Australian Gamer Review :: Burnout Revenge

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Burnout Revenge

Reviewed on: Xbox 360
Available on: Xbox 360

Grit your teeth and get angry, this is your cure for peak hour road rage!

Players: 1-2 Players (6 in Crash Party)
Genre:
Release: 2006-04-16

Developer: Criterion Games
Distributor: Electronic Arts

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There is something about crashing into stuff that just appeals to everyone; whether you are male, female or undecided! Whether you are great racer but just like smashing into things, or you can?t drive and accidentally crash into things, Burnout is aimed at you! Plowing through traffic at 200 mph is something that all of us city dwellers just find so invigorating. It is less dangerous to your personal wellbeing than doing it in real life, and without the extensive jail term! In the latest edition, Burnout Revenge for the Xbox 360, the traffic causing chaos is really kicked up a gear, and the sense of speed is multiplied by a factor of 20 in HD on a 42? widescreen TV. As the intro to the game says, you haven?t seen Burnout until you?ve seen it like this.

I?m not normally one to rave about console performance. I?m a big fan of ?fun before bump mapping?. To me a game should be fun first, and pretty to look at second. Burnout has always been a great looking game, but it has also always been about the gameplay. Of course as Yug has already done a review of the Xbox version of this title, I am going to go a little more into the ?wow factor?. For Burnout, the graphics are an important part of the fun. With more cars, more collisions, more damage, more scenery and more speed, the graphical fluff is definitely a major contributor to the fun in Burnout Revenge for the 360. If the only thing that was different was the amazing collisions, that alone would be enough to make Burnout Revenge on the 360 a worthy title. The 360 version features, beefed up graphics including ?vehicle deformation, highlighted with localized scratch, crumple and scorch maps, Hollywood inspired special effects and bigger explosions than ever??. At least that is what their site claims?. All I know is that it looks fricken sweet! But there is a lot more than just pretty explosions in this updated release, but I will get to that in a minute. Interestingly, the previous versions of this game looked as good if not better on the PS2 than they did on the Xbox. This time round, the Xbox 360 really shines in all its HD glory, and that is in comparison to the already great looking Xbox and PS2 versions.

If you?re wondering whether Burnout for the 360 is really any different to the previous generation releases, I am pleased to be able to tell you that this version has had quite a few tweaks. I could talk for hours about the fantastic new high-detailed models, or the updated high-res textures, or the extra debris from collisions, or the cool lighting effects, or even just the fact that the whole thing is just fantastic to look at in HD? but there is more to the story. The other editions of Burnout Revenge featured a ?launch bar? in the Crash mode. The idea behind this was to basically set the speed of your car before you send it hurtling towards the crash junction, somewhat similar to playing an old golf game. If you messed it up, you could blow up your engine, and have to start over. While I am sure plenty of people out there loved this feature, it was really a bit unwarranted and just added another variable that really wasn?t needed. I don?t know whether Criterion received a lot of feedback about this, or whether there were some other issues with it, but it?s gone in this version which is good? as it was a stupid idea in the first place!

The 360 version of Burnout Revenge also has a couple of neat Xbox Live features thrown in for good measure. The first allows you to upload 30 second clips of your record beating race or crash to the Xbox Live servers for the rest of the world to see. At any time you can also log on and take a peak at what the rest of the world is up to. I?d have to say it isn?t as nicely implemented as PGR3?s Gotham TV, but it is a cool idea nonetheless. The single biggest addition though is the introduction of online Revenge Rivals. This completely changes the face of online racing. Usually in a ranked match you are up against unknowns, hidden faces that you may vaguely recall seeing their tag before, but cant remember if you owe them one or not. Well now, every bastard who takes you down becomes labeled as your Revenge Rival. That means, next time you log on and they?re in your race, the game will let you know that you owe them big time. The camera zooms in and gives you a good look at their shiny new car on the grid just begging you to run them into a wall. You have a whole new reason to play now? forget winning the race, your mission is to take that sucker down!! Of course, don?t forget, if you DO take someone down, you become their Revenge Rival? and they WILL be after you. Every time you are involved in a conflict you will each get a little icon indicating whether you dished it out, or whether you were the one biting concrete?. And you will carry that badge of honour (or disgrace) indefinitely until someone settles the score. This provides all the more incentive to get online and even things up.

I do have a couple of issues with Burnout Revenge. On lesser consoles, heavy blurring is used to give the true sense of speed. It allows the developers to ?fudge? the details and get the whole game moving quicker using some neat effects. It is a shame in the 360 version that they didn?t take it a little easy with the blurring. The game looks sensational cruising at 179mph, but hit the boost and the world becomes a blurry mess, which is a real shame, because the scenery is simply fantastic! Not only does it mess up the scenery, but it becomes significantly more difficult to see obstacles in your path. It still looks great, but is probably a little over the top. When using boost on some of the faster cars, it seems like it is more good luck than good driving that will see you through to the gold medal. The other slightly less obvious issue with Burnout Revenge is the AI. I am not talking about the opposition either; I am talking about your own cars AI. When traveling at high speeds with a butt full of boost, the AI will occasionally give you a polite nudge in the right direction to help you avoid some of the obstacles that pop up in your way. A nudge to the left to avoid the truck, a nudge to the right to avoid the pillar ? and it is never more noticeable than after you have taken down one of your opponents and you find yourself in real-time auto-pilot. However, when it really sucks is when you want to go left and the AI pushes you right and the end result is you heading straight for the thing you?re both trying to avoid. If I push left, let me turn left you bastard of a machine!!!!

Ahem?other than that? a top game, really!

If you?re after more details about game modes, career progression and car collecting, go read Yug?s review, because I can?t be bothered explaining it to you again. Suffice to say, if you?ve ever had trouble getting into racing games, or are an old fan of the series, then Burnout Revenge is a must-have for you. It isn?t a racing sim and it doesn?t test the limits of your endurance, it?s just plain good fun.

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Yug's Comments

I played through the Xbox version of this game, and saw no great need to play through the Xbox 360 version again. That said, I downloaded the demo as soon as it became available on the Xbox Live Marketplace, and second to Fight Night, it is the most impressive game to showcase the capabilities of my Xbox 360 to any of my friends that come over.

Without a doubt, it is the fastest game I've ever played, and on the 360 it's just as fast but actually 'easier' to play because of the high resolution. The distance isn't some fuzzy anti-aliased bunch of dots, and when you crash into a car, you kinda feel like you deserved it, as opposed to not even seeing it coming.

Final Verdict

Burnout Revenge is to racing, what WWE is to wrestling. It?s over the top, it?s in your face, and it?s totally unrealistic and that is what makes it extremely cool. Forget about realistic physics and handling or tweaking gears and turbos or bloody windows that open and close, this isn?t about worshipping cars? this is about destroying them! If you?re car is still in one piece at the end of a race, you haven?t tried hard enough dammit! Grit your teeth and get angry, this is your cure for peak hour road rage!

Pros
Fantastic visual effects. Huge detailed tracks with multiple shortcuts. Great online play including the addition of Revenge Rivals. Generally just stacks of fun.
Cons
Hard to justify the pricetag when the Xbox version is half the price! Long load times. Next to no collision sound effects. Auto-pilot can be frustrating.