Burnout

"A good idea ruined by the gameplay"

The game that leaves GT3 standing

The more you think about that line while playing this awful game the more you realize, no, no this is a where near the heady heights of any Gran Turismo. There are multiple things wrong with this racer, which I will point out later on.

Gameplay: 5/10

A good idea put together badly

The first time you slip this disk into your drive you are asked what Hz you want to play the game on. I have played with both and it does not matter which one you put it on the graphics are still crap. Basically the idea of racing against three other racers against the tide of traffic is a good one. Except the way that this game is pulled off makes it seem wasted efforts. First picking your car is annoying. It does not matter if you are a beginner; choose the fastest car as it is the only way you will win. Once you have chosen your car pick a track. Now believe me once you start unlocking the tracks you will be very pissed off to find over half are the tracks from the start just the other way round with a different name! This can make tedious driving as you pass the same landscape over and over again. Now to really get some power behind you to find those exhilarating speeds you have to fill up your burnout bar by doing one of three things:
1. Drive on the wrong side of the road
2. Drive close to hitting a car, calculating a near miss
3. Power slide round corners
Now I do not mean to be unfair but only the first one will really get the bar filled up, but it can become a very tricky business. As you find yourself heading towards oncoming traffic, you will find there is hardly any room for your car to fit through. Now with the awful controls and stupid cars, you will find yourself crashing over and over again. If you do finally fill the bar, you get a *gasp* 10 mph extra speed.

As you start the championship mode you have to race and come in a certain position to progress. This gets harder as the game goes along but the rewards are just as crap as the first one. Also you will notice the computer drives near to perfect and crashes not very frequently at all, unless you aid him. Even if they do get smashed up the cars will be straight back with you even if you drive a perfect race. I mean you can drive without hitting one single car and the computer will be right on your backside waiting for a mistake to be made. Once you make several though you will have to restart as you have no chance of catching up.

The one thing that does brighten up your day is the crashing. It can be exhilarating to go zooming through the traffic but when your run finally comes to an end you are treated with a replay of your smash from a different angle, and the cost to replace the vehicles. For some strange reason, the bigger the vehicle hit, the higher the price. You can smash up three cars badly for around $50,000 but just clip a bus and it is $100,000 on your insurance.

Graphics: 4/10

Not good to be honest

First off every car in the game will seem very square shaped and so will the tracks. The corners are usually right angles to the road and very few are round, you will get the odd roundabout and every corner is added with a little symbol like out of a rally game, but it does not help when everything is lined out with green arrows that blend in with the bland and repetitive background. You will have to go round a track at least twice to even find out where the corners are and remember them. They are also very packed, lots of cars and buildings on either side (maybe that is why there has been not been a lot of effort going into getting everything looking nice) but bigger in this game, certainly does not mean better. It is a matter of quantity over quality which makes the graphics poor and you bored.

The only thing that really stands out in the graphics and really saves the whole game is the replay mode. They are spectacularly acted out and the slow motion close up of you hitting the car is excellent and a real treat. Cars will dent and windows will smash making your car look a right state but nothing will drop off the car ever.

Sound: 2/10

Repetitive, annoying and absolute rubbish

At the introduction screen you will be greeted by a series of beats and beeps that will seriously get you edgy and quickly make you want to get onto the racing. Once inside the race the sound of the crash is a predetermined crash noise depending on what is hit and what is broken. There is not much variation in the sounds and no individual crash noise. Not much to say in this section as it is very forgettable. (You will wish you never heard the music)

Play time: 9/10

Rock hard to complete

Yes to complete every bit of the championship and challenge mode on every difficulty is so tough that it really is not worth doing. After completing it the first time run away and leave the game alone. Seriously though it is near impossible to complete because of the crap controls and hard to see tracks, plus trying to beat the computer with a faultless run happens once in a blue moon. I have never tried or wanted to finish the whole game as once I saw what prizes you could get I thought “sod it, I am racing to win a car that is actually slower than the cars at the start?” or “Huh, is this not the track I have raced before but the other way round?” The only other redeeming feature of this lackluster game is that it does take ages to finish.

Overall: 5/10

This could be, and should be a very good game as I love the ideas of racing against the rush hour. However the overall game is spoilt by bad controls, poor graphics, awful prizes, dire sound and crap cars. Definitely rent this game to find out how mediocre this game really is but if you do have a bit of money and find it in a bargain bin it can be quite fun with a few mates buy it.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 09/19/03