Anyone playing Ballistic NG Early Access on Steam?

[akumajobelmont]

Ballistic NG is a free, open-source WipEout 'clone' that's currently getting a lot of praise.

store.steampowered.com/app/473770

It's a take on the early WipEout trilogy, and it nails it SO HARD, that it's basically WipEout 4. Track design is amazing, the controls are elements of WipEout/2097-XL/Wip3out, all combined together, you can import ships from the first three WipEout games into it - it's basically the game anyone keen on the series has been waiting for. Even the visuals take after the original games, complete with PSX texture warping and jittery polygons.

I've been hooked on it for a couple of weeks now, and all I can do is sing it's praises from the rooftops to anyone who will listen.

It's free, and I can't really recommend it enough

[freshness82]

I remember hearing about this awhile back but I don't think it had been released into early access yet, but, after watching that race I think I need to at least give it a try! I was never very good at the wipeout games but I was always fond of playing them regardless.

[akumajobelmont]

I've always loved them, but I've never been consistently great at the WipEout games. It's been an on and off again thing for me, and I've always sucked at the higher speed classes almost universally.

BallisticNG has me getting better at WipEout. I've put in about 25 hours into it at this point, with the pre-Steam builds and now the Early Access builds. Just to compare how close it is to the WipEout games in terms of gameplay, I've been jumping back and forth between the original trilogy, and shockingly, my BallisticNG skills are interchangeable with the WipEout games. And that's frikken awesome

[zeether]

I didn't know it was in early access! Need to try this out because I dig the WipEout series, played a little of the Vita one in demo form and liked it but the classic games seem more interesting and this seems to nail it.

Gonna have to put on Body In Motion by Cold Storage while playing this

EDIT: This game is hard and I'm glad there's an "unlock all" feature because I am terrible at using the airbrakes and anything above Toxic speed is nearly impossible for me.

[akumajobelmont]

Yeah, my custom playlist includes most of CoLD SToRAGE's remastered WipEout works from the Slipstream albums, a lot of Sasha from Wip3out and a few others! It just feels so dang right with those tunes bangin' away!

As for the speed classes, the more you'll play, the better you'll get. Obvious, haha, I know. I struggled with the last few tracks in the first Season, and then I struggled in Season 2. Now I'm a lot better in everything up to Halberd & I'm slooooowly getting there with Spectre. Zen is a struggle for me on anything but the slowest ships and the very first course though, haha. I'm figuring out shortcuts by pitching the ship up and down and getting some air, but I simply cannot do it consistently at all - every good run seems like a fluke in the two highest speed classes for me, haha

Makes me wanna get better at it though

[zeether]

I can't make it on Halberd because I pick ships that are too fast and I keep smacking into the walls while the AI just speeds off ahead with zero problem. It's frustrating and I don't want to keep trying because I'll keep screwing up. Utah Project (the second track) is too hard for me because of that.

Like I said it's great that the dev allows unlocking everything (at the expense of not being able to get achievements I guess) because I would probably smash my head against the wall trying to "get gud".

The game's great but I just hate the difficulty and I wish it wasn't such a brick wall of a learning curve. I think it's because I suck at the airbrakes and I don't understand how they work at all. Pressing them too little gets me nowhere, pressing them too hard slides me right into the wall.

[akumajobelmont]

That's fair enough.

My use of the air brakes generally boils down to one big one to try and get my angle right, then lots of little taps to get me through. It does take a little to get used to, but I've been playing WipEout for a couple of decades now, so I've got a lot of practice behind me with the air brakes and all that. I can definitely see how steep the learning curve is for someone not as familiar with it

[murix_01]

Any idea if Local co-op is planned or any multiplayer?

[akumajobelmont]

Both are planned, as far as I know

[tk1sbiglove]

Woah...

I genuinely can't thank you enough for bringing this to my attention - it's absolutely amazing! It is so so SO good!

You're right about it nailing the vibe from the originals, some of the course design is both fantastic and gorgeous. Plus, the handling is pretty much perfect. So much content too!

Thanks again!

[akumajobelmont]

No worries! Glad you're loving it! I'm still playing it almost exclusively, along with Drift Stage, of course

[tk1sbiglove]

Well, of course!

[skilltricky]

I've been playing this, fun game!

[tk1sbiglove]

It is fucking GLORIOUS

[Delko]

Damn, I need to give this a try. The faux PS1 texture pop shader is a cool touch.

[akumajobelmont]

Yeah, it's something special. The old WipEout physics are near perfect now, even more than before. The course designs have seen some major revamps over the course of the last couple of months, and it's all for the better. It's hard to comprehend just how well they've nailed the WipEout course design and feel. There's been big changes in the overall look of the game too, and it's getting closer and closer to the Designer's Republic look.

I think I've put about 60 hours into the game so far, and I'm still nowhere near comfortable on Zen class. My go-to is generally Spectre... if I'm using some of the fastest ships, then it's either Halberd or Spectre.

Definitely give it a go. It's mind-blowing that it's free.

EDIT: @Delko It's got Workshop support, with a custom ships feature - you guys should do some floaty versions of the Drift Stage vehicles for it! There's already some retro-styled vehicles in the Workshop