Since it was first made the Burnout series has really come along leaps and bounds. Each game seemed to add something new, something that kept the punters happy. Well now we are on the 4th instalment in the series Burnout: Revenge, what’s more the game has now been made to suit those of us who have high definition TV’s and next-generation Xbox 360’s.
It’s been about five or six months since Burnout Revenge was released on the Xbox and PS2 so what exactly have Criterion been doing these past few months and more importantly is it really worth spending fifty big ones on what is essentially an Xbox port? Let’s find out.
Burnout is in the arcade class of games, you don’t get the realism as you would from PGR3, but there’s one reason as to why Burnout is so successful, it’s so damn well addictive. The rush of adrenaline you get from t-boning a fellow racer cannot be matched by any other game on the market and because of that it really is no surprise to see so many gamers wanting to play it on the Xbox 360. The different game modes add so much to this game, you of course have the usual race where the first one past the finish line wins, but you can also play crash games where the object of the game is to create as much havoc, mayhem and terror as humanely possible.
Also there’s Road Rage in which the winner of the game is the person with the most takedowns and trust me by the time you’ve finished a few games of that your heart will be pumping faster than a cheetah on steroids. Also online there’s a cat and mouse game which is great fun, the rules are simple, you split up into a red and blue team, for all purposes sake lets say the red team are cats and the blues are mice. Now the blue team will in fact get a head start, but they also have to work for their boost where as the reds (cats) will have unlimited boost. The blue team have to try and finish the race without all the players being taken out and the reds must destroy all things blue. If just one blue racer gets passed the finish line then the reds will have failed. A very simple idea in essence, but one which is very addictive and a right laugh to.
The campaign on Burnout is a very long one; you must go through countless races and go from being completely ’Harmless’ right up to being the ’Dominator’ of all things Burnout. Now at first the races will be easy, you will be able to run a bath, toast some pancakes, watch an episode of Prison Break and then still be able to comeback and win a race. The main reason for this is because Burnout features a catch up feature where if you’re falling behind you will find it easier to gain boost and get to your top speeds, but be warned as that same rule applies to the opposition. You could empty a full tank of boost without so much as touching a kerb and yet your opponents
will still some how be right behind you gnawing at your heels. Unrealistic you say, I say it’s just what makes Burnout such a good game, you would get so bored if you were up in first without so much as a glint of competition from the computer players, the catch up feature keeps you on alive, alert and ready for anything. The easy races will come to an end though, after getting past a few ranks you will find that the computer AI becomes that little bit smarter, so much so that at times you will see two opposing racers working together to take you out, also you will start to notice that traffic becomes a lot more thicker and more difficult to navigate through. After a few more ranks you will be pulling your hair out, screaming at the TV screen, praying to god and threatening your Xbox 360 console.
New features in the game include a clip sharing facility which is actually pretty mint. You can record your own thirty second clip and share it with everyone online. You can share your greatest racing moment with the world and to me that just seems so cool. Obviously you can download other people’s clips, this is great for beginners as they can download a more advanced racers clip and figure out what needs to be done to win races. An even cooler feature is the ’Revenge Rival’ online, what happens is that once you take someone down it will save the takedown and you will get a little symbol by the opponents name and should you ever face him again online the symbol
will reappear and you will immediately know that there’s a score to be settled. The same goes for someone taking you out, if you get wiped off the track a little red triangle will be added to the guilty party so you will always know who to exact bloody murderous revenge on. Sometimes the takedowns are pretty pathetic, for example if you hit somebody in the back then a few seconds later you crash into a wall, the person you hit seconds before will get a takedown despite having nothing to do with the crash, but I suppose it a very thin line as to whether or not a crash counts as a takedown or just a mistake on the drivers behalf.
Now we come to the main difference between the 360 version and the Xbox version, I am of course talking about the visuals. Let me just say visually this game is nothing short of mind-blowing. Criterion asked Microsoft countless times to make Burnout: Revenge backward compatible, no one exactly knows what happened, but Criterion reached the end of their tether waiting for an answer and simply flipped Microsoft off and started on an Xbox 360 version of Burnout: Revenge. Now I am so glad Criterion never made the original Burnout backward compatible otherwise we would have never got what has to be one of the sexiest looking games to hit a console ever. The cars of course look amazing, when you first see them they look more polished than
the World Cup and everything from your opponents cars to the various surroundings can be seen on the side panels of your car. The visual blur you get when you hit speeds of over 170mph also adds to the games already intense feeling to. The thing is you won’t experience Burnouts full visual prowess until you do a face plant into a four foot concrete block. After you’ve crashed you will at first see countless scratches over the car, after a few more crashes you will see lose doors and crushed roofs. Despite the fact that they are meant to look all banged up, they come across as looking beautiful, each scratch and dent adding to its overall beauty. The more smashed up you car the better it looks, a theory which usually does no apply to car games.
