Burnout Revenge, the fourth in the series (i think?) is, on the Xbox 360, effectively an up-resed xbox/ps2 game. Having bought the ps2 version after having played the 360 version but prior to owning a 360, I can tell you the 360 version is way better.
All the little details are better utilized and developed.
It also looks great. As good as Paradise or Gran Turismo? No way, but it looks sharp, has a smooth framerate and it's fast as hell. It's also an order of magnitude better than Burnout Paradise. As much as I respect everything they've done DLC-wise to make Paradise awesome, I still hate the open-world mechanic. I hate open worlds in general because instead of taking the fun part of a game and just giving you that, they let you do all the boring stuff too, like getting from place to place.
Revenge does everyting better than Paradise. To start with, the driving is simple. Gas, Brake and Boost. No handbrake nonsense, and no need to ever ever take your finger off the gas, for any reason. The arcadey feel for speed and control is superb.
Then there's different signature takedowns for each course, different kinds of takedowns (including my favorite: landing on top of your rival), and you can take down at least four opponents at once, which is rare, but I did it and it felt fantastic. This game is actually why I'm so hard on Paradise, which is in and of itself a fantastic racer. But Revenge is better. It's more focused, more compartmentalized and very much more menu driven, which is the only downer. Not that the menus are bad, just that after every race the "you did this good" screen isn't skippable and like most games, I just wanna get back in and play.
That is my only complaint about it though. I bought a "like-new" copy off Amazon the other day for $15 shipped cos I thought I lost my old one. It was over at Purdy Teeth's house. I wish I had known that when I was sitting around doing nothing while the wife was out of town.
4 stars.
Showing posts with label Burnout. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Burnout. Show all posts
Friday, July 3, 2009
Monday, January 28, 2008
Bunrout Paradise
It's a trip down memory lane.
Remember when you could do cool Signature takedowns?
Remember when Avril Lavigne wasn't on the soundtrack?
Remember when crash mode was an interesting puzzle?
Remember when crash mode was not tacked on?
Remember when the soundtrack wasn't 50 dudes doing their best AFI impression?
Remember when you didn't need to be good w/ the Reverse button to navigate?
Remember when it took 1 second to restart a race?
Remember when SSX had Rahzel in it?
That was awesome. Back then.
Now, we've got an open world. And the only thing more annoying than running through one to get someplace is driving. Sure for most of it it's fast and fun, but then you miss a turn and have to slam on the brakes, bang into a wall, reverse and dick around to get your position correct. What fun.
Then Avril Lavigne comes on and tells you she's hot.
There's a litany of moments like this, little flicks to the nuts, all to accommodate the "open world". They even hired the dude that replaced Rahzel in SSX 3 when that game when "open world" and lost much of the life it had for me.
Yeah, the world's open. It affords a few neat opportunities. I like smashing up cars to win them, I like that I can pick up a challenge and go anywhere. But I miss the style of it all. Taking out five rivals at once (far as I can tell you can only off one guy at a time, even if it looks like you took out two or three). I miss the design of the old game, the novelty of trying to knock a car into the lake or figuring out how to cause 12 million in damages.
The cars feel great, and Burnout's still the only place for non-sim racing. But much of what made the series great has been shoveled out of the way so we can all relive our Midnight Club 2 fantasies.
2 stars.
Remember when you could do cool Signature takedowns?
Remember when Avril Lavigne wasn't on the soundtrack?
Remember when crash mode was an interesting puzzle?
Remember when crash mode was not tacked on?
Remember when the soundtrack wasn't 50 dudes doing their best AFI impression?
Remember when you didn't need to be good w/ the Reverse button to navigate?
Remember when it took 1 second to restart a race?
Remember when SSX had Rahzel in it?
That was awesome. Back then.
Now, we've got an open world. And the only thing more annoying than running through one to get someplace is driving. Sure for most of it it's fast and fun, but then you miss a turn and have to slam on the brakes, bang into a wall, reverse and dick around to get your position correct. What fun.
Then Avril Lavigne comes on and tells you she's hot.
There's a litany of moments like this, little flicks to the nuts, all to accommodate the "open world". They even hired the dude that replaced Rahzel in SSX 3 when that game when "open world" and lost much of the life it had for me.
Yeah, the world's open. It affords a few neat opportunities. I like smashing up cars to win them, I like that I can pick up a challenge and go anywhere. But I miss the style of it all. Taking out five rivals at once (far as I can tell you can only off one guy at a time, even if it looks like you took out two or three). I miss the design of the old game, the novelty of trying to knock a car into the lake or figuring out how to cause 12 million in damages.
The cars feel great, and Burnout's still the only place for non-sim racing. But much of what made the series great has been shoveled out of the way so we can all relive our Midnight Club 2 fantasies.
2 stars.
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