Burnout Revenge – Review

Criterion’s Burnout Revenge screeches onto the Xbox 360—time for a whole new next-gen game, huh? Not quite… And why? Well because this is basically the same game as the previous Xbox version, just with glitzy 360 bells (graphics) and whistles (sounds). So, if you’ve already played Burnout Revenge on Xbox or PS2, you’ll know exactly what you’re getting here. But if you haven’t—Hmm, allow for this explanation:

Burnout Revenge, being a racing game, is purely about going really, really fast, and then going faster. Each Burnout game in the series seems to have become steadily faster over time, and this one is no exception (it even feels quicker than the original Xbox Burnout Revenge). But to reach the game’s super high speeds you’re going to need boost. Boost is earned in a number of ways, and most of these involve risk-taking manoeuvres such as driving on the wrong side of the road, catching some air, sliding around corners, and using boost continually without crashing. Then there’s taking out other racers, slamming them from behind, nudging them into traffic, or just causing them to crash into walls at over 200mph! And new to the Burnout series is the ability to crash into other cars in order to gain boost; although you can only take cars out from behind, not head or side on. Also, don’t try taking out a bus or truck this way as it’ll only end in tears—yours.

All these ways of earning boost mean that you’ll never likely run out of it for too long. But, if you do, then simply nip across the other side of the road for a quick traffic-daring top up or take out a couple of cars in front of you. The fact that boost is so easy to earn and build means that Burnout’s races move along at an eye-melting rate—sometimes even too fast. With the power of the 360 there seems to be more boxes and crates to break through on the racing shortcuts, and these tend to obscure the view when travelling at such extreme speeds, but that’s perhaps one of the risks of taking shortcuts, eh?

Another new element added since the Xbox version is the appearance of edges that jut out on corners and other places. This inclusion is really quite annoying because if you over do it on a corner, rather than sliding against the leading wall, which causes you to slow, you’ll most likely find yourself smashing into that new pesky piece of additional wall. Plus, more frustratingly, this can sometimes prove the difference between winning and losing a race. It wouldn’t be quite so bad if were the shortcuts that became sections notably more difficult to get through—using them IS a risky business—but to have these annoying juts spread across the main course is frustrating at times. Although, that said, they’re not THAT frequent in appearance throughout the courses. Perhaps this reviewer is just a tad too picky.

Anyway, on to the types of races you can expect to enjoy during Burnout Revenge. The first event you’ll take part in isn’t actually a race but a Traffic Attack event, and this is to introduce you to the feature mentioned earlier—where you can smash into other traffic from behind. These events are fun to start with but become a little boring after a while.

Luckily, after completing the first event you’ll unlock actual races. These include one-off races where you battle for first place, Grand Prix events, which are four standard races in a row, with whoever has the most points from the four races being declared the winner. Then there are the Road Rage events, which are won by taking out a set number of racing rivals before the time runs out, or before your car gets too smashed up to continue. Other race modes are Eliminator, where a 30 second clock repeatedly ticks down during a race and each time it hits zero the car in last place is ‘eliminated’; Burning Lap, which is essentially a time attack mode against the clock; and finally there’s the Crash Event, where destruction is the name of the game. Here you pick your vehicle, get a rolling start, and race into traffic at top speed—the aim being to make as many cars and trucks crash as possible. Moreover, there have even been a few new crash junctions added to the 360 version of Burnout Revenge, which is an appealing high-speed extra.

One difference in gameplay from the Xbox incarnation of Burnout Revenge is the game’s difficulty level. On the Xbox version it seemed quite easy for much of the game, and then ‘BAM!’ the difficulty level abruptly shot up. But difficulty rises gradually on the 360, so you don’t suddenly seem to be up against invincible racers. Personally speaking, I believe this particular tweak is well implemented and makes the game’s curve considerably more even. As you complete events, earning bronze, silver, or gold medals along the way, you will unlock new races, new areas, and new cars depending on which medal you receive. The overall gameplay remains the same as in previous Burnout games, so if you’re an established fan of the series, then you’ll be a fan of this one too. The game’s complement of cars handle well, and when you get new cars you’ll be able to ‘feel’ their differences in terms of weight, handling and speed. However, the gameplay is intuitive enough that you always feel in control—or just about. And when deep in the action, you’ll never find yourself too far behind other racers, but bear in mind that they’re never too far behind you either.

The graphics in Burnout games have always been strong in execution, entailing really fast moving visuals and attractive shiny cars getting smashed to hell. But, by comparison, Burnout Revenge on the 360 looks absolutely beautiful. The cars now keep the scratches they pick up during a race—the damage incurred by crashes is only held as dents and such; sacrificing absolute realism being a wise move, especially as racing without wheels isn’t really a plausible idea. So at the end of any given race your car looks pretty wrecked, but not totally so. And the in-game scenery looks great as well. Although the HDR (High Dynamic Range) lighting, while impressive, is a bit off putting at some points, like when zooming out of a darkened tunnel only to be being totally blinded by the sun! Yes, very realistic, but this is Burnout, not a simulation-heavy racer where realism is the highest possible achievement. All the game’s graphical elements are well realised and move along at a cracking pace, with not a hint of slowdown, tearing or jagging to be seen. It really looks that great.

Sound is also fantastic. You can hear every scrape, every crunch, and every boom and bang during the races, as well as during the many crashes too. Some of the crashes will make you physically wince thanks to the sound’s authenticity being so good!

Online play is now a big part of the Burnout games, and Revenge 360 continues that trend. You can take part in all manner of races on Xbox Live, and now the game remembers racers you take out online and, more importantly, who takes YOU out. And that’s not just in reference to that single race. No, if someone takes you out today then Xbox Live will offer a reminder the next time you meet them online, regardless of the time elapsed between races. The game IS called Burnout ‘Revenge’ after all. And revenge certainly is what it’s all about when you’re informed at the start of a race that player ‘X’ has taken you out twice without reply. Well, are you really going to let them get away with that? A great feature to drum up racing emotions, so well done Criterion for that. Those races I’ve played on Live have all been good thus far, no instances of lag to report. The only problem I encountered was in actually joining a room. But once I managed to get in, I stayed there without problem.

The girl gamer aspect is somewhat canceled out where Burnout Revenge is concerned. The game doesn’t pander to pointless narrative so there are no playable characters in it. It is just road-shredding, gender-neutral cars from start to finish, and lots of them too!

Deaf gamers or those with hearing impairment will sadly miss out on the game’s howling engines, screaming metal, and exploding traffic, but Burnout Revenge still plays brilliantly without sound. And the soundtrack becomes almost a non-entity while you’re busy mashing up the competition.

While Burnout Revenge on the Xbox 360 isn’t a substantial content leap from the previous Xbox version, the fact is that if you have a 360 and loved the earlier iterations of Revenge, or even Takedown, you’ll want and love this one too. And for the review’s scoring judgment? Sure, Criterion could’ve perhaps pushed the 360 a little further, but when a racing game is this much fun offline as it is online, regardless of its relative lack of originality, then it really has to be a 9. For those well versed on Burnout games or those unlucky enough to have never sampled the series (poor souls) then Revenge on the 360 has never tasted so sweet.

Review by Roy