Burnout Revenge Review

At this point, there is little debate as to whether or not the Burnout series is among the best racing games ever. These games deliver a fast, easy to get into, and satisfying thrill that few games can match. Burnout Revenge continues that trend and stands as the best in the series and one of the best racing games on the Xbox. It makes a few key tweaks to the Burnout formula and the result is a fantastic game that deserves a spot in every Xbox owner’s collection.

Gameplay

The beauty of Burnout Revenge is that the racing is so fast and smooth and intense. One of the main attractions of the Burnout series is that you can slam into your opponents and cause them to crash which gives you boost so you can go even faster and cause even more destruction. Burnout Revenge adds another layer to the gameplay by giving you the ability to check the civilian traffic and essentially use those cars as weapons. Traffic checking is limited to small to medium sized vehicles traveling the same direction as you so you can’t just slam into everything in sight, but it gives you another way to take out your opponents by slamming traffic cars into them. It also has the added benefit of making the races even faster and less frustrating than they have been in the past because you only have to worry about oncoming traffic. Something else that has been added to some races is that you can now use a Crashbreaker (a big explosion after you crash that was used in Crash Mode in Burnout 3) during races. This is a fun way to take down two or three opponents at a time during races and really make a comeback.

Another key change to the gameplay in Burnout Revenge is that the track designs are considerably better than in past games. The tracks are now full of shortcuts and ramps and alternate paths so you have quite a few options as to how you get around the track. The ramps add a fun element to the game because now you can crash down into opponents from above which is just really, really cool.

All of these changes and additions combine to make an immensely satisfying racing game. In the past, the crashes were really the focal point and the racing took a back seat to just seeing your car break up into a thousand pretty pieces. In Burnout Revenge, however, the focus has shifted onto the fast paced racing aspects and I, for one, am glad to see it because you can only wreck your car so many times before it starts feeling a bit repetitive. You’ll still crash a lot, of course, and it still looks pretty, but Takedown is here to race.

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