Wipeout HD received positive reviews on release. It holds an average score of 87 per cent at
Metacritic, based on an aggregate of 51 reviews,
Wipeout HD was nominated in the "
Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design" category during the
12th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards and was also nominated under the racing category for the 28th
Golden Joystick Awards. Critics unanimously praised the graphics and visuals. Martin Robinson from the British
IGN thought that the game featured the most sophisticated graphics to date on a downloadable title and applauded the game's futuristic aesthetics, saying that its 1080p visuals and seamless 60 frames per second were matched by significant details that benefit the game. Chris Roper from the American
IGN praised the lighting effects and the attention to detail made to the ships and tracks, which he thought was visually impressive in 1080p and 60 frames per second. Dan Whitehead of
Eurogamer noted that he was insistent that gameplay is a more important aspect than graphics, but stressed that
Wipeout HDs visuals was the most important element. Guy Cocker of
GameSpot said that the advanced and glossy 1080p graphics should please new and old fans alike. Furthermore, Cocker opined that "all of the [PlayStation's] horsepower" was concentrated on producing very firm visuals, which he alluded to as one of the reasons for the game's prolonged development time. Tom Orry from
VideoGamer.com commended the highly smooth 1080p visuals and detailed HD graphics, saying the game's powerful presentation leads to such appearance. Locke Webster from
UGO Networks thought that the efficient visuals and variety of features justified the merits of an expensive downloadable title. Gabe Graziani of
GameSpy praised the presentation, saying that it contained a heavy amount of polished visuals as well as a smooth frame rate, and summarised that it updated the PSP titles
Wipeout Pure and
Wipeout Pulse to HD "magnificently". Jesse Costantino of
Game Revolution said that
Wipeout HD "joins an elite class of current-gen racers" due to its 1080p visuals and a nearly constant 60 frames per second. Costantino also praised the richly detailed environments of the race tracks, stating that he felt like they were made in real life. Frédéric Goyon of
Jeuxvideo.com said
Wipeout HD was atypically a large attainment regarding its visuals, and also thought the combined colour choices made it a visually unique racing game. Ryan Davis from
Giant Bomb praised the game's transition to HD, stating that he wondered how the
Wipeout series treated graphics without 1080p visuals prior to the release of
Wipeout HD. In addition, Davis also commended the ship design and very solid frame rate. Terry Terrones of
GamePro said that the game was visually stunning, but also implied that it was "essentially a pig with lipstick". The
techno soundtrack and general audio were also praised by critics. Robinson recognised that techno music featured played an important part in the
Wipeout series, opining that the entire game is set to a traditional pounding soundtrack. Additionally, Robinson enjoyed how the music was filtered out each time the player performed an airborne jump. Roper similarly acknowledged that soundtracks have always been an integral part of the
Wipeout franchise, and said that the music tracks in
Wipeout HD fits well with both visuals and the overall racing experience by blending into the background. Regarding the sound effects, Roper noted that not many of them appear, although he appreciated the few ones that are in the game. Cocker felt that the game's soundtrack was enjoyable for fans of
electronica, although he liked the fact that players could import their own playlists to the game, an aspect he thought that introduced more variation. In cohesion with other critics, Cocker recognised that music was important to the franchise, and commended the mix of techno,
dubstep, and
drum and bass soundtracks. Orry stated that the game featured a "brilliant" soundtrack, and also commended its integrated custom soundtrack support. Goyon praised the electro-orientated music, stating that the sound is suitable for the futuristic universe of
Wipeout, and also enjoyed the idea of playing customised music if the player did not like the standard soundtrack. Although Davis noted the lack of successful artists like
The Prodigy,
Daft Punk, or
The Chemical Brothers (all of whom were featured in
Wipeout 2097), he did acknowledge that there were still "plenty of chilly synths" and throbbing background beats to listen to. ==References==