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				Graphics: 9.5 Gameplay: 9.5 Sound: 9.5 Control: 9.5 Replay Value: 8.0 Live play: 9.0 Rating: 9.5 Publisher:  Electronic Arts Developer:  Criterion Games Number Of Players:  1-2 (1-6 Online) Cheats Screenshots
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  Electronic Arts’ Burnout Revenge is a worthy addition to the Burnout series, but if you still have an original Xbox and Burnout 3, it may not add enough value to justify plunking down $60.

  Much has been written about how the 360 version of Burnout Revenge compares to the Xbox version of the same title. Since I skipped the Xbox version, I’m not able to add anything to that debate.

  However, I was fairly addicted to Burnout 3: Takedown for a little while, and Revenge takes the series in some interesting new directions, some of which may not sit well with longtime fans.

  Identity crisis

  Burnout Revenge is a game in search of an identity. The Burnout series has never been simply about being faster than the next guy – it’s about being meaner. Taking out your opponents with a well-timed shove into a wall or another car is the whole point of the game, and in that sense, Burnout Revenge definitely doesn’t disappoint. If anything, there is perhaps more emphasis on destruction of other vehicles than before.

  For example, in previous versions of Burnout, rear-ending a drone car at high speed would mean a trip to the junkyard, so avoiding AI cars was critical if one wanted to make good time. This time around, however, you earn “boost” for “checking,” or hitting drone cars from behind. Rear-ended cars fly off your front bumper and into oncoming traffic and, if you time it right, your rivals. A head-on collision, hitting an obstacle or rear-ending an oversized vehicle like a bus or tanker truck will still cause you to crash.

  And in single-player, there’s a whole new game type called Traffic Attack, in which you simply rush through a map rear-ending as many other vehicles as possible to pile up points. The idea of checking drone vehicles takes some getting used to after having trained yourself in past versions to try to avoid most other cars during a race. Traffic Attack brings new meaning to the word “mindless,” and I mean that as a compliment. It’s hard not to giggle while playing it.

  On the flip side, Burnout Revenge also seems to put more emphasis than past versions on actually reaching the finish line ahead of the competition. This is implemented through plentiful shortcuts through the map, marked by bright blue lights. As a longtime fan of San Francisco Rush 2049, both in the arcade and on the Dreamcast, I’m comfortable with using shortcuts to put the heat on opponents, but if other cars aren’t using the same shortcuts, you’re racin’ but not killin’ and thus missing out on what makes the Burnout series special.

  If crashing is more important to you than getting to the finish line faster than anyone else, Burnout Revenge brings back its demented Crash mode, in which you speed into an intersection, taking out as many other cars and piling up as much car-nage as possible. You no longer aim for coins and multipliers, however; this time you want to aim for a “target car” that greatly increases your monetary take. And as before, you can use “crashbreaker” to make your car explode at the perfect time. This time, simply tapping a button once won’t do -- you have to tap the “B” button rapidly to pump up your crashbreaker meter and blow up real good. The cheers of “Crashbreaker! Crashbreaker” and “Light it up! Light it up!” provide further encouragement, not that anyone needs any. A good explosion is its own reward.

  Touring the world in single-player

  As in past version of Burnout, the single-player mode takes you on a tour around the world as you unlock new races and new cars to use in them. Each new city has several race types and crash games, and as before, you earn medals (bronze, gold and silver) and stars that increase your ranking from “harmless” to “elite.”

  There are two major kinds of events – races and crashes – and each distinct event has its own flavor. There are normal races, or as normal as anything gets in this game, in which the object is to cross the finish line first. But other race types, like Road Rage, put more of a premium on taking out your opponents. Crash games are similarly varied.

  But progression through the game is very non-linear, which can be an annoyance. Frequently, you will be unable to unlock all the games in a particular location without performing well at another location, which forces you to backtrack to venues you’ve played already. To make up for the shortage of tracks (8), the game forces you to race and crash multiple ways in each. Offering more environments would have been a better way to provide variety. Most players won’t be thrilled that that they’ll be forced to race each track in both directions to complete the game.

  Some of the menus and load times will try most players’ patience. As soon as you finish a game, a recorded replay of your race starts, and you must stop it in order to move to the next game. Once you do, you’re shown your score, a drawn-out process that EA would do well to edit the next time around. Then you visit the garage, if you’ve earned a new car. After that, loading the next game can take upwards of 15 seconds. Luckily, Burnout gives you more to look at than a status bar. There are tips that you may be able to put to good use later. (It was during a loading screen that I learned that checking a tanker is always a losing proposition – who’d have guessed?)

  Controls

  The controls are smooth and responsive, which is good when you’re driving at 210 miles per hour in hot pursuit of your rival. As before, the right trigger accelerates, and the A button applies “boost,” extra acceleration you earn by taking out rivals, driving through oncoming traffic, catching air and being a reckless jackass in general.

