Sheesh! If my insurance
agent saw this game, he’d probably have nightmares for weeks. Anyone who has
played the original Burnout by Akklaim will know what I’m talking about … fast
and furious racing on the right or wrong side of the road and “threading the
needle” between semis or traffic with mistakes resulting in some of the ugly
crashes I’ve seen. Burnout was extremely fun … and Burnout 2 not only provides
the same amount of enjoyment, but also improves on the original title in the
process.
I’ll take a quick second to explain the concept for those
of you new to the series. Burnout 2 up front provides some similar ways to play
as other racing titles. You can select a single race mode to race any unlocked
track with any unlocked vehicle, time attack to face the clock, or you can
select a championship mode to race in a number of circuits to progress through
the game and unlock new cars and tracks to race on. Pretty standard overall, but
then the additions come into play that bring out the fun factor and set it
apart. Burnout 2 doesn’t take place on a closed track with a bunch of spectators
or sponsors watching. This game instead takes racing out to the streets where
you violate numerous traffic laws to get the first place trophy. You will need
to race through rush hour traffic jams at high speeds, run red lights through
busy intersections, and drive on the wrong side of the road constantly making
split second decisions to avoid a nasty wreck.
Some additions to the single
player game modes that are new to Burnout 2 include Crash mode, which has you
trying to rack up as much damage dollars as possible to obtain medals. For
example, go racing at super high speed into the back end of a car stopped in
traffic, then see how many buses you can bounce off of or how many other moving
cars you can get to slide into and damage each other. Also, you have to complete
an Offensive Driving 101 course before you can really get in and play the game.
Don’t worry … it’s not really difficult and you’ll be in and running before you
know it.
One of the biggest
improvements to the game that I saw was the stackable combo style of the Burnout
boost. In Burnout 2, you can grab a burst of speed once a Burnout meter fills
all the way up. You increase it by grabbing air, drifting, and narrowly missing
other vehicles. Stacking these up results in quicker filling, and by linking
different things together you get additional quickness in topping it off.
Basically, driving in between two semis will give you 2 narrow misses, then
drifting around a turn into oncoming traffic will give you additional stacking
for the drift plus the amount of time you stay in the wrong lane. You can almost
re-fill it as you are using it by being creative and finding continuing ways to
do these things, resulting in consistent high speed until you screw up.
Another neat addition to
Burnout 2 is the mixture of race styles that you get to run in Championship
mode. Starting off, you do a pretty standard “get the most points in three races
to advance to the next level” thing … but then have to square off against an
unlockable car to beat it and unlock it to play with in the next circuit. Then,
rather than racing another three race circuit, you can play a pursuit game which
has you in a police car bashing a target vehicle at high speeds (similar to the
old Chase H.Q. arcade game). This provides a fun and diverse aspect to the
standard style, and breaks up monotony by not having you do the same thing over
and over again.
Championship mode also
branches into two different styles, since the fist one you race is a Standard
Championship. These are your normal sports cars (and a new addition … hot rods)
and the style during the track racing parts are reminiscent of the original
series. Once you’ve beaten that one though, it’s off to the Custom Series
Championship … which tricks out the initial vehicles for some serious speed and
comes complete with body kits, decal sets, tuned engines and improved handling.
While the Custom Series racers are the most intense racing vehicles in the game,
don’t think you’re going to get shortchanged in the Standard mode. The overall
speed has been turned up in Burnout 2 overall, providing some really high speeds
and intense racing overall.
Graphically, Burnout 2 looks
great. Everything while playing and in replays zips by at a fast and constant
framerate, and even with a lot of vehicles on the road and things going on, I
didn’t notice or see any slowdown. The vehicles, lighting effects, and
backgrounds themselves all look great, and while they’re not “GT3 great”, they
look good in their own right and the game looks better than the PS2 version in
my opinion. The big winner here though is the replays when crashes occur, which
result in a slow motion replay to capture in full and painful detail all of the
flying metal and traffic pileup enjoyment that you caused from multiple camera
angles. The presentation in the Crash mode also really stuck me as nifty, since
the camera will show all of the fender bending that happened while it’s going on
… but will then move to a traffic copter to do a pan and swing by of the
accident scene to show you how much destruction you caused overall.
