New game elements take the game to new heights, you have never played Burnout quite like this
Perhaps one of the biggest changes is the ability to smash into traffic that is either going your way or parked and is known as “checking”. This adds a whole new depth to what was already very solid gameplay and brings in new tactics for every race. You still cannot crash into traffic coming towards you so choosing what side of the road to drive can be crucial in you winning a race or finishing a race in last place. Whether you prefer to smash traffic into more traffic or even opponents to or dodge traffic coming right at you at speed to gain boost is your choice and makes for a welcome change. While you can’t crash into larger vehicles going either way such as buses or wagons you can smash the smaller vehicles into them and start a trail of destruction that can effectively wipe out the whole field if done correctly. With this new element there is also a new mode that comes along with it known as ‘Traffic Attack’ mode which sees you smashing as many vehicles as you can and creating as much damage on your way around the track as you can within a set time.
The tracks in Burnout Revenge are even bigger and better than ever before, each course is sprawled with hidden alleys and crazy shortcuts that add so much variety to each race. For example taking a shortcut may get you from A to B quicker but if there are no cars within the shortcut then your boost bar won’t raise and you will lose out that way. Some of these shortcuts can be a little extreme too and when you’re driving at massive speeds its going to require quite a bit of skill to keep your car in one piece.
This game has a whole host of single-player modes to choose from and all can be accessed through the ‘World Tour’ mode. This time around each of these modes and events are broken up into 11 different rankings, the higher the rank the harder the races and challenges become. You won’t just need a gold medal for each level this time, the developers have implemented a star system which helps improve your rank as you progress through the game and ultimately help you achieve 100% game completion. You obtain these stars by driving aggressively in many different ways, from smashing opponents into walls to flying through the air for a certain amount of time. You can only obtain 4 stars in each event and the medal you achieve at the end will then give you your final rating. Achieving a gold medal will give you an extra star and take your ranking to 5/5 stars but if you achieve bronze you lose a star. This is a superb system and puts a new spin on the whole of the single-player campaign; you’re not just completing events now you’re required to do them in style.
There are almost 170 different events for you to test your skills in this time around and if that doesn’t give this game value I don’t know what does. The game throws all the different race types at you as you progress and the game can become very challenging even for the best racers out there. Truth be told this isn’t as tough as Burnout 3 but that was almost impossible to complete so this isn’t a terrible thing. The AI on this game is pretty aggressive and can give you a challenge but it isn’t so challenging that it makes gameplay become frustrating. The game is based around a rubber-band system that is intended to keep you and your opponents close anyway and while this is a terrible sin in a lot of racers it works here and is somewhat vital to the game. After all Burnout is essentially about slamming opponents into thing’s and fighting for position while flying past obstacles at enormous speeds.
Unfortunately this game is not without its problems, the system of unlocking new events as your progress through the single-player can get so confusing at times it will see you missing sections of the game because of a poorly designed game structure. You will play through an event and you could unlock something in a different area in a different rank without it even telling you. If you’re trying to progress through the campaign in a logical order you will find yourself back-tracking all over the place for no apparent reason. The tracks while huge can also be somewhat repetitive after a while, it seems the developers ran out of tracks and you will find yourself replaying the same levels forwards and backwards more than you would care to. The car system has also been turned into a farce, the cars are separated into different classes now which means unlocking new vehicles doesn’t necessarily make them the best car on offer and this can become a little confusing.
Those of you familiar with the ever popular ‘Crash’ mode will be pleased to hear this has also had a slight revamp, gone are the tedious power-ups that took away most of the freedom to do the levels yourself. This time around there is a new crashbreaker system, every time you inflict a certain amount of damage and your crashbreaker meter reaches 100% a crashbreaker will become available to you. Once you have unleashed this and damage is still being caused your meter will again begin to raise, depending on how much damage you cause will ultimately decide how many crashbreakers will be made available within a level. This completely changes the tactics involved in this portion of the game and allows for crash levels to last a lot longer than they previously did. Crash mode also offers players the chance to compete with their friends in a two-player split-screen mode on the same track and the same time.
Online play is where this game really shines, here you can play with up to six racers and compete in almost all of the race and crash types within the game. This is fantastically fun and addictive; I have personally lost hours upon hours competing with the best from all over the world at this game. Games are so easy to find and set-up but with no real waiting time in between. The ranking system from single-player is also mirrored online, you start off rank 1 and have to work your way up the ranks by winning races. This is fairly easy to do and you should find yourself shooting up the rankings in no time and unlocking all the cars you have already worked to unlock once before In ‘World Tour’ mode. Kind of pointless in my opinion because you have already done all the hard work once before but as I said it isn’t that difficult to achieve.
The graphical side of this game is pretty impressive, how a game looks that great when you are flying through levels at immense speeds is at times inspiring. This game really captures the sense of speed so many games fail to produce and does it with no frame rate issues at all. Doesn’t matter how many vehicles you’re flying past, how many things go smashing across the screen or even how fast you go. The cars and tracks in this game also look crisp and polished, if you take your time to drive slowly past some of the levels or drive around in circles while you admire your car you really see how much detail has gone into making this game better than ever.
The speed can’t be forgotten in a game like this either, the sound plays a big part in creating a sense of speed in its own right. The sound effects in this game are at times breath-taking as you whip past various obstacles or as your smash one of your opponents into a wall and hear the sound of crushing metal. The soundtrack is a lot edgier than previous instalments as well; this is a welcome change and really brings everything together nicely. Gone are the annoying DJ’s too thank god which is only a good thing when the sound effects are this encapsulating.
Gameplay - New game elements take the game to new heights, you have never played Burnout quite like this.
Graphics - Great looking cars and environments that hold steady as top speeds, superb blur effects are also worth a mention.
Sound - Amazing sound effects and a more edgy soundtrack than those featured in previous instalments.
Value – Big single-player campaign and addictive online play will keep you busy for a long time.