  The left thumbstick steers the car and controls its direction during “aftertouch,” a slo-mo mode you can enter after a crash that allows you to steer your wreckage into enemy vehicles. The left trigger is the brake (ignore it – you won’t need it), and the Y button toggles the view between third- and first-person.

  Amazing graphics

  Lots of electrons have been spilled on the graphics of next-gen racing games like Project Gotham Racing, but Burnout’s graphics rival anything out there. It’s pretty much de rigueur for racing games on the 360 to feature such graphics tricks as real-time reflections off cars, and Burnout doesn’t disappoint. Vehicles and environments look sharp but are too colorful to be photorealistic. Draw distance is excellent, with no noticeable pop-in, although you’ll be moving too fast to admire the view much.

  Perhaps it’s the high-def, but the game seems and feels sharper. Distant obstacles and cars are easier to see and avoid (or destroy, depending on your game), but there are some tracks that will give you trouble unless you bump up the brightness on your TV because they are so busy it’s hard to tell taillights from traffic lights and roads from obstacles.

  There are very few graphical glitches in the game. One of the most noticeable often occurs during the post-mortem cutscene right after a crash, where sometimes it appears as though the game engine can’t decide whether a bumper is off or on. So the bumper simply vibrates back and forth – on the car, off the car – at high speed until you start racing again.

  And while your car is definitely the worse for wear after a tough race, neither your car nor your opponents’ really look banged up enough. In one race, I had multiple catastrophic crashes against overpass supports, and one of the crashes clearly crunched in my hood. But at the end of the day, it simply looked like all the paint on my car had been scraped off. Rival AI cars in the single-player modes also don’t show any body damage when you’ve hit them. The environments also aren’t destructible.

  My crashes into oncoming traffic and obstacles are spectacular enough, so is it too much to ask for more of a money shot when I do a Thelma & Louise off the edge of a cliff? All you get is a split-second crash-like graphic, and you’re immediately back on the road (probably because Aftertouch is not available when you’re in midair). A long, slo-mo plunge to whatever’s down there, perhaps in first-person, is just what the doctor ordered. I hope it’s on the menu for the next game. Burnout: Fear of Flying, anyone?

  The game is also limited to two views – a view from above and behind the car, and first-person. Other next-gen racers like Project Gotham offer far more choices, but most Burnout fans will do fine with either of the two views offered.

  Sounds great, if you’re into emo

  Like its predecessor, Burnout Revenge brings a high-energy rock/pop/punk soundtrack by such well-known acts as Yellowcard and Fall Out Boy and the Chemical Brothers. As before, you can choose which songs you want to hear – or never hear again. (“Daft Punk is Playing at My House” by LCD Soundsystem is an excellent candidate for elimination from your playlist.) But the game supports custom soundtracks, as all 360 games do. I am old, so I have not attempted to use any of my playlists for Burnout Revenge, because I simply don’t think “Closer to Fine” by the Indigo Girls sets the proper mood for destroying vehicles. However, younger, hipper players will undoubtedly be able to assemble their ideal background music for wanton destruction.

  Sound effects are excellent as well. A good crash (is there any such thing as a bad one?) sounds glorious through a 5.1 surround, and you can hear rival cars coming up behind you, which is helpful if you’ve got a pissed-off rival gunning for you.

  Unhealthy long-term relationships on Live

  The Live component of Burnout Revenge breaks new ground, encouraging players to hold grudges and even keeping track of them for you. An opponent who takes you out in a game becomes your “rival,” and the game will let you know when your rival is online so that you can serve up some cold revenge. Getting him back earns you achievements, and if you and your rival meet up and trade paint often enough, you become each other’s “nemesis.”

  Old Live favorites are back as well, such as Crash Party (simply a Live version of the Crash mode), and Elimination, in which the last-place racer is eliminated every half-minute or so until only one survives.

  The first time I played on Live, I was pleased to find a room full of older, very nice gamers who didn’t mind showing a noob a thing or two. (I was surprised not to hear accents from the U.K.; when Burnout 3: Takedown first came out, I found myself playing with players from Great Britain and Ireland more often than not. The game had an enthusiastic following across the pond.) Unlike Halo II and its ilk, Burnout Revenge appears to attract a more mature crowd, but if you play enough you’ll run across a few screaming brats now and then.

  The gaming is smooth as glass on Live – most of the time. Because players use EA’s servers rather than a player-host whose connection may or may not be up to the task, lag is pretty much nonexistent except when EA is having server problems, as on a recent Friday night. Those times appear to be rare.

  The bottom line

  Burnout Revenge looks and sounds great and is insanely fun on Live, but only the most hard-core Burnout devotees will have the patience and stamina to complete the single-player campaign.

4/17/2006  Tracey 'Jerri Blank' McCartney