Burnout: Revenge – 360
EA’s flagship arcade racer is now in its 6th incarnation and has become a benchmark for developers. Burnout redefined racing speed without forcing players to adhere to real world driving physics. It also introduced crashing as a goal to the genre and produced some spectacular wrecks. It’s only natural to want to experience the wreckage in high definition.
Despite the game being largely identical to its previous generation’s brothers, Burnout: Revenge for the Xbox 360 is a necessity for any 360 gamer’s library. If you haven’t jumped on board the Burnout wagon, take this as a hint. Players jump right into racing without creating a character, establishing street reputation or buying parts for their car. Choose a car class based on your progression, choose your map and your event. The Burning Lap for each level helps to introduce new maps and cars to the player. Crash mode challenges the driver to cause as much property damage, measured in dollars, as they can and concludes with the most visually satisfying collisions seen in the series to date, and in hi-def. Other modes have you against computer opponents, grand prix series races and Takedown contests where your goal becomes to bash your opponents off the road as often as possible.
Checking traffic like you would a hockey player, dodge oncoming trucks and knock your rivals into the walls to earn burnout boost. Use your extra speed to help launch your car over the scattered ramps and into shortcuts found on every track. The game is one of few in recent memory that really demonstrates a sense of breakneck speed. Not to mention accomplishment. Earn stars for each event completed that lets you progress to tougher races, put faster cars in your garage and earn Gamer Points exclusive to the Xbox 360. Points = Bragging rights.
The biggest reason to blow yet another 60 bucks to buy a game you might already have isn’t the hi-def graphics, or the new Xbox 360 car. The additions to the online play is easily worth the extra 10 bucks. Playing online was a given for anyone with Xbox Live, but the most satisfying of the new changes is the tracking of rivals. Beyond the normal friends list, the game keeps track of who you take down online, and likewise who takes you down. Notoriety grants you enemies and the game will taunt or warn you as you enter a game with a player you’ve previously had ‘words’ with. Simple rivals can turn into arch enemies after a few nights of running them off the road. The rivalries persist with help from EA and based on coming soon features on their website, you’ll be able to better track your grudges, soon.
Finally, the addition of the Achievement Points exclusive to the 360 let you add to your repertoire of bragging rights on your friends list. There’s enough in the new version to pull old fans into buying yet another version of the title and a sure thing for fans of the genre that crave that sense of speed in a racer.
