Burnout Revenge Xbox Review
Electronic Arts, September 14th, 2005
Review by Raffman, September 14th, 2005
Two years ago Burnout 2 came out for Xbox and I decided to see what all the hype was about, so I bought it. As of
yesterday, September 12th, I was still playing it. Yes, this series is that good, and although I never
picked up the third installment, I made sure I was the first one at the local GameStop this morning to pick up the fourth
and latest installment, Burnout Revenge. Let's just say it was $50 well spent, because I've been playing this game all
friggen day, not only because I wanted to get the review out this afternoon but also because I just couldn't put the damn
thing down, it's that much fun! Not only that but this incredible racing series makes for a delicious drinking game too;
so it's perfect for college students as long as you can afford the $50 and already have an Xbox. Alright so let's throw
this game on the dissection gurney, shall we? Oh, and for those of you who don't feel like reading any more and just want
a quick score, feel free to scroll to the bottom or just take my advice and buy this game, you won't regret it trust
me.
As I mentioned before, I never bought the third installment which the gaming industry has labled as the best one of the
Burnout series, but personally I'm not a fan of Electronic Arts (EA) aside from sports games. Acclaim, not EA, was behind
the wheel of Burnout on the first two games, so that's what made me shy away from the third one. After I heard how much
it rocked though, I couldn't stay away from Burnout Revenge so I picked it up to see if EA had gotton any better. Well,
they did, and I'm thoroughly impressed. From a presentation standpoint, Revenge is very clean and very easy to navigate,
and it looks fantastic from front to back. The only thing that could mark it down is that it looks very, very similar to
every other EA game they've created, but to be honest it's not a big deal; just something that I noticed pretty easily.
As you turn the game on for the first time, you'll get a cool video tutorial on the new features in Revenge, as well as a
quick overview of the basics as well for those of you who have either forgot, or never played any games in the Burnout
series. It's somewhat long, but it's well worth it. On top of the easy in-game menu system, the physical instruction
manual is only 8 pages long, and on top of that they didn't package all that useless crap like registration cards and mini
posters and whatnot so when you open this sweet game up for the first time, you won't have crap falling all over your
floor. Less cleanup time means more time playing video games, and that's a good thing. While the overall presentation
won't win any awards for ingenuity or artwork, it's clean, quick, and it gets the job done. What's that job you ask?
Making it quick and easy so you can play more.
From a graphical standpoint, I can't think of a prettier racing game than Burnout Revenge that's available anywhere on the
console market. I honestly have caught myself squinting as I've been playing because the sun's effects are that
realistic; yeah go ahead, call me a dork, but at least I'm telling the truth. Even during the insane crash pileups in
crash mode, the frames per second never drops so you never lose a second. How EA and Criterion Games were able to somehow
improve the graphics dramatically without lowering the game speed is beyond me, but this is a category where awards should
be given, because the graphics are simply gorgeous. To add icing to the proverbial cake, the level designs are very well
done and they're all very different from one another, so it shows that they really took the time to make each course
different. The coolest part of Burnout's amazing graphic engine are the crash effects. Windows break, cars dent, and
vehicles get torn in half in delicious realism. And quite possibly the most exciting aspect of this engine is that they
finally incorporated explosions into the game, which makes it even more realistic, even though this game is about as
unrealistic as it gets! Now there may have been explosions in the third Burnout, but remember I never got that one so
hold off on the bitchy emails, alright smart ass? The only thing this game is missing in my mind now that they have
explosions is people on the streets and in the cars. How sweet would that be, so then not only do you have to worry about
cross traffic, but pedestrians walking across and down the street as well? Granted, if you added people it would get
really bloody but then again I think it'd be the best selling Burnout in the series to date. That's just my opinion
though, so if you don't like it feel free to eat my ass with a spoon.
Although the gorgeous graphics are a great reason to buy the game, it's really the gameplay that counts; and Burnout
Revenge's got it. Just like previous installments in this awesome series, Revenge is incredibly fast, incredibly fun, and
insanely addicting all at the same time. It's easy for anyone to pick up and learn, and even at breakneck speeds the
controls are perfect. Revenge features a delicious buffet of kick-ass new features like aggression, traffic attack, and
the obvious revenge mode that makes this game so much fun. If you've never played any of the Burnouts before, it's a
racing game at heart with a few major differences. First off, it's all about the speed boost, which is insanely fast. To
get it however, you have to drive in the oncoming traffic lanes, have near-misses with other cars, get air-time, etc, so
you're encouraged to drive like madman. Doesn't that sound like fun? It is. But Revenge has taken it a step further, as
you can takedown other opponents and even use other cars as weapons to gain the advantage. All of this happens at
breakneck speeds, so don't be blinking. I don't consider myself a good writer, yet I don't think the best writers in the
world could describe how much fun this game is in words; it just can't be done. I don't want to waste your time, so I
won't be mad if you stop reading now to go buy this game. Moving on though, there is one small hitch with Revenge that I
believe could be argued for the entire series, that it's honestly too easy for the experienced gamer. I'm no video game
god, but after 3 hours or so of playing this game after it came out this morning I'm already half-way through, and there's
only been one time that I didn't receive a medal. Now maybe that's because I've been playing Burnout 2 for so long, but
as I look back that game was just as easy and it was my first time playing it. Now to counter that statement, I have yet
to receive an "Elite" award, so there is some lasting appeal there. Regardless of how easy this game is, it was still
worth the $50 without a doubt; hell I've been playing Burnout 2 for over two years now so I don't even know why I'm
mentioning this.
Burnout Revenge is a blast, and although $50 may be a stretch for the average college budget, it's money well spent
because you'll be playing this game for a while; I know I will. On top of what I mentioned above, there's also full
multiplayer capabilities built-in through Xbox Live that will add even more lasting appeal to it. I would've included
that part in my review, but I don't use Xbox Live. To be honest with you this game deserves a 9.5 or above, but I can't
bring myself to score it that high because I never played Burnout 3: Takedown, so all the features that they included in
that version like the takedown (call me Master of the Obvious) I'm experiencing for the first time, and it just wouldn't
be fair. So with that in mind, check out the final scores below. After you do that, go and get this game. It's out for
PS2 as well if your roll that way too.
Graphics - 9.8
Sound - 8.8
Gameplay - 9.2
Overall - 9.075 (Average)
- Discuss this review in the forums!
- Browse all the video game reviews.
- Back to the front page.