Pedal to the metal
Burnout is renowned for its blisteringly fast speeds and effectively conveying that sensation and the tracks have been cleverly designed to offer up the chance to go flat out at nearly every opportunity. You’ve not got to worry about slowing for a curve here or taking the racing line… that’s not the idea. If you’ve ever wanted to take your frustrations out on those damn Sunday drivers, Burnout Revenge is the place to do it.
The gameplay revolves around shredding every other car on the track, and this time there’s plenty of non-racing traffic to slam into. But as well as gaining you points, you can use that traffic to takedown other players. Shunt an opponent into oncoming traffic to watch them go up in an instant fireball, or nudge an unsuspecting van into the wall, blocking your opponent’s racing line… or just smash everything to hell and back, build up your boost levels and then slam the others into the wall yourself.
Tracksides are littered with obstacles to catch the unwary though, so you have to be sure to have a steady hand to slip between those very unforgiving concrete pillars at nosebleed inducing speeds. Stephan reckoned that Burnout: Revenge felt like the car chase sequence in Bad Boys 2 but I disagree… it feels like every action car chase you’ve ever seen… fast, frantic and loads of fun and thankfully devoid of Will Smith and his ‘down wit’ ma homies’ attitude.
There’s more here than just racing though, with plenty of other modes to keep you amused. There’s Traffic Attack where destroying other road users is the name of the game, each takedown earning you more time on the clock. Then there a last man standing race where the rearmost guy has to drop out… so you’d better make sure you know how to take the others down before they get ahead of you. Then there’s the famous Crash mode where the aim of the game is to cause a huge pile up, scoring more and more points for number of cars involved and how badly they get damaged… and of course there’s the famous crashbreaker, where you blow your car to bits to try and inflict even more damage.
