Burnout Revenge

""I want to be a race car passenger--just a guy who bugs the driver.""

'Say, man, can I turn on the radio? You should slow down. Why we gotta keep going in circles? Can I stick my feet out the window? Man, you really like Tide.'- Mitch Hedburg

Another day, another racing game right? It's like they pump these things straight out of the factory assembly line onto the shelves. There's an abundance, and for that reason, some games are often overlooked. Ah, but once in a while, there's a racing game that will turn heads. Gran Turismo 4 did it, PGR did it, and now Burnout Revenge is doing it. Hopefully, this game won't be overlooked as just another silly racer, like so many other series are.

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Gameplay: 9

First off, the reason that Burnout revenge turns heads, is for its unique combination of racing and crashing. Still a racing game at heart, smashing cars and rivals provide boosts to increase your speed. So if you want to win the race, you better start hitting things. It's a backwards concept, I know, and it takes a while to get used to. Especially for modes like the traffic challenge mode, where you have to hit traffic to earn money. When your brain is wired to dodge cars safely, it's hard to revert back. But the payoff is a fast paced style of gameplay that will have you on the edge of your seat.

The computer intelligence is obviously progressing, but it's not as good as I think it can be, with the 360's powerful specs. Sure they know how to avoid traffic well, but they won't necessarily fake you out by any means. If you try to run them off the course, they might swerve a bit, and then come back for you, usually half heartedly. Hopefully as I reach the very last stages of the game, the AI will be drastically more intelligent.

At any rate, playing through the main game, you'll experience several interesting game modes to feast upon. There's of course the not-so-classic race, where being a daredevil and swiping cars will earn you top spot, there's Crash mode, where the sole objective is to create as much havoc and damage as you possible can, by smashing your car into a busy intersection, and there's the takedown mode, where you have to destroy as many opponent cars as possible. That's only 3 of the several offline and online modes that are to be experienced in this fantastic game.

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Graphics:10

Boy, this game sure is pretty. If you want the full experience, you MUST use the HD features. It actually adds a noticeable difference to the textures, and a huge difference in the backgrounds, which suddenly sharpen up and become extremely detailed. Driving through some of the prettier courses, its hard to keep your eyes on the road, when there are gorgeous buildings surrounding you, or a lush landscape of trees and mountains. This game's background effects really set a high standard for racing games in the future.

The cars themselves are also very fantastically detailed, but they have that sort of unnatural shine that arcade racing games are famous for (Think along the lines of midnight club). It's really pretty, but it's just not realistic. Thankfully, as your car takes damage, and smashes into things, the paint wears off, which is a nice touch, absent from other games like Gran Tourismo 4. Another interesting point is that there are NO driver models for this game. If you happen to get a glance inside your car, or the other cars, you'll notice that there is a suspicious lack of personnel manning the vehicle. My best guess is that they were removed to keep the game's rating at E10+.

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Sound: 8

EA has always had interesting sound track choices, and this game is no exception. You've got your pop rock stuff, but there's the odd alternative song thrown in there as well. It seems like the only common ground between all the songs is that the pump you up, and encourage you to drive faster. Fans of EA might hear some reused songs, like Ink, by Fitch or Dance Dance, by Fallout boy, but they've quickly become some of my favorite songs thanks to these games.

The sound effects are nice as well. The rev of the engine is sounded more realistic, and the screeches on drifts are as sharp as ever. The crash effects are nice as well, and there's nothing much more satisfying than hearing that resonant CRUNCH of a revenge takedown. I love it. Of course, that goes two ways. If an opponent manages to create that crunch out of your car, the only sound effect you'll be experiencing will be an angry stream of curses and swears.

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Replay Ability/Multiplayer: 9

If smashing rivals by yourself is fun, imagine how fun it must be online! That's just one of the many modes available in split screen and online action. After you beat the main single player mode, there isn't much to do besides play with some friends, and that's as fun as ever. Creating a rivalry with a computer is intense, but imagine creating one with someone actually sitting next to you, or someone miles away grinning as you smash into the wall. Multiplayer brings this game to a whole new level.

Say you don't have a 360 live subscription. That's alright too, because EA has provided 6 different modes to play split screen on. Of course, you'll be spending a lot of your time on the classic race mode, but when you're done with that, you may want to experience a 2 player crash mode, or perhaps the multi player takedown mode. Whatever you choose, it's almost guaranteed to be a good time, so long as you have someone to play with.

Even if you don't have friends, you could probably still play this game for a while after you've finished. Chances are, you didn't perfect every event, and you need to, to obtain the 100% completion achievement. Plus, you might want to try and unlock some of the bonus cars (by completing the objective sheets). Some of the objectives are fairly hard to do, and will take some time and perseverance. But just the feeling of unlocking the last couple of cars will be worth the wait.

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Overall (Not an average): 9

I haven't had this much fun on a racing game for ages, and for that, I'm really glad I gave Burnout Revenge a chance to shine on my 360. And shine it did, with it's pretty textures, pretty cars, and pretty knockouts. If you're looking for a fast, fun, intense experience in an arcade-style racing game, Burnout Revenge is for you. Even if you've played another game in the series, and decided you didn't like it, come back and try this one. I found 2 to be quite boring, but Revenge has really turned me around. It's just a great game experience. As my friend said: “This game would be arcade perfection if the cars had guns on them”

-Dougmoto (Twisted metal anyone?)

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/27/06