and have zone variants. They are called Tech De Ra, Modesto Heights, The Amphiseum, and Talon’s Junction. They've all been seen in other Wipeout games before, but Sony claims that building new tracks would take them "much longer" than the nine months it has taken to work on Fury.

The pack also contains three new game modes: Eliminator, Zone Battle, and Detonator. Eliminator will be familiar to anyone who has played the PSP Wipeout games before, but you are now able to flip your ship around by pressing the L1 button. The HUD now shows you the position of the closest enemies behind you, allowing you to unleash your weapons before turning around and zooming away. It's a very cool touch that should prove to be exciting online.

Zone Battle is slightly confusing to explain--it's effectively a multiplayer version of the Zone mode, but when you boost forward, you leave a devastating barrier for anyone who's floating right behind you. Detonator is another Zone variant and is playable only in single-player. You have to use your cannons to shoot down the mines that are dotted around the track. If you miss any mines, they reappear on the next lap, but if you can keep hitting targets, you can build up more points. Detonator mode also features different ships, which are smaller and more agile than the standard hover units.

The final piece of the puzzle is new music, which Sony promises will be darker and moodier than in the original game. We're promised a preview version of the game any day now, so we'll bring you more on Wipeout HD Fury shortly.