Wip3out

When someone says futuristic racing on the PlayStation, many players think of Wip3out — the peak of the legendary anti-gravity series that Psygnosis launched at the very birth of the console. The third installment, from 1999, polishes the formula to perfection: cleaner controls, smoother driving and, above all, the iconic minimalist visuals by the British studio The Designers Republic, whose typography and sharp colors gave the game an unmistakable face.

The core of the experience is piloting craft that don't touch the ground — instead of brakes you learn to use airbrakes in corners and to tactically collect weapons and shields. The speed is dazzling and every mistake means slamming into a barrier. Wip3out also became famous for a soundtrack full of electronic music that perfectly matched the club aesthetics of the turn of the millennium.

For retro players it's a symbol of the era when the PlayStation grew up — the game combined artistic vision, difficulty and atmosphere in a way that has rarely been matched since. To this day it remains one of the most prized pieces in the PS1 library, and thanks to it the WipEout series kept its reputation as both a technical and a stylistic benchmark of the genre.