Not to be confused with the racing game, Wipeout is a quiz show game. It's actually based on a late 1980's British and American TV show produced by Paramount Pictures. Wipeout was made in 1989 and it shows -- Wipeout is quite retro, but in a fun way. The game/TV show logo definitely looks like a blast from the 80s! With a simple 16-color palette and chirpy Sound Blaster noises (no music though), the game brings me back to when I was younger.
Wipeout basically emulates a trivia game show, sort of like Jeopardy.
.. but with a twist. The host asks a question, for instance, "Which of these actors has won 2 or more Academy Awards?". There are 16 choices to choose from... most are right, but some are wrong, and they're often not the ones you expect! The wrong answers are called "Wipeouts" (thus the name of the game).
You and two other contestants take turns choosing from the 16 answers. For every right answer you pick, you get an increasing amount of money -- but if you pick a "Wipeout," you will go bankrupt! Answers are chosen until all the "Wipeouts" have been picked. Afterwards, the two contestants with the most money move to the next round, which is a harder "Challenge" round.
You must bid against the other player to see how many right answers you can select. If you win this round, you advance to the Bonus Round, where you must pick 6 correct answers from 12 possible answers in 30 seconds or less.
Play is available for up to 3 human players, so you can play with your friends if you want. You can choose to be male or female, and you pick one of 4 faces for your character... complete with little corny animations every time you pick the right or wrong answer. If you choose 1-player mode, you get 2 computer opponents.
It takes a little while for each question to load, and the programmers could have done better with the graphics. However, the focus isn't on the graphics, it's on the game show questions! Each of these questions comes with 12-16 different answers to choose from... including the wrong answers or "Wipeouts." The questions are from many different categories, and you will definitely learn some trivia. Here are some examples:
-- "When was the last time you took a good look at a copy of the "Declaration of Independence"? If it was recently, you'll have no trouble naming the men who signed it!" (How well do you know your history? I'll give you a hint, George Washington wasn't one of them!)
-- "As the song says, "The leaves of brown come tumbling down." Let's see how many shades of brown you can name from this list." (Time to grab the Crayola crayon set!)
-- "Here's a "knotty" question. How many of these knots can you name without wiping out?" (Anyone a Boy Scout?)
-- "A question from the heart: how many of these different parts of the heart can you name?" (Hope you know your anatomy!)
Bottom line: If you're a fan of the TV show, or if you'd like to brush up on trivia of all sorts, Wipeout is the game for you. The graphics are simple but the gameplay is surprisingly fun. It's a fun little way to waste some time!
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Production Information (from load screen):
"This computer program was adapted, published and distributed by ShareData, Inc., Chandler, Arizona. (C) 1989 Paramount Pictures Corporation. Developed and licensed in conjunction with Softie, Inc., Phoenix, Arizona."
