Burnout Revenge
March 14,2006 -

Here at Amped IGO we love our Burnout.  When Burnout 3: Takedown came out in 2004 we were blown away.  The 9.6 we gave Takedown was, and still is, one of the highest scores we’ve ever given a game, and is also the highest score any racing game has gotten to this very day.  Last year, Burnout Revenge came out simultaneously for the Xbox and PlayStation 2, and like Takedown, was met with the same critical applause from us.  Though it didn’t wow us in the same way that Takedown did the year before, for a game that was relatively unchanged at its core, and only tweaked to be a nearly flawless version of the third iteration in the series, it’s safe to say Burnout Revenge on the Xbox and PS2 was indefinitely the best Burnout game on the market.  That is, at least until now that the Xbox 360 version is blasting onto the market taking out all the other Xbox 360 racing games in its process.

If you weren’t fortunate enough to play Revenge last year, Criterion and EA have brought us the greatest Burnout game yet, and this time, it’s complete with next-generation graphics and phenomenal online support.  Though it may not be a must-have to previous Revenge players, if you have any passing interest of being a takedown king online, unlocking dozens of difficult achievements, or even just replaying one of the most addicting racing games ever made, this game is for you.  But hey, if you never played Burnout Revenge to begin with, what are you waiting for?  Hop in your car, smash into the traffic, and pick up your copy—forget reading this review.

Burnout is all about driving fast and crashing hard.  The Xbox 360 version of Burnout shows this off better than ever.  As you smash into your opponents in the game or online you’ll see your cars tear apart at the core and show off the most sophisticated damage modeling ever seen in a game.  Have you ever driven your sports car so fast in real life that the paint started peeling off of it?  Neither have we, thanks to Burnout Revenge, we can now do that.  The biggest overhaul the 360 version has seen from its last-generation counterparts is easily the way it looks and sounds.  While this is to be expected, it’s important to note that Burnout Revenge is not the best looking of all the 360 racers, but it is most definitely the best sounding. 

Beyond its look and sound, Revenge 360 has tweaked a couple notable things in the single player—which is otherwise left mostly unchanged.  For example, the crash mode has been fixed so you don’t have to waste so much time working on getting that perfect start.  That wasn’t a bad thing in the last-generation versions, but usually whenever you’d mess up you’d just restart the mission and have at it again.  Thanks also to the great specs in the 360 we are also treated to much faster loading times, and to those of you who played Revenge last year, and had to restart the crash mode several times, you know that’s a very, very good thing.  The swing-styled golf meter thing is now gone, and there’s much more of a focus on the old Burnout 3 styled crash mode.  Needless to say, it’s better, and we’re happy.

The online play is far and away the biggest upgrade the 360 version has over its last-generation iterations.  If you played this game on Xbox Live or whatever else last year, you know that it was all right, but like all regular Xbox games sans Halo 2, it wasn’t very well supported by the makers.  Revenge 360 obviously wants to change this and offer what will be one of the most robust 360 online experiences to date.  Similar to the single player, as you take down various opponents they will become your rivals, and the more you take down your rivals, the higher the stakes become.  You create online rivalries and thanks to the cool new online system, these rivalries will be tracked.  As you play through the game online you’ll constantly create new rivals and as you beat them in the races, or become defeated yourself, it will greatly affect how you go about matchmaking.  Also, beyond that, almost every Xbox 360 gamer achievement for Revenge 360 has to do with online.  While some are simple and just require telling your friends to look at a clip, others will take hours and hours of time to complete and will likely be only for the hardest of the hardcore to unlock all 1000 points.

As said before, the presentation in Revenge 360 has been upped a considerable amount.  The graphics—though not on the level of Project Gotham Racing 3—are much improved from the Xbox version last year.  The models of the car including the damage you see on screen is really just mind-blowing.  Just like the other versions, the sense of speed is really amazing, but on the 360 you can take in the vistas you travel in with a little more approval as they look astonishing by comparison.  The sound effects, however, far outclass the visual presentation.  There really isn’t another racer on the market, for any system, that has sound effects that sound so ridiculously over-the-top in a rather realistic fashion, and when you hit the gas on your car, you’ll feel as if you’re literally flying at 150 miles an hour crashing into your opponents making them fly up 30 feet and do several flips mid-air.  It’s that cool.

If you bought Revenge last year, maybe it would be best for you to rent it.  While this is a great upgrade from the games last year, it’s still relatively unchanged.  However, if you’re new to this game, it’s a must purchase and among the best Xbox 360 games yet.  Also, if you’re a past owner of the game and are down with the Xbox Live play on the 360, it’s worth it.  You’ll find yourself addicted to the game within minutes and with a great new host of community options with the rival tracking, you’ll have a lot of fun.  Burnout Revenge 360 is one of the most fun, heart-pounding video games out there and is a safe bet for any 360 gamer.

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