Burnout

Burning the candle at both ends

More Images

The control system works well, with the cars reacting to every button press accurately and precisely. The cars also feel ‘weighty’ which makes a change to lightweight cars that most games have, you can’t throw the cars around too much, they will just spin. The small cars are radically different to the big cars in respect to the speed, handling and the general feel of them. It’s all rather good.

The single player mode is good, with plenty of tracks and cars to unlock, but can seem a little hollow at times. There is not that much to keep you going, with a little more time more features could have been added, a demolition mode for example. The enemy AI is excellent, the enemy cars are careful but do crash occasionally (especially if you nudge them into oncoming traffic), but they always seem to recover well and before long are right behind you, pushing you into traffic as means of revenge. Burnout’s real fun, however, lies in the two player mode, there is nothing more satisfying than pushing your mate into the back of a bus. The split screen doesn’t slow down or lose graphical detail at all, it’s very well implemented. It makes a great post-pub game.

Of course the cars in Burnout are not real models, as car manufacturers do not want to see their wonderful designs wrecked for pleasure, especially if lawsuits will follow (people taking in game events a little too far). I distinctly remember that in early-production there was a MR2 look-a-like in the game, looks like Toyota made them remove it for legal reasons. This doesn’t matter of course, as you can either have fake cars and crashes or real cars that bounce all over the track without any dents. You decide which is best, eh?

Overall I think that Burnout is a well thought out racing game, with a refreshing twist. A bit like rum laced with Absinthe, it appears normal, but is actually completely mental.

An insane…

88%

By Ben Jackson