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Burnout

Developer: Criterion Games

Publisher: Acclaim

Console: GameCube

Genre: Racing

Number of Players: 2

Released: April 30, 2002

Memory Card Blocks: 5

Introduction

Burnout was originally released on the PS2 on November 2001. It was met with great reviews. So Acclaim has decided to bring this game to the mighty GameCube. It boasts improved graphics and better control over the PS2 version. Sadly, there is no new tracks or cars. Since this is the first street racing arcade game I was quite excited. I have been waiting for an arcade racing game ever since the launch of the GameCube. So did this game crave my hunger for an arcade racing game?

Graphics: 8.5/10

The graphics for the most part are really good. The cars are not the most detailed cars ever, but they get the job done. When going through a tunnel the lights will reflect off the car models and it just looks great. The cars suffer real time damage when crashing. Very impressive. The crashes are the best part about this game. Windows will shatter, fenders will dent, and there are even little explosions on impact. Even the 300+ civilian vehicles on every level sport the same effects as the car you control and they are as detailed also! Every time you crash, at the end of the race you can view your crash. There are 4 different speeds you can watch the replay and you can add motion blur to the replay if you so choose to. You can even save the best replays to your memory card to show your friends. Even with all the traffic, the frame rate never slows down at all. Considering how many vehicles is on every level and the huge levels this is quite impressive.

The different track environments are nicely done. You can see very far into the distance with no pop-up what so ever. You will be racing through cities, over huge bridges, through the mountains, and through the countryside. One level through the city features rain on the surface of the road. You will see the other cars brake lights reflect on the ground and your car will kick up a little trail of water behind them. Also, while driving through dirt the cars kick up a lot of dust and if you are driving right behind a car you will not be able to see where to go. Sadly, there are no weather effects like rain or snow. The only weather effect is the wet roads. The skies are beautiful though. Especially the sun is very bright. The real time shadows used in the game are very cool looking. When you fill your turbo meter up and use it. There is a great motion blur effect used and it appears you are going very fast. It is very fun to use turbo going the wrong way on the 5-lane highway dodging cars and trucks.

Sound: 8.5/10

The sound could have been better. The crashes sound like an actual crash. The shattering of the windows, the squealing of the tires, and the scraping of metal. Sometimes the cars will even explode a little bit at contact. I was hoping for the cars to catch on fire and explode, but that doesn’t happen. I was surprised to hear no sound effects in the background. There are no birds chirping and no environmental sounds at all. The music featured in the game is not very good. There are about 12 different original tracks. Some are better then others, but none of them ever get annoying. I would have liked to see more up-tempo songs. The different cars engines sound a little different, but it’s kind of hard to tell. While using the turbo, there is a cool heartbeat noise going off.

Gameplay: 9/10

Burnout features 5 modes of play with more hidden modes after you complete Championship. Championship has 6 different grand prix’s to race. 4 of them are three-race competitions. Before you start, it will tell you what place you have to finish to move onto the next course. Interestingly there is no point rewarded for finishing the race. So it makes a little harder then point based racing games. Although the games boast 16 tracks, that is simply not true there is only about 5 different environments. They just cheaply take a level and make it nighttime and try to pass it off as a new level. The tracks are very long, as it will take about 3 minutes for one lap. The other 2 grand prix’s are called marathon. It combines like 4 tracks together and takes about 20 minutes for 3 laps. The marathon is very fun due to the very good CPU drivers. Single Race allows you to take on all the courses you have un-locked so far. Head-to-Head is the very fun 2-player mode that I will talk about in the replay section of this review. Time Attack allows you to race for the fastest time without the CPU drivers present.

The special modes feature a lot of different un-lockable modes. Face Off is where you can take on one car or bus and if you beat it, you will add that to the roster of cars you can drive. Survival mode is very fun. If you crash one time the race is over. When you beat the game you un-lock Free Run mode. All the traffic is gone so it’s just a plain old race against the CPU drivers. The point of this game is to not crash, but drive like a madman. You get rewarded for drifting around corners, near misses, and driving into oncoming traffic. The more often you do these risky actions, your boost meter fills up. If you crash your boost meter will deplete half way. So it makes for quite the fun racing experience. Once you apply the turbo boost, it goes very fast. The sense of speed is amazing especially into oncoming traffic. The computer-controlled players are the stars of the game. They don’t act like computer at all. No matter how far you are behind, you still have a chance to win because the CPU drivers crash also. Sometimes when I am in first place and crash, the 3 CPU drivers will crash right into my car creating a big pile-up and allowing me to stay in first place. I am glad to say there is no cheap AI in this game.

Controls: 9.5/10

The controls are very good. It offers two different control schemes and they both work great. I will list the default controls. A is accelerate, B is brake, and Z is your rear view mirror, which allows you to look behind you. The L button is the horn and the R button is what you will press after you fill up the turbo meter. The control stick drives the car and the D-Pad changes views. There are only 2 different car views though. They should have added a couple more views. If you like manual transmission, the Y button is to shift up and the X button is to shift down. Also if you want analog control of the gas and brake you have the option of using the C-stick. Power sliding is implemented very well. Just hold down the brake and gas at the same time and you will be sliding around corners in no time.

Replay: 8/10

This is where the game suffers the most. Burnout just doesn’t have enough un-lockable goodies for long term game playing. There are simply not enough tracks present. If they would have added different weather effects like in Wave Race: Blue Storm, it would have greatly improved the replay value. I was shocked that there are absolutely no short cuts in this game! Very disappointing. Shortcuts definitely add replay values to other arcade racing game on the market. Also a total lack of any high flying jumps in the game! I wanted to go off a jump and slam into a plane flying by. Someday my prayers will be answered for car to plane crashing! Multi-player really shines though. The 2-player Head-to-Head mode is very fun. If only they could have made the frame rate smooth enough to have 4-player support. Never the less, it is great fun to force your friend into oncoming traffic and look back and see the huge multi-car pile up. Survival mode also features great replay value as it will take quite a while to complete each track without crashing.

Conclusion

This is definitely the best street-based racing game on GameCube currently. It’s just lacking the extra goodies for it to be more then a rental. They need to add more tracks and more cars. There needs to be more unique tracks with plenty of shortcuts and jumps. It took me only 3 days to beat the game, so I am wondering if I should have saved $50 and just rented it. It is worth the purchase though if you love to crash and will enjoy the 2-player mode. Criterion Games has a great foundation for a truly great game. I look forward to a sequel for this game. If they add all the things I talked about earlier it could turn out to be one of the best arcade racers ever!

Pros Cons

Lots of traffic Lack of tracks

Realistic crashes No jumps

Great sense of speed No shortcuts

Pretty tunnels No ambient sound effects

Above average graphics

Final Score: 8.75/10, 88%, B+

Reviewed by: Eric Brown on June 3, 2002

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