Burnout Revenge Review (XBOX)

When my Burnout 3: Takedown review posted last year here on the site, I was a bit mixed on it. I took pride in the fact that I proceeded to lay down my opinion as I always did, but the 4.5 rating bothered me a little bit. After all, Takedown, in my mind, was literally perfect. Sure, the EA Trax selections were as watered-down as beer served in a cheap tavern, but those shouldn't have held back what I considered a superlative effort. Oh, well, a 4.5 rating is what went up and a 4.5 rating is what it lived with, but those who read my review knew that you were in for something truly special in the racing field. Hell, the game even got my vote for Game of the Year.

But now I look again, especially after playing Burnout Revenge, Criterion's follow-up to the smash-em-and-crash-em affair from last year. Perhaps I was right after all in letting it sit at 4.5, because last year's game seems like a piece of cake compared to this year's gargantuan feast. Criterion has literally taken us back to school, yanking us out of the kindergarten that was last year's game and putting us right into fourth grade, against a teacher that wants to gnash our brains and challenge us. The results may not be for everyone, but, I tell you, the fact that Burnout Revenge makes you work harder than Takedown ever did is quite the lesson indeed.

Those who played the demo earlier this year found it to be exciting, I'm sure, and got a taste of a new inclusion in the race itself, the ability to explode your car after a crash so you could take others with you. I call it the Bomberman effect, but it's really the Crashbreaker, which was a big addition to last year's Crash mode. Well, the Crashbreaker did make the cut, but Criterion has buried it deep within the game, to the point that you can't even access it early on in the game except during "preview Crashbreaker" events. Eventually, after clearing levels in the game, which consists of a star rating system that ranks you up in your professionalism, you'll gain access to it and become a bigger danger on the road.

But you're not the only one. In Revenge, the AI has been ramped up extremely also, and don't get taken down so easily with just the slightest bump or grinding into the wall for a few seconds. No, this time around you really have to work at it, timing your impacts just right and nailing them when the time calls for it. They still come down easily, mind you, especially if you plow them into oncoming traffic or a divider in the middle of the road, but so do you, and the wrong timing on an attempted Takedown may leave you in the dust. The game also introduces a "rival" system, where you find yourself up against a foe who has taken you out, and they're indicated with a red marker atop their car. Nail them back, and you progress further in the game. The AI bump-up may not be for everyone, but I adore the increase in intelligence. It puts further pride into my Takedowns...as well as a few more holes in the wall from throwing my controller into it. Thank God I still have that plaster from last year.

The courses will also put you to work in Revenge. What you won't find here is the simplicity in Takedown's design, following the same path over and over and eventually getting to a finish line. Instead, the courses are strewn with more obstacles and shortcuts than ever before, allowing you to get "big air" at times without crashing as a result. This is a sweet addition, hunkering back to the old days of San Francisco Rush when your car could leap hundreds of feet in the air and literally have no damage as a result. Some of these shortcuts are indicated by blue lighting, so you can see them coming and prepare to shave a few seconds off your time. This comes in real handy during Burning Lap events, when all you want to do is take the gold in a race and unlock a swanky new vehicle for your garage. The design here is elegant and sweat-inducing, especially when you're roaring through town and a nanosecond is all it takes to define between success and failure. The fact that there's a number of locales strewn from throughout the world, from factory-filled Detroit to the incredible countrysides in Europe, makes this a beautiful ride indeed.

The game moves fast. Damn wicked fast. Faster than Takedown even. The way that the screen blurs during the use of your precious turbo is excellent indeed, and the graphics never lose an ounce of their detail. There's the odd moments when a camera is out of place during a crash and all you see is a black screen, but it doesn't happen that often. The crashes themselves are uniquely dramatized, with a "look back" at the car you've destroyed and then a shift right back to the action. Criterion's mostly fixed the error of going through a crash and then getting into one yourself- you're given a little more of a fair shake this time. The menus show an equal amount of flair, complete with speeding cars and a schnazzy presentation. And you can skip past the reward screens this time, if you're up for more racing.

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