YMMV / BallisticNG

• Best Level Ever: Aciknovae is particularly well-received by the game's playerbase thanks to its varied, quick layout, long distance, and its gritty aesthetic. It can be best described as a fusion between Korodera from Wipeout 1 and Gare d'Europa from 2097, both already beloved tracks within the Wipeout fanbase. Also, it got a massive overhaul that made it look more industrial and gritty than its 0.6 counterpart.
• Broken Base: Some players in the game's community did not take it well when Neogeosis announced that they are turning BallisticNG into a paid game at launch, accusing the devs of eating their own words.
• Complacent Gaming Syndrome: If it doesn't involve elimination, expect players using nothing but Tenrai in multiplayer. Meanwhile, the Nexus and NX2000 find their popularity in Time Trial.
• Demonic Spiders: The "Expert" to "Hardcore" AI crafts are pretty much like this, as they're much more aggressive and smarter in order to take you down during gameplay. God can only help you if you're getting blasted by two AI crafts with missiles or mines (See God Damned Mines).
• Difficulty Spike: Before the campaign rework in late 2017, the "Hurt Me Plenty" event in the Introduction Grid. Same race event as the previous one, but in Zen class. At least the track itself is extremely easy.
• Fan Nickname: Race tracks (especially player-made ones with confusing layout) tend to be called "spaghetti" by player community because how they often look like when viewed in in-game track preview.
• Goddamned Bats:
  • Or "God Damned Mines". Given that the game punishes any sort of collision quite heavily, any weapon is bound to be this. But Mines can be slightly more difficult to deal with because it's the only weapon that fires backwards, and the AIs seem to have a limitless supply of them at the ready.
  • Can't forget the Energy Wall either. Unlike Mines, it doesn't do damage, but it has a wider hitbox and completely kills your speed when you collide with one.
• Memetic Mutation: "THERE IS REGRET!!1!1!" ^note Said by Spilskinanke in his video after one of the developers tells him to mess around with the speed modifier in the game's command console. Spilskinanke himself was known in the official Discord server for a while as a man who can find every single way to break the game.
  • SKIP DETECTED ^note The game's anti-cheating mechanic will reel you back on the race track if the game consider you flying off-course for more than 1 second aka. "Skipping" And trying to beat time records will probably involve getting around this rule.
    • [Player] attempted to skip ^note This message appears during online multiplayer races when a player tries to skip.
  • The "HEY!" shout from Xpand's "Turbocharged" track during gameplay. Which is powerful enough to keep you motivated while reaching the finish line.
• That One Level:
  • Luna before 0.7 is one of the harder tracks that features a lot of track modulation and shallow turns throughout that frequently destabilize your craft (which leads to you flying off-track). To give you a hint even the starting grid is sloped hard sideways. It was nearly-unbeatable during Time Trial in Campaign mode as you'd have to mash the afterburner in order to get the bronze medal. This was fixed in 0.7, as you will receive a Turbo pickup at the start or after reaching a new lap, and 0.8 does away with it altogether for a new (and easier) layout — although it still contains annoying parts such as unusually strict boost pads placement and a weird dipping curve that you have to take wide or risk bottoming out your craft.
  • Ishtar Citadel can be a rude awakening for new players. It is packed with multiple chicane series that you need to be quick with your air-brakes if you don't want to smack yourself around like a pinball. However 0.9 made this track much easier due to the removal of the walls that run the track's length preventing you from seeing what you're about to plow into.
  • Dover, to a lesser extent. It invites noobs to go flat out on its straights before throwing hairpin corners in the face. The layout is also very friendly to a Plasma round or two coming down the lane.
  • The 0.7 Utah Project is even worse! It's filled with tight turns, tunnels and features a hairpin at the start of the race which you will need to be careful if you're playing on Spectre and Zen or you'll end up falling off the track.
  • Nova Split, introduced in 0.9, is littered with disconnected sections with tight corners throughout, placed on highly destabilizing platform. And you race on it under bad lighting.
  • While not as hard to navigate, Marina Rush managed to be more difficult than it looks thanks to its shallow chicanes that are difficult to judge airbrake timing to. The track is also bumpy throughout, forcing you to learn how to pitch or else risk bouncing the track's surface and losing precious time. Its 0.9 version is made smoother overall, but the dreaded chicanes are still there.
  • "Expert Tracks" are listed as such for a reason. Hydrome Bed is basically Spilskinanke on steroids with its... unusual hairpin arrangements, while Arrivon Peak (as in 0.9.4) feels like a long and twisting unholy union of Outpost 7 and Temtesh Bay Medium Course, hence "THOSE BLOODY BULKHEADS" from WipEout Fusion.
  • And of course you can always find more evil fan-made creations through Game Mod.
• Unexpected Character: Who would expect that the C.Y.G.O.N Tempest from GRIP: Combat Racing will make it into the game in the 1.1.5 update? Let alone people who never heard of GRIP. This leaves people scratching their heads figuring out how this ship made it into the game.