Burnout Revenge

"I got a chaos theory for ya..."

Best Features: Everything from Burnout 3 plus more...that's all, read the review.

Worst Features: Everything else from Burnout 3...but nothing new.

What can I say about Burnout? Its a racing game/adrenaline injector like no other. Despite not being the king of the racing genre (that title belongs to the Rush Racing series), Burnout has always offered a unique yet simple experience. With their success with Burnout 3: Takedown, EA has unsurprisingly taken the franchise to a new iteration with Burnout Revenge. The risk-reward gameplay, its stellar crash physics, and masterfully crafted control always pull me back to this series so what does the 4th installment offer?

Graphics: 10
EA didn't tool around too much with the graphical engine of Burnout 3: Takedown for Revenge so expect the same level here. Luckily, this isn't such a bad thing since EA's Burnout graphics engine is easily one of the best the PS2 has ever seen. Even jaded PC gamers may find some of the textures hard to comprehend. EA did add a little more accent and made the environments more detailed but as a whole, its in the same bracket as Burnout 3. The shimmer of light striking your showroom-polished car, the sparks of your undercarriage scraping on the ground, and the animation of watching your car fly like a metal ragdoll when it crashes at a crisp, unbreaking 60 fps is all just poetry in digital motion. The graphics in this game stand on the same plateau as other graphical-masterworks such as Gran Turismo 4 and Soul Calibur II. Plus, factor in the sense of speed only seen in futuristic racers such as Wipeout or F-Zero (AND still running at that 60 fps clip) and you get an even more astounding package. Simply put, its a beautiful thing.

Sound/Music: 8 (closer to 8.5 but my philosophy only uses whole numbers)
EA did go in here and take it up a notch over its predecessor. While Burnout 3's sound effects were good, I didn't really know what I was missing until I booted up Revenge. The sound effects here are far better than Burnout 3's. The sound of the tires sliding across concrete is captured here with accuracy far above what was heard in 3. The striking against rival cars and traffic is sharper and captures the moment of impact more precisely than before. The boost now lets out a thunderous roar when you hit it and rocket forward. As you zip by traffic and stationary objects, the "whoosh" of the wind getting pushed against the objects can now be heard with amazing clarity. The sound effects are just so much better than what Burnout 3 offered. However, the same cannot be said for the music. Like Burnout 3, I'm just not impressed with EA's selections for this soundtrack (though, in their defense, they did manage to remove Crash FM-host Stryker, good and bad). There are some encore bands to be found here from B3 and some new but nothing catches my ear. Plus, this time, many of the tracks are techno-remixes (instead of the real deal, which I would bet is better considering there's a remix of the normally great "Break on Through" by The Doors) which takes off even more points. Luckily, for this category, the vastly improved sound effects save face. Try to get a stereo nearby, turn down the in-game music, and pump your own tunes.

Control: 10
Was there any doubt? Having played every Burnout game to date and saying the control has always been the high point, Revenge doesn't stray from the path. Its simple chemistry that makes it click here. You won't find a better example of "arcade racer" outside of Rush anywhere else. The main reason the control is so great is its easy drifting. Just tap the brake as you approach a turn and pull in the direction of the curve. Your car will slide into the curve with such amazing style and precision you'll be shocked that you did it so easily. In addition, the game mandates you dodge traffic with quick reflexes and luckily, the control is up to the task. You can pull to the left or right very quickly, almost snap-reaction, to dodge obstacles. EA made the control even sharper than 3's (mostly by making the analog button senses less finicky, so you suddenly don't decelerate just because you're not pushing X the right way) and it improves the racing experience as a whole. Like I said with Burnout 3, its the perfect blend of style and precision like you've never seen before in a racing game. The more time you spend with Revenge, the more you become "one" with the silky control until its second nature.

