Dom Robinson reviews

for Xbox

Distributed by
EA Games

However, it's everything I'd read about, seen on Cybernet and hoped for as you take part in several different kinds of races on tracks spanning three continents from Detroit to Rome to Tokyo. Just get on the road and encounter 'Traffic Checking' (pushing other same-size or smaller cars out of the way), get invited to take part in selected races and go for the 'Traffic Attack' (you're up against the clock when heading along the course and will only get a time extension for bashing other vehicles out of the way). There's a new 'Eliminator' format (don't be caught in last place when the timer runs out!) and there's a 'Revenge Meter' as you prang one of the AI contestants a little too much and then they take a personal interest in seeing you taken down. I love the way once this is complete that it does the whole 'Revenge Rival' thing as you get slammed off the track, everything slows down and then it sweeps across the track to reveal who did the dirty deed. That car is then highlighted afterwards to point out who needs taking down first. Very stylish!

Also back in there is the Crash modes, the tracks for which are already littered with cars in several sections so you can go for gold in many ways, such as by heading straight into the traffic in front, or zooming off a ramp and going headlong into a car park-full. If you're clever, you can try and attain both by knocking a small car into something explosive, and then zooming off a ramp... Yes, when you power-up your Xbox, you can hear insurance companies starting to go bankrupt! The races and crash challenges are grouped by city and a certain number from each group must be completed in order to open up the next one. There's also previews of forthcoming cities, which aren't just playable demos but yet another chance to gain stars and progress up the ranking system. In fact, not all of the races will be unlocked in the early stages so only by completing a few later on will you improve upon your performance and will be able to go back and finish those off - and since I'm having such a great time doing that, I don't want to sample too many ahead as I really want to try and work through the whole thing in order as much as possible.

If you want to get ahead of the pack a little earlier than everyone else, using saves from Burnout 3, or ones from certain other EA games, these will increase your Revenge Rank in this sequel from the start. Either way, as you progress, you'll unlock new tracks and new cars, plus perform signature takedowns, the latter including a vertical takedown when you happen to nudge a car upwards off the track rather than just slamming it to the side. Nice! Whichever race you take part in, start off slamming into same-way traffic but try and avoid big things coming the other way - in fact, it's best to push others in their way as this causes a 'Trick Shot' which increases your boost as does driving on the wrong side of the road, although that's not to be recommended at busy times as you'll never survive such an accident. When you hit someone head-on and it's a big "CRASH", it will show the accident from a distance in slow-motion, while holding down the 'A' button will show the impact on your car alone and I enjoy trying a bit of both for a personal adrenaline boost.

In a Crash section, use 'Impact time' - crash and use aftertouch to steer your car into the path of your rivals, and when there's enough carnage, pressing B will to activate the 'Crashbreaker' which makes your car explode into the others after you've left the seat. Similarly, you can steer this into others in slow motion, and if there's more than one section of freeway to cause trouble with, you can really rack up the points here. Such a method takes a little getting used to early on, but you soon work it out and then it's bloody effective when you get it right. The graphics, sound and enjoyment factors in this title could not fail to score top marks from start to finish. Firstly, it looks absolutely glorious wherever you are, there's no slowdown at all and it's so engrossing as everything rushes by that you feel like you're getting sucked into the action. Secondly, the sound effects complement the graphics perfectly as crashes sound nasty (in a good way, as I mean that they sound terrifyingly realistic!) and the Dolby Digital 5.1 sound tears all around you with those deep bass sounds really starting to annoy the neighbours if you pump up the volume for long enough. There's great music included, but you can also select your own tracks that you've ripped to the Xbox hard drive.

If I had to whinge about anything, it's a big shame there's no replay function, a la Driver 3 which did it from all angles too. There's only one thing slightly strange about the Crash sections. Once complete, the camera zooms across to survey the damage and count the spoils... only about half the time it focuses in on a section of road where there WAS no action, leading for a brief, pointless moment. Bizarre. After that, albeit repetitive rather than strange, it's also a bit laborious selecting to retry a crash sequence since it trawls back over the path you've just taken, with an intentional hazy look to it, before you can go again. These are very effective once or twice, but after that you just want to instantly retry to create more carnage! That said, such things can be put up with because Burnout Revenge has that "just one more go" factor with multiple routes across many of the race tracks and the fact you've just got to try all of them. You know, even when I do get my hands on an Xbox 360, they're going to have to go some to beat the thrill and exhilaration of this sequel. Few games are better than sex, even when you're getting some. Burnout Revenge is one of them.

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Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2006.