Let us not forget one of the biggest aspects of this game, the explosions. The explosions in this game are so immense, so powerful, so intense. Watching your car as it goes through each stage of a crashbreaker is awesome. The ripple effect a crashbreaker can cause is absolutely stunning, it’s great to watch buses, cars and trucks keel over under the sheer power of an explosion. Also the crippling effect a crash can cause is almost unreal, windows will smash, cars will be squished into pancakes, logs will fall off the back of lorries and wheels will be flying everywhere. The explosions aren’t everything though, most of the time you will crash and just see your car crumple up and change into various shapes, but rest assured Criterion have put a lot of work into what your car looks like in the aftermath of a crash. Every part of the car can be crushed, dismembered and scratched. Your lights will disappear as your car crushes head on into a car, doors will disappear and roofs will collapse. The cars will bend and buckle into unimaginable shapes, what was once your pride and joy will look like nothing more than a metal banana once the race is over.
Finally the latest addition to the game is HDTV, now I first played the game on a standard 60Hz setting and it looked absolutely stunning, I thought that turning the HD on wouldn’t make that much difference, how wrong I was. As soon as I turned the HD on and got into a race I could immediately see the vehicles looked crisper, cleaner. The surroundings looked slightly enhanced and more realistic, explosions looked even more intense and when you reach top speeds the blurring sensation looked a hell of a lot better. Visually Burnout has improved by so much, it looks absolutely amazing. Yes you can get the ultra sleek PGR3 where the cars are created with each and every detail in mind and yet in my opinion I think Burnout looks better. At 720p it really does come into a world of its own and just on the basis of graphics this game is worth splashing out an extra £50.
Online Burnout Revenge seems to be a lot smoother, lag is still present but only every now and again unlike the Xbox version where you would encounter a laggy racer every other game. There is of course the leaderboards in which you will try to rise up the ranks for bragging rights (I’m currently 419th in the world), but the one thing which really strikes me online is that every actually seems to talk. I’ve managed to chat with ten times more people on Burnout compared to games like Ghost Recon in which communication is meant to be vital. It really is a buzzing community online and really does add to the games great atmosphere.
Let us now talk about the games audio, now the soundtrack isn’t exactly amazing, there are a few good songs but 90% of them are pretty lame and were no doubt picked by a 50 year old trying to act cool. The funny thing is that it doesn’t really matter firstly because you can always strap your iPod to the 360 if you really hate the music, but more importantly you never notice the music when you’re racing. The only thing you will notice are the sounds of your car topping out at 209mph, crunching into the side railing of a hospital or listening to the outcome of playing chicken with an 18 wheeler. In a race everything sounds so intense, pump up the volume and stick on 5.1 surround and this game becomes something great.
Each and everyone bone crunching smash sounds unique, the sharp sound of your brakes screeching as you try to dodge the log trucks in front of you really does make this game amazing. Not forgetting that online it gets even better, because as well as all the shattering car crashes you have to add the distant screams of your fellow racer as you smash his bright shiny car into the side of a wall. The audio in Burnout: Revenge is perfect, maybe they could have added a better soundtrack but like I said it really doesn’t matter because every other sound in this game fits its place perfectly.
Lastability wise this game could last until the next one in the series. With smoother online gaming and such addictive gameplay it’s no wonder that thousands upon thousands would choose Burnout over games like Oblivion. The career mode will take a good few weeks to complete unless you’re really dedicated, you will get past the first few within days but then as it gets harder you will find it takes a hell of a lot longer to complete various races. Also the achievements will keep people playing for a good few months, with 36 achievements on offer it’s no easy ride. Things like getting two vertical takedowns in a row will only be unlocked by the more experienced racers. Finally EA will no doubt be hosting countless competitions online (21 Days of Carnage being the first) to drag the punters back and it really does work.
Overall this has to be one of the best games I’ve ever played. Visually the game is stunning, the upgraded high-definition graphics really makes this game worth the extra fifty quid, but that’s not all. Online the game is a lot smoother, plus the whole community just has a real buzz to it unlike literally every other Xbox 360 game. Each and every sound that comes out of your speakers will blow you off your feet and by the time you’ve completed this game the Xbox 1440 will have been released. As soon as you have booted this game up and have started a race that will be it, you will realise that every other car game on the market is just so inferior. Did Criterion make the right choice when they flipped off Microsoft, of course they did, the new game is much more than just an Xbox port and I would most definitely recommend you get this game, no I demand you get this absolutely amazing game.
