21-Sep-2005 Revenge, it's different, yet the same but still a thrill ride of outstanding vehicular carnage Here's a deep thought to keep you awake tonight. In Burnout: Revenge, everything is different yet also the same. That's the Zen dilemma at the heart of reviewing an annual update of something. Everything's the same as it was last year - the speed, the look, the feel of the cars, the handling, the game modes, it's all pretty much in place and as you remember it from before.
Of course, we're exaggerating a bit. But only a very little bit. Burnout: Revenge does have quite a few new things in it, but you may have to refer back to Burnout 3 and take notes to work out exactly what they are. No, don't do that - we'll tell you what they are right now!
The biggest change you'll notice immediately, and when getting down to your first single-player race mission, is the way you're allowed to smash up the regular traffic. Remember that in Burnout there are always two kinds of traffic - the regular cars, or the 'padding' that fills up the road, and the rival cars, the proper enemies you race and ram off the road for points.
Well, in Burnout: Revenge you're allowed to ram the padding. That's new. In fact you're encouraged to do so, with Burnout, for the first time, letting you smash the ordinary little cars out of the way in exchange for a minor boost bonus and, in the new Traffic Attack games, for hard cash.
This has two effects on the game. Firstly, it means you've pretty much always got loads of boost. There's no scrabbling around trying to slide and drive on the wrong side of the road to fill your turbo gauge - it's almost always juiced up these days thanks to the relaxed impact rules. Which is great - it makes the game faster. You play Burnout: Revenge with your thumb always on the A button, there's no waiting for power. You're always at maximum speed.
The second effect is not quite so positive. Instead of having to display super-human reflexes of ultimate speed to dodge collisions, you can just hold down boost and smash through everything regardless. If you take the safe option of driving on the right side of the road there's virtually no danger of ever crashing, aside from into the odd harsh corner or concrete pillar. You're penalised with a minor drop in speed for smashing these cars, but the boost bonus you get in return more than compensates and gets you back up front in no time.
And let's face facts - the Burnout style of driving isn't the most technically demanding, what with the way you're allowed to bounce off the sides of most corners without having to do much in the way of steering to stay on track. Giving players a further easy option of simply smashing through the traffic creates the impression that Burnout: Revenge hasn't just been slightly dumbed down - it's been completely lobotomised!
But again, there are slight changes to the formula that bring the package back on track again. Shortcuts and alternate routes have been added to the courses, which do a great deal to bring the cities to life. Instead of hammering along a single, tube-like, hemmed-in tunnel through the city as before, you're now able to veer off to the side, or better still, crash down the middle into a water overflow lane, taking out the fences that block it off as you smash your way through.
These alternate routes are one of two things - they're either quicker and more dangerous - like the extremely narrow escape lines that snake below the cities, or they're longer, faster countryside routes that let you escape the traffic and drive along at maximum speed undisturbed.
It's nice to have the option of seeking out these new lines, but the Burnout style of play - which is hammering along at top speed all of the time - rarely gives you the time to actually seek out these shortcuts and hidden routes on purpose. Often you won't bother, because it's easier to just stay on the course with the boost button held down, ricocheting your way down the main tunnel.
The Crash games - where you smash your car into other traffic in an attempt to do the most damage - have also been reworked. Well, we say reworked, what we really mean is they've had one or two minor additions and alterations made to them that ever so slightly change the feel.
There's now a timing element to your starts, via a press-the-button gauge that lets you get away to a flying start or leaves you smoking on the grid. There's also a wind speed factor to contend with if you're confronted with a drop or long jump before you hit your target traffic, plus a new Target Car has been added to replace the old score multiplier option - you have to make sure this special car is caught up in the chaos for a massive bonus.
Another nice, but minor, new addition is the power to rotate the camera during Crash mode. We're kind of struggling to make these small innovations sound exciting, because as with the bulk of Burnout: Revenge, these subtle little changes only alter the feel of the game very slightly in comparison with last year's superb Burnout 3.
Anyway, we've wasted far too many words telling you what's changed - let's talk about what's exactly the same. The look of the game is the same as Burnout 3, that is, it's amazingly colourful, smooth, stupidly fast and packed with incredible detail. The highlight of this batch of tracks has to be the 'Eternal City', a dramatised and thrilling recreation of the packed streets of a certain Italian city that has you sliding through narrow streets, then blinking in disbelief as huge monuments slide into view as you hammer around the bends. The handling of the cars is the same - the same top quality arcade chuckability and powerslide madness. The courses seem to be hillier this time, with bumps and jumps all over the place to give you some gigantic airborne moments to enjoy. The way the speed and handling comes together is the same, though, which means it's the identical, superfast, precise and enjoyable racer that has always been the signature mark of the Burnout series.
It's as aggressive as ever, as well. Ramming opponents off the track earns you Takedown bonuses and increases your boost bar, further enhancing the speed it all unfolds at. In short, it's great. There are no 'big idea' major changes to the mechanics of the experience, like we saw with earlier Burnouts when the boost system was altered and things were noticeably different. So if you got bored of Burnout 3 halfway through, there's not much here to make it worth going back to.
Burnout: Revenge is a major thrill-ride, though. Playing this marginally altered new Burnout still feels like you're flying a burning fighter jet through hell at 50 million miles an hour, and you'll still look at it and wonder how they've managed to make Xbox do so many cool things at once. A fun, fast and jam-packed arcade racer, if you're bored of tuning front suspension stiffness settings in other driving simulations, buy this.
Official Xbox Magazine staff
// Overview
Verdict
Sensational speed, great looks and superbly aggressive racing make Burnout: Revenge a recommended buy.
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