Burnout Revenge

"Doesn't feel next gen but the online part is pretty fun."

I remember playing the very first Burnout game on the Playstation 2 and just not liking it. This was a free rental and I wanted something without a plot so Burnout Revenge for the 360 seemed to be a good choice. It sure is mindless and to be honest I was bored after the first race. Of course this doesn't mean it's a terrible game. Read on!

I wasn't expecting a whole lot in the graphics department since this was a port and all. I was madly impressed at first but then a few things began to bother me. The tracks and stuff all look great. Your car even looks good and the damage, while looking nice, wasn't all that realistic. My problem with the graphics is that there are points where so much is going on that you can't see, or the game is doing some odd blurring thing where I couldn't tell what was in front of me. Granted this didn't happen more than once or twice in a race but none the less it was annoying.

I really enjoyed the soundtrack in this game. It's full of Punk artists Pennywise, Goldfinger and the like. For some reason Fallout Boy is on the soundtrack and I can not concentrate on this game when that song comes on. It's so annoying, the song that is. Sound effects are good. Nice engine sounds but I did find the crash sounds to be a bit lackluster.

Burnout's controls are rather smooth. I found power sliding to be easy and I had no problem getting the hang of the controls. All you need to know is gas and turbo. Throw in the brake for some power sliding and nothing else needs to be taught.

My problem with Burnout is the game play itself. To me I've found it dull. The basic idea is that you get boost from crashing into cars or by barely missing them. It's a simple concept and I'm sure on paper it works but it's not exactly hard to hit something. Hitting larger vehicles or hitting something head on will most likely cause you to crash.

That's another problem. When you crash it does a zoom in shot. This really breaks the games pace up and considering this is a racer all about speed, it too is annoying. Don't get me wrong, some of the crashes look great but I want to play a game, not sit and stare at a wrecked car for a few seconds. While we're talking about problems, the game has the worst load times that I've seen on the 360 so far.

The tracks themselves are nicely done. Lots of short cuts and the locations are interesting. The game starts itself with a simple mode where you need to rank up by getting stars. You get them for placing first, second, or third. The amount of stars depends on your placing of course. You also have an in game bar that rises as you do different things. The goal is to get a perfect rating and place first. Do this in every race and you unlock most of the achievements.

Burnout is a fairly long game with a little over 150 races to do. The types of races vary but the basic idea is pretty much the same. I did get to try out the online and while I found the way of finding a game to feel rather random, it was much easier than the other LIVE games I've tried. The load times are absurd when it comes to the online portion of the game but ultimately I found enjoyment from the online. It's not overly deep but I like the idea behind the rival's thing. Nothing as fun as making 5 rivals in one race.

While I can't openly recommend Burnout Revenge, I must say that fans will love it. While I personally didn't love this title, it did grow on me a little. I still find the game play flawed but the online was one of the better LIVE experiences I've had so far. If you're looking for a long game, hard achievements and a pretty decent online section then check out Burnout. Oh and you can also save your best crashes and upload them for others to see. Really nice feature and it does net you some Achievements as well.

Story - N/A
Graphics - 7/10
Sound - 7/10
Control - 10/10
Game Play - 7/10
Replay Value - 8/10

Final Score - 7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/10/06