Burnout Legends

"The funnest racing on the PSP so far."

First off, I'm a big fan of Burnout 3 and I haven't picked up Burnout Revenge yet. So, of course, my expectation were very high. Those who were blessed with playing Burnout 3: Takedown or Burnout Revenge will probably be biased against Burnout Legends. But why? Let's review...

Graphics: 8/10
It's definitely not as good as the X-Box's graphics, but people should have the expectation that PSP graphics are not up there with X-Box, PS2 or NGC. With that being said, the graphics are GOOD, for the PSP that is. I've heard comparisons that the graphics look PS1 graphics, but honestly, the graphics are fine. It's on par with games like Wipeout Pure. Loading times aren't that long as I expected, which is good.

Sound: 9/10
I was glad that they had real songs in the game and not substitute noises to save on loading times or memory. Sound is better when wearing earphones so you can hear all the sound effects and music.

Controls: 8/10
There are only two pre-set controls, Type A or B. I wished I could have customized my controls a bit. But I'll just have to get used to what's there. It's not a bad setup, but the option to change would have been nice. Using the analog pad rather than the d-pad feels better to me, but keeping your finger on the L button while trying to steer with the analog has an awkward feeling.

Gameplay: 10/10
This game is just plain FUN. Plain and simple. There could be good looking games that aren't fun to play (*ahem* Doom 3). I love the Burnout games so much because the game isn't really about the racing. It's about crashing and taking out opponents. The crashes may not be as detailed as on the X-Box version, but this is the PSP and crashing is still fun as can be. Taking racers out is also really satisfying.

I'm not saying to lower your expectations, but you can't expect perfect ports from the X-Box or even the PS2 to the PSP. I think those that rate this game low were expecting a perfect transition. This is not it. To me, this game is just a portable Burnout that's just as fun. Consider it as Burnout: Lite or Burnout: To Go.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/16/05