The sound to Burnout 2
didn’t fare quite as well as the graphics and gameplay did unfortunately, and
while it’s not horrible, it could have been a little better. The engine sounds
all have that same whiney racing tone to them which was pretty close to what
you’ll hear in some other racers, but cars like a ford style hot rod also had
the same whiney noise only dropped to a lower decibel level. A growling,
staccato style engine noise with a thunderous start off rev would have been
great for these style vehicles, but it just wasn’t there. The music in Burnout 2
is new, and the developers added in some heavier rock tunes on top of the boppy
techno beats found in the original. They’re not terrible, but just a little
repetitive and easily forgotten. One neat thing that was done was the volume
increase that happens when you use the Burnout boost … but with some of the less
enjoyable tracks you’ll probably wish that it didn’t happen. The crashing and
tire squealing sounds found when collisions and traffic accidents occur sounded
great though, and I would have loved to see some of that same quality in the
rest of the sound presentation.
Overall, racing fans will
get a kick out of Burnout 2. This has to be one of the neatest racing ideas that
I’ve seen in a while, and it is one of the only racing games that I have played
that literally had me sitting up on the edge of my seat or holding my breath in
anticipation as I narrowly wedged in between two buses or locked up in fear when
I knew that I was getting ready to hit another vehicle or plow head on into a
truck. The only thing that I could see that would take away from anyone’s liking
of this game is if you just have to have realism or a standard racing
title to enjoy a racing game. If not, it’s worth the price and will provide many
hours of fun and enjoyment. Strap in your seatbelt and get ready for some real
white knuckle arcade driving folks, Akklaim has brought us one heck of a great
and painful arcade racer on the Gamecube.
Gameplay: 9.0
The controls are
easy to get into, and you will need to complete an Offensive Driving 101 course
to help you get used to everything before you start playing. The mixture of race
styles in championship mode like pursuit and one on one battles for an
unlockable car add in a good blend of racing to break the monotony of standard
racing games out as well. There’s a good selection of cars to choose from up
front, and some neat additions like Hot Rods, two championship series, and the
Crash mode all help to set this game apart and provide for some good replay
value. The stackable and constant speed ability of the boost meter was a great
addition to this game as well, and Burnout 2 will probably have you tensing up
while playing with or without the boost due to the constant split second
decisions and possible wrecks which can occur.
Graphics: 8.9
Everyone compares
racing game graphics to GT3 nowadays, and while Burnout 2 doesn’t quite get to
that level with car detail and lighting effects … it still looks great and
looks better than most other GC racers in my opinion. The wreck replays are
spectacular, and the addition of an accident helicopter for the crash mode to
give you a full view pan and scan of demolished intersections was really neat.
Everything ran at top speed even with a lot going on, and I didn’t see any
slowdown or problems even with a lot going on.
Sound: 7.5
While it’s not
horrible, the sound didn’t quite meet the overall standards of the rest of the
game. The cars all had similar engine sounds which is pretty standard to some
other racers that are out, but vehicles like muscle cars or bigger trucks you
can race with should have had their own engine style closer to what they would
really sound like. The music is a mixture of drum filled or chugging rock tunes,
most of which are forgettable and some get a tad repetitive which unfortunately
takes away from the volume increase that happens for effect when you use a
Burnout boost. The wreck and locking brakes noises sounded good though.
Difficulty: Medium
The game is easy
to get into and play, and the AI was well balanced and will give players a good
run while not being unbeatable. The courses do get harder as you progress, and
things like merging semis 50 feet away while you’re running at 180 MPH add to
the challenge, enjoyment, and fun of the game overall.
Concept: 9.0
The concept
itself was great in the first Burnout, but the overall game improvements and a
lot of additions to championship, multiplayer, and single player styles just
made it a lot better. The increased speeds just added to the game, and the
addition of some new car styles and even some street racing vehicles made it a
winner for me.
Multiplayer: 8.5
The multiplayer mode to
Burnout 2 contains standard racing, but also adds in Crash mode for competition
and the ultra fun pursuit mode, where one player gets to be the five – o and the
other gets to play as the escapee. Up to four players can run in the racing
mode, while two can play in the crash and pursuit styles. Good stuff!
Overall: 9.0
Overall, I love
racing games and have since the original Pole Position. Burnout 2 is one of
those rare arcade racers that comes along every now and then and will tear you
away from “real racing” games that you said you would never stop playing (again
I will reference GT3 here). If you are a racing game fan, this is one not to
miss. If you just cannot enjoy a racing game unless you get to tweak engines and
whatnot, you may not be as impressed … but hey! Who doesn’t enjoy some good, old
fashioned, head on collision fun? This is a game that is well worth the price of
admission, and will provide enough enjoyment to keep you coming back for more
for a while.
