Burnout Revenge – 360 – Review

What is the appeal of a car race?
This question has been asked repeatedly and my answer lately has been "To see a
wreck!" I’m not trying to condemn someone to a morbid and tragic accident,
instead I just want to see the cars bending in ways unimaginable. For video
gamers the Burnout series has provided those sick and twisted minds (wreck
junkies) their ultimate pleasure. Instead of creating just another racing
simulation why not create a game where wrecking your car is not only encouraged
but creating the biggest wreck possible is a goal. With Burnout Revenge for the
Xbox 360 we’re treated to the biggest, boldest and most impressive version of
Burnout yet.

Now I need to admit that I have been
late to the Burnout Revenge party. I never played the version that came out on
the Xbox or PS2. This review will be based only on the Xbox 360 version. I
cannot offer any comparisons to the versions released last year. The only
comparisons I can offer is to Burnout 3 for the Xbox, which was the last Burnout
game I played. I know I’m slacking but sometimes it’s hard playing games,
writing reviews and then playing even more games that I don’t have to review.
Hey, with a backlog of well over 50 games it’s tough just making a decision
which game to play. Ok, enough about that let’s get on with the review.

Burnout Review is a top-notch racing
experience for the Xbox 360. I say racing experience because it involves so much
more than simply driving around a race track. The game offers a variety of modes
that will keep you busy for hours. The meat and potatoes of the game is the
World Tour mode which has you competing in events to raise your revenge ranking.
You will compete in several different events in hopes of winning the events and
raising your overall revenge ranking.

The events in the World Tour vary
from a simple Burnout style race to the infamous Crash events. The Race event
has you racing against other computer-controlled drivers with the goal of
winning the race. The Traffic Attack (T.A.) event has you racing through traffic
by damaging other vehicles in order to increase your boast levels. You have a
limited amount of time in the T.A. event, but you gain more time by damaging
cars while you drive. The more damage you create the more money you will earn.
But you need to be careful because your car is taking damage as well. Oh, don’t
run into incoming traffic because you only earn more time by damaging vehicles
in your driving lane.

Burning Lap is another event that
has you racing against the clock. It’s up to you to finish the lap within the
designated time limit. The Eliminator event is a cool and at time frustrating
event that has you racing against five other cars. The game will countdown to a
certain point and then take out the last-placed driver. This continues until
only one car is left. This event can get on your nerves quickly when you get
taken out by one of the computer cars at the beginning of the race. The first
countdown happens so quickly that if you wreck more than twice then you will
probably be the first car eliminated.

The Road Rage event pits you against
the other computer cars with the goal of taking out as many computer cars as
possible. But during this event you still need to be careful of the amount of
damage you take during the race. Take too much damage and the race ends. The
Preview event is a simple race with you taking control of some of the more
exotic cars available within the game. The Grand Prix Race event has you racing
against the computer in a series of races. The higher you finish in the race the
more points you earn for the entire series. The driver with the most points at
the end of the Grand Prix wins.

The big change from previous
versions of Burnout with Revenge is the addition of the Revenge factor. For
example, during a race if someone takes you down (causes you to wreck) that
person is then your rival. If you
perform a takedown on your rival you will earn more boast than just taking out
regular traffic or another driver. Your rivals will be marked with a red
arrow while regular opponents are marked with a blue arrow. It’s a nice feature
that really plays out great when playing a multiplayer game.

As you play through the different
events you will earn a ranking depending on how well you performed during the
race. The rankings range from Good, Great or Awesome. The more damage you
perform especially with Takedowns the higher the ranking you will achieve. The
higher the ranking you achieve the quicker you will move up the Revenge ranking
levels. Another ranking piece you need to obtain are the various medals. Before
you start each event the game shows you what you need to "score" (Takedowns,
money from wrecks, times to beat) in order to get a Gold, Silver or Bronze
medal. Usually your ranking goes hand in hand with the medal you earn. For
example, you can earn a Gold Medal and will usually obtain an Great or Awesome
ranking. But you can obtain a Silver or Bronze medal and still reach a Awesome
ranking. Just remember that if you get a medal that you’ve beaten the event and
can move on to the next event. You might not have a high enough ranking to move
on to the next portion of the World Tour (the next level in the Revenge
ranking).

The creme de la creme part of
Burnout Revenge are the Crash events. For those that have never played a Burnout
game before (why not?) the point of the Crash mode is to create as much damage
as possible by wrecking your car. The idea sounds easy enough but hitting the
right spots in the Crash events could be considered an art form. The crash
events can be set in a variety of locations such as a small spot on a expressway
to larger areas with ramps. If you hit a crash too early then your car will just
sit there for the remainder of the time left, very lonely. But if you time the
crash just right, such as in the middle of an intersection, then a simple small
crash can morph into a interstate closing event that would make the nightly news
if it was real.

