With two good racers being released on the launch date of Xbox 360 I wasn’t expecting anything else to come out of the racer camp for a while. What a surprise I was in for! As I sat down and played through a couple of hours with EA’s new racer, Burnout Revenge, I started to remember how fun gaming could be, this game is fun!
Over the past two weeks I have gamed online for many hours with this title and come to realize that even though it is a revamp of a Xbox 1 game ,it deserves a look from any racing fan with access to a Xbox 360. The graphical car crashes are worth the time and money alone. EA’s next game in the Burnout series continues to surprise and innovate, while at the same time harkens back to the series roots, while distancing itself slightly from the last generation racers as well as moving beyond some aspects of any of the other Burnout games in the series. With Revenge not only the name of the game, but the name of the game, if you catch my drift, players will still be expected to takedown as many opponents as possible. But there are some drastic changes to the franchise that might throw a few players off their game initially.
The first of these aforementioned differences is quite a fundamental shift from how you have played the Burnout series up until now. In previous games one ill-timed crash could mean the difference between winning and losing. Naturally players would be on the edge of their seat as they flew through city streets, between cement pillars, and around corners while weaving in and out of traffic in an attempt to fill their boost tanks. Revenge takes the sting out of crashing because now same way traffic is no longer an obstacle; it's a tactical strategy. The ability to "check" traffic into your opponents (think hockey) is a basic requirement now and one that you need to wrap your mind around. If you're anything like me, you'll be avoiding them for fear of losing and then realize that there is nothing to fear from them at all. Checking traffic into your opponents is a neat idea in theory, but I'm not so sure I'm crazy about it simply because it changes the game of Burnout too much. Once I became used to the concept of smashing traffic into my opponents, the edge of my seat, white-knuckle fear that fueled my adrenaline which in turn sharpened my reflexes into an acute, cat-like sensation, no longer applied to the game. I could smash into anyone going my way and the game would send them flying directly into the path of my opponents. Conversely, the opponent AI rarely did the same to me and so this feature was all mine to abuse and it made me almost unstoppable.
Just like in previous Burnout titles you'll play Revenge's main event to unlock new tracks; and with that, new modes of play. New arrivals alongside the tried and true Road Rage and Crash challenges include Traffic Attack and the Crashbreaker mode. Traffic Attack is exactly what it sounds like - pile on the hurt; while Crashbreaker is something entirely new. In Takedown, you could steer your car into passing opponents after you crashed using the Aftertouch control. In Revenge, the Crashbreaker is actually an explosion you can set off after you crash, as long as you have some boost left in the caboose. Using this new technique is cheap; really cheap. You can effectively eliminate almost any who dares take your first place position. Hell, you can even take out the poor bastards in second and third if they're close enough when the fireworks go off. This translates into you getting back your first place position once the gameplay gets underway. Aftertouch was certainly more skill based, less effective and overall much more fair. Crashbreaker is on par with using a cheat code as far as I'm concerned.
In terms of track design EA managed to the raise the bar over Takedown's collection. With the foundation of the game relying heavily on battle rather than avoidance, the track design has been completely overhauled to facilitate and encourage contact. Whereas Takedown's tracks were fairly narrow and tight, Revenge opens up the arena and allows for far more improvisational takedowns than ever before. Shortcuts also figure prominently in this years track design but like anything in life that is too good to be true, there is a caveat. Taking a shortcut often means having to pull off some incredible maneuvers so you won't lose time or crash.
Since its debut in Burnout 2, Crash Mode has become one of the defining elements of the Burnout series and has also underwent a significant change in direction when compared to last years installment. Nowhere to be found are the confusing icons and multipliers that littered the stages and the emphasis is once again on kicking major ass, but with some chaos theory thrown in for good measure. For starters you'll need to adjust to the new countdown mechanism which works much like a swing meter in Hot Shots Golf or Tiger Woods. Hit the button at the right time and you'll boost. Blow it and you'll either have to restart or improvise. The crash junctions are much further up the road than before - you might need to pass 2 junctions before you reach the action - and there is a lot of traffic between here and there. Players will have to rely on traffic checking to succeed and as mentioned you might forget this handy technique while you frustrate the living crap out of yourself.
