Burnout. Sounds a bit similar to Wipeout
and the principle is similar as you drive, not from A to B, but from A back to
A again as the track takes you back to where you first started from for lap
after lap of racing for as long as you can stand it with several different
cars.
For a typical racer there are the typical options - a single race, a multi-race
(known as 'Championship' here), a head-to-head for those with more than one
joystick to waggle at once, a time-attack for those who like the solo action,
a 'Special' section for crash replays and a music player which plays tracks
in Dolby Digital 5.1, but why can't it do this in the game??
The game has two main selling points, the first being a sort-of adrenaline meter
such that as you drive close to the knuckle through the traffic, so does this
meter increase and so your speed will be upped along the way. I didn't notice
much difference as it runs like the clappers anyway.
The other thing of note is the crashes which some will have seen from the
game's previews on TV. However, while this is interesting for a while, it
quickly becomes irritating. The crashes don't serve to enthrall, just enrage
because they look like tacked-on extras that have no part in the actual gameplay -
they only appear as soon as you hit something and go away just as quickly, so
you don't get the chance to right your car first, it just reappears in the
correct direction but slower because you're having to get yourself going again.
Put simply, it just doesn't feel like like a crash in
Grand Theft Auto 3
does.
Speed is definitely of the essence here. The graphics are insanely fast,
almost like running the gauntlet in a Tron race in terms of the pace, but how
many times can you run the same race since too many crashes will stop you from
progressing further and you'll have to replay it. Some anti-aliasing wouldn't
go amiss though as there are noticeable jaggies throughout.
The sound is okay. It's nothing you don't expect from a game like this and
the Dolby Surround is an added bonus but isn't made use of as much as it was
in
Extreme G3 and I still
want to know why there's no DD5.1 in-game as opposed to in the 'Special'
section only.
Overall, it's fun to play for a while but its longevity is severely in doubt.
If you must play it, try a rental first.
GRAPHICS SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC PLAYABILITY ORIGINALITY ENJOYMENT
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Burnout. Sounds a bit similar to Wipeout
and the principle is similar as you drive, not from A to B, but from A back to
A again as the track takes you back to where you first started from for lap
after lap of racing for as long as you can stand it with several different
cars.
The game has two main selling points, the first being a sort-of adrenaline meter
such that as you drive close to the knuckle through the traffic, so does this
meter increase and so your speed will be upped along the way. I didn't notice
much difference as it runs like the clappers anyway.
