Burnout Revenge (Reviews)

Mitchell Bingemann, GamePro Australia

21/11/2005 11:47:16

Revenge is a dish best served cold, but not if game developer Criterion has anything to do with it. Last year's biggest arcade racer is back and with a vengeance. Not content to rest on its laurels, Burnout Revenge cuts through the competition, delivering ball breaking speeds and more action than Jackie Chan and Jet Li's love child. Burnout Revenge has raised the stakes to an all new level of lunacy.

Thankfully, Criterion has stuck to its guns with its demolition style of play that encourages even the meekest amaxophobic to grab a controller and bash it out with friends in a metal tango of chassis carnage.

Revenge is the name of the game, and the more you annihilate your opponents, the more points you rack up. There's a new point scoring system that includes 10 categories of rankings. Taking down a marked arch rival by shunting, nudging, slamming or grinding will result in a huge boost of nitro as well as bonus points for your precious Revenge ranking.

The AI has taken a few extra classes and graduated from the university of 'Bastards R Us'. Not content to sit back and let sadistic rally drivers loose without consequence, the new AI is more determined than ever. If you've got a mean bully streak pumping through your veins and like to stick it to one opponent over and again, you can be sure that the computer will catch on and hit you back double with your own medicine.

Computer opponents are incredibly sharp and vindictive, attempting brazen off-road jumps just to tear through your vehicle's metal corpse. Hitting back home with the titled theme, the action enters into slow mo replays whenever your car is smashed into metal waste, letting you know who deserves swift and exacting retribution. It seems as though each computer opponent has a real personal grudge against you this time round, making the races even more competitive.

World Tour returns as the main mode and pans out much the same as in Takedown, with events unlocking as you gain points and raise your Revenge ranking. In each race, you are awarded points for driving as carelessly and yet as skilfully as you can while destroying everything in your path. Choosing which events to partake in is entirely up to you, as long as your Revenge rating permits it.

All the same driving rules apply in Burnout Revenge. Pick a car faster than a 16 year old virgin about to get lucky, eat two handfuls of coffee beans and administer a couple cocaine eye drops (just say no!), and you're off! The old nitro system has returned, so driving against oncoming traffic, near missing Sunday drivers and destroying your opponents' hopes and dreams will all help fill up your boost meter.

Although all the usual game modes are back for Revenge, they have been tweaked accordingly with a new physics engine and a more coherent focus on destruction. The old modes of Race, Eliminator, Crash and Road Rage all return but with an added twist that Revenge brings into play. Once you build up your revenge rank enough, the Crashbreaker will become available for general use outside of the Crash races. This brings a whole new element of spiteful brutality to races and is by far the coolest addition to the game.

Criterion has also added the new ability to 'clip' or to put it not so succinctly, to drive up the arse of slow drivers. You can now smash up the flowing traffic into your opponents' paths causing massive pile ups and plenty of havoc.

Taking advantage of this new ability is the brand spanking new Traffic Attack. It's a fun multiplayer addition that sees you ploughing at top speeds through innocent grandmas on their way to church. Smashing cars earns you points and adds bonus time to the ticking clock. It's also possible to cause multiple pile-ups for bonus combos.

Speaking of crashing, Crash mode has received a huge face lift making away with the pinball-like multipliers and bonuses that were strewn throughout Takedown. There's a completely new take-off system for Crash mode that features a golf-like swing interface to launch your vehicle at top speed. You will have to bring into practise your Tiger finesse as you click once for ignition, another for top speed and once more for brake release. Failing to do so will result in a number of catastrophes from stalling, to activating a self destructing engine. However, a perfect launch will send your beast catapulting at top speed towards the traffic for a sure-fire vehicular mayhem. Jumps have popped up all over the Crash tracks to bring aerial slaughter into the equation, as has a new crashbreaker system that is no longer activated by a single button press but can be built up for multiple uses as you demolish more and more cars in your wake.

Amazingly, Burnout Revenge improves again on the graphics of its predecessors. It features stylised gritty urban landscapes over 10 global locations, from Rome to Tokyo. This time around the tracks have been constructed to encourage carnage, with short cuts leading through tiered jumps, winding labyrinthine passageways and an epidemic of traffic.

Car handling and weight control have been tweaked to include wind effects that are capable of blowing your car off course as it soars over hapless traffic. Vehicle and drive physics have also been enhanced and now deliver even more exhaustive detail in the deformities your street machines suffer. There are bigger and better explosions and levels fraught with destructible and interactive environments.

Burnout Revenge has succeeded as a sequel always should. It takes all the good elements from Takedown, refines them and adds a little extra flavour to keeps fans happy. Coupled with the pumped up intensity of the traffic, Burnout Revenge ensures that driving and the crashes deliver more force than a Mack truck to your crutch. It's a necessity for all self-respecting gamers everywhere.

Score = 10/10

[ Other stories about Ignition, Sharp, Speed ]

Graphics: 5.0

Sound: 5.0

Control: 5.0

Fun Factor:

Scoring scale: 1-5

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Publisher: EA Sports / Developer: Criterion / Retail Price: $89.95 (PlayStation 2) /, $89.95 (Xbox) / Genre: Action, Driving/racing / OFLC Rating: M (15+)