Burnout Revenge Preview

If you like racing fast cars, but you also like plenty of explosions, it's probably safe to assume that you either play or should be playing Criterion's Burnout games. The franchise has pretty much set the bar for the "action game disguised as a racing game" genre in recent years, and now Criterion is taking the latest game, Burnout Revenge, to Xbox 360. First off, it's worth pointing out that the game shares the same name with its PS2 and Xbox siblings. This is by no means a new Burnout game, it is simply the Xbox 360 version of Revenge. That said, if you have a 360 and you don't have the game on another system, or you're a diehard fan of the franchise who wants to experience everything it will ever deliver, keep an eye out for it. As I was told by EA's David S. Silverman, "We really want to make this the premiere version of Burnout Revenge." If you're unfamiliar with recent games in the Burnout series, the games are essentially racers on acid. While the main mode of the game does indeed having you striving to reach a finish line in a four-wheeled vehicle before your opponents can do the same, there's much more of a combat feel to it than most racers. Acceleration can be practically instantaneous, and the handling model allows you to take turns at ludicrous speed with the help of extraordinarily exaggerated powersliding. The game also encourages you to shunt your opponents, knocking them off course and hopefully into a large obstacle that causes them to explode in a spectacular fashion. Gran Turismo this ain't. Serious racing sim fans should apply elsewhere, but to people who like driving fast and exploding, you're more than welcome. To really drive the point home, the Burnout series sports a unique Crash Mode, which has the player drive his car at full speed into a crowded intersection, hoping to rack up as many dollars as possible in vehicle damage. It is a very pretty mode. As the developer behind the widely used Renderware engine, Criterion is known for its games' visuals, and unsurprisingly the first thing that makes itself apparent about the Xbox 360 version of Revenge is the visual upgrade. The cars are shinier this time around, for one thing. The brilliantly polished and reflective gleam is a bit excessive, but then again when have the Burnout games ever been about anything other than excess? Of course, along with shinier coats of paint comes improved visual damage as well. Cars take quite a bit of physical damage, which can get pretty nasty when it starts to cover the entire vehicle. As usual, damage does not impact actual gameplay. The tracks show significant graphical improvement as well, with increased poly counts and higher-res textures. Overall, everything is much cleaner and crisper than the current-gen (do I still call it "current-gen"?) versions, and the game should be a good showcase for the 360's horsepower. You've also got your next-gen-standard improved bloom and motion blur, but probably the single thing that struck me most about the games looks were the explosions. On my notepad, I wrote down "nice explosions," but that doesn't really go towards getting across the lovely thick plumes of smoke that rise from the brief florid fireballs engulfing your poorly piloted ride. I'm not usually one to wax eloquent about explosions, but we're talking about Burnout here. In terms of the actual gameplay, this version of Revenge plays identically to the existing versions. I mean, it feels exactly the same. It doesn't mess with the physics or handling or acceleration, nor does it try to. The tracks as well carry over, though of course they are improved visually. I played through a few races, and found myself playing pretty much the same as I did on my Xbox copy of the game. There will be some new content, however; Criterion is adding ten new crash junctions to the 360 version. New cars will be added as well, including a Dolby-sponsored car and an Alienware-sponsored car. Where the game differs most from the PS2 and Xbox versions is in its online implementation. Of course, one of the biggest selling points for Xbox 360 has been its improved Xbox Live service, and Criterion is adding a number of features to take advantage of Live. For example, at the end of every race, you'll be presented with the option to save a replay of your performance. A replay will consist of up to 30 seconds that you choose from a given race, and can be saved to your hard drive or uploaded to Xbox Live for others to download. Given the 30 second limit, the replays are geared more towards recording particularly epic scenes of destruction or impressive takedowns more than showcasing the nuances of a closely matched race. The game will also track a variety of stacks persistently. One of Revenge's features, implied by the name, was the concept of the "Revenge takedown"--opposing players (or computer-controlled racers) who take you down by somehow causing you to explode are marked for revenge, after which you attempt to hunt them down and exact a takedown upon them. Burnout Revenge 360 will extend this concept beyond individual races and will track your revenge takedowns independently. This means that if you are frequently taken down by RacistTeen420, that player will be marked for revenge when you see them online in later games. There will be other features relating to revenge that will be tracked persistently, but the final details of how they will work has yet to be nailed down. Though I was not informed of any particular achievements for the game, it's safe to assume that, like all other Xbox 360 games, there will of course be plenty to collect and display to add to your gamer card. At its core, Burnout Revenge 360 feels just like its PS2 and Xbox brethren. If you've played your fill of Burnout Revenge already, or if you're not too much into the online features, this game probably won't be a necessity for you--especially with that $10 premium for 360 games. On the other hand, if you're still playing Burnout Revenge and are a big fan of Microsoft's expanded online service, it might be worth a look. And if you have an Xbox 360, you haven't experienced Revenge or other Burnout games, and you've gotten to the point where you've finished a few games and would like to use your $400 machine for something other than the admittedly excellent Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved, keep a look out for this game. Criterion's Burnout Revenge will be available for Xbox 360 this March. It was released for PS2 and Xbox last September.