Gameplay: 10
All of EA's improvements over 3 are found here. First, the basics: Burnout relies on the principle of "risk-reward". As you race through traffic at over 170 mph, you're challenged to drive as crazily as possible. See the oncoming traffic? Don't fear it, but rather, charge head on at it! You'll be rewarded (if you didn't slam into it and crash) with boost in your Burnout meter, the key to victory. Burnout racing encourages all sorts of unsafe driving tactics such as this and you'll soon find that out. Factor in the Aggression system that allows you to cause your opposition to crash (called "Takedowns" in the game terminology) in an effort to make your own Burnout meter longer (and thus, can sustain more boost) and you get a psychotic drive that's both fast and furious. EA ramped up the insanity by allowing drivers to slam into (small) traffic in the same direction as your travel without crashing. "Traffic checking" can be used to create instantaneous weaponry against your opponent or clear out the oncoming lanes to allow you to slide into oncoming traffic safely. EA also took a page out of Rush's playbook by incorporating alternate routes, huge jumps, and shortcuts all over the tracks; a welcome innovation (and the jumps can be used to now launch death-from-above Vertical Takedowns on opponents). The Crashbreakers from 3's Crash Mode (the ability to detonate your car once its been wrecked) can now be used in certain race events, which can get Aftertouch Takedowns without actually running into an opponent in Impact Time (a feature that allows you to steer your wrecked vehicle in mid-air provided you have the momentum from the initial crash). EA has also improved the rival AI so its not so predictable (as 3 frequently was) and actually does a decent job of simulating a race with humans. Crash Mode has been redesigned and now features multi-phase Crash Zones that allows you to cause damage in different spots to cause mass chaos across the entire Zone. Pickups from 3's Crash Mode (such as cash bonuses or Instant Crashbreakers) have been nixed but the tactics are far deeper by comparison (initial approach and making the most of your Impact Time to get in the perfect position to detonate while you have the momentum play far heavier now than before). Crashbreaking is now based on how effective the accident you cause is and not wrecking a specific number of cars and you now charge your Crashbreaker by rapidly tapping R2 when its primed for explosion (plus, if you manage to cause more wrecks after detonating, you can actually earn more Crashbreakers). Even the simple act of accelerating has been drastically rethought, now featuring a golf-style energy meter to generate the perfect power when you take off. The only real complaints I have here are layovers from Burnout 3. The game does have the annoying (but thankfully optional) Takedown Cams (which captures a shot of a taken down opponent when they eat it). While a cool feature, it can seriously screw up a potentially good drift. The other gripe is the lack of options. Most racers allow you to make adjustments to things such as laps, number of opponents, etc. Here, you can't set any of these (like Burnout 3, which actually is better in this regard because at least 3 allows you to enter single events for quick races and crashes; here, the only single player mode is the World Tour) and sometimes, I yearn for a little more. The load times are somewhat on the long side (longer than Burnout 3, even on a faster-loading SCPH-700xx series slim-PS2) but livable. Aside from these unaddressed flaws from Takedown, Revenge still stands strong. So, while the game is still Burnout at its heart, improvements and tweaks can be found that make this game worthwhile follow-up to Burnout 3.

Replay Value: 9
There's some good reasons to keep playing the game. Like Burnout 3, Revenge has a large stable of unlockable cars. Despite the lack of a standard "Single Race" mode, Revenge's World Tour mode offers a more diverse challenge than 3's. This time, courses and events are unlocked as you earn higher and higher ranks as you cause mass chaos across the world (instead of just unlocking as you complete individual events). This allows players to make the judgment when it comes to progression. You can either stay at one stage until you finish each challenge or keep going through the ranks until you're at the top then go back and finish what you didn't do. Aside from the nominal Crash and Race events, you can also complete the Challenge sheets and Signature Takedown books for each region. I do wish there were more environments and courses to race (this time all based on real-life locations such as Los Angeles and Detroit, by the way) but I'm not entirely through the game yet either. After the single-player fun wears down, you can take the race online. You can play any of the available modes online (some in variants for online play, including the new Traffic Attack mode). While I did manage to get online, the firewall became very picky and didn't allow me to connect to players so I can't actually say how smooth the play is (however, one thing I do know is EA still won't let you use a keyboard online). So, if you're in the mood for a good racer that'll last a while, it delivers.

Overall: 10
Burnout once again proves it doesn't take a lot of detail to make an awesome racing game. Though it skimps on the options and could have offered more courses, the game is still an excellent racer. Fast and fun, there are few that can offer an arcade experience at home like Revenge. Like last season with Burnout 3 and Need for Speed Underground 2, Burnout Revenge will offer itself as a great complimentary racer to EA's Need for Speed: Most Wanted that releases this winter (plus, this year, Midway finally brings back their awesome Rush Racing series in the form of L.A. Rush so this is a good season for racers indeed) as well as its portable cousin, Burnout Legends (for PSP and later, DS). Hit the streets and remember, Revenge is a dish best served cold...

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 09/26/05, Updated 11/29/07

Game Release: Burnout Revenge (US, 09/13/05)