The game still includes the ability
to slow your car down (called Impact Time) after a wreck and move the car which
is called the Aftertouch. This gives you the chance to move your car into
oncoming traffic (or rivals) to create even more damage. The Crashbreaker
function is still included which allows you to blow up your car to create even
more damage. In the Crash Events you have to earn enough damage to use a
Crashbreaker. Burnout Revenge includes the ability to use the Crashbreaker
during certain racing events to take out pesky rivals after you’ve wrecked. Just
be sure to time your Crashbreaker just right or it’s a waste of valuable time
during a race.

Visually Burnout Revenge is one of
the best looking titles for the Xbox 360. All of the cars are fantastic looking
with a great reflective-coating look that makes the cars appear to just have
been waxed. But this slick look doesn’t last forever since your car will take
damage during a race and the damage remains until the end of the race. If you
wreck or cause a rival to wreck the game will provide a slow motion view of the
wreck that is just amazing. You will see individual car parts flying everywhere
along with sparks and flames. I never noticed any problems with the frame rate
no matter how intense the action was during a race. The game is limited to just
six cars racing against each other but that doesn’t include the limitless number
of vehicles spread out on the various tracks. Most of the tracks will include a
variety of objects littered throughout that can be ran over with pieces
scattering in all directions. Even the Crash events include what appears to be a
limitless number of cars that will fall to pieces all individually depending on
how the cars wreck. The only issue I had with the game was the black levels in
certain stages, which were just too black to see. This caused me to wreck a few
times because I had no idea where my car was on the screen. This might not be a
problem to everyone but it was on my HDTV (a Sony CRT).

The game plays just as great as it
looks with near perfect controls for a racing game. Even with all of the crazy
and insane action happening on screen I never felt out of control while playing
the game. Each car handles differently depending on it’s weight category and top
speed. The computer A.I. can be a pain sometimes especially when they perform
takedowns on you from behind. The regular racing is setup with the rubber band
gameplay style where the other drivers can never get too far ahead or behind
you.

Burnout Revenge is a stellar title
for the Xbox 360 that will keep you playing for hours and hours. From the
incredible graphics, great controls and incredible gameplay this game is really
a can’t-miss title. I haven’t mentioned too many problems with the game because
I really couldn’t find that many. The computer A.I. can be annoying during
certain races, such as the Eliminator events, and making your way up the World
Tour rankings might feel old after a few days. I do wish that the game offered
the ability to play just the Crash Events again without having to go through the
World Tour or Multiplayer modes. But in the end this is great title for the Xbox
360 that gamers shouldn’t pass up.

Gameplay: 9.0
The game controls almost perfectly even with cars crashing all around you during
a race. The World Tour mode lets you start from the bottom and work your way up
by increasing your Revenge ranking during the various events. You will also
unlock special cars, awards and achievements depending on how well you perform.

Graphics: 9.3
This is a breathtaking, beautiful game that shouldn’t disappoint any Xbox 360
owners. The car details are amazing and the crashes are incredible to witness
during the races and Crash events.

Sound: 8.5
Thank You EA/Criterion for getting rid of the annoying announcer from Burnout 3.
The sound effects are top notch with intense sounds for all of the wrecks,
scrapes and grinds taking place during the races. The music in the game is the
typical EA punk/metal/rock mix that needs to go away soon.

Difficulty: Medium
There are a few events that can be frustrating such as the Eliminator race and
certain Crash events. Precise timing is required in some of these events which
will have you repeating those events a few times. The rest of the game isn’t too
difficult for the average player to have a great time.

Concept: 9.0
This game takes the best parts of the previous Burnout games and pumps it up to
the limits. The Revenge aspects of the game are a great feature especially
during the Multiplayer games since it makes the game feel much more personal
than usual.

Multiplayer: 9.2
All of the events from the regular game are included in the Xbox Live mode. The
game expands the Revenge Rivals even farther by including different notices that
you can see before and after a race. For example you will see a red icon next to
a player that has taken you out. A green icon represents someone you’ve taken
out in a race. The game includes a lightning bolt icon for a gamer that you’ve
previously had a rival with. I didn’t notice any lag or problem during any Xbox
Live sessions. The game even includes an offline Multiplayer section where you
can play in a variety of Crash events. One really cool feature linked in with
Xbox Live is the ability for you to save your replays with other gamers. You can
upload up to three different replays to the EA servers that other players can
view. You can even download replays from other players and watch them or save
them to your hard drive. For the achievement nuts then make sure you play Xbox
Live plenty since most of the achievements are unlocked by playing on Live.

Overall: 9.0
Once again Burnout doesn’t disappoint especially with the first version for the
Xbox 360. Make sure you check this game out if you want some intense, amazing
and spectacular gaming fun.