Ok - I'm editing my review. I previously had this at 7.4, but have now dropped the rating to 6.8 and relegated it to "rental" status. First let me say that this game is not very fun in Single Player mode. If you even think about renting or purchasing, I hope you do for a LAN party or have Xbox LIVE. The reasons the game is not fun in SP are thus: The game is frustratingly difficult. To win a race, you really need to avoid crashing into other cars. Bumping does not help you like in Burnout 3. Bumping only slows you down. It's VERY frustrating to be in 12th place at the start of the race while the 11thplace guy is doing everything in his power to crush you into the wall - all at his own detriment - while the rest of the crowd speeds away. Boost/turbo is almost a non-entity as it gets used up almost immeditately, and the ONLY way to get more is to TOTALLY destroy another car. Again, this is very hard, and by the time you manage to destroy another car, you will have fallen so far behind it doesnt matter. Also, upgrades to your car seem superfluous. No matter how much you upgrade your car, the other AI cars seem to be equally ranked with you. Pretty much the only good thing about the game is getting a few of your friends online, and turning down the difficulty of the AI. Playing like this can be pretty fun, though not necessarily at long stretches. Playing the Arena destruction derby (last man standing) mode is probably worth the price of a rental alone. Oh - and as much as I despise the SP mode...you HAVE to play it to unlock more cars and tracks....and even modes. Out of the box you don't even have all the game MODES to race with online....very disappointing. At least the game supports copying of the profiles and renaming them, so one person in your group can possibly unlock everything and share the save. With all the bad things I have to say....its not that bad a game for strictly online play (the online net code seems very stable) Worth a rental for a LAN party or if you have an extra 20bucks and Xbox LIVE.
In spite of not so great reviews i decided to buy this game. Gosh am i pleased i did so. I love the cartoon like graphics. The racing action is really close and demanding. The car physics are great and the tracks design... Read Full Review
GameSpot's review is pretty much on the money in my opinion. Alot of their points I definitely could see while playing the game. The graphics and sound are decent, but nothing spectacular. I did like the bright colo... Read Full Review
