Xbox Review: Burnout Revenge - Page 2

If you've become accustomed to the series on a track design level, you're in for a shock. Resembling Midway's Rush series, tracks are now built around shortcuts, necessary for everything other than the also revamped crash mode. Instead of leaving the task of finding these outlets to the player, most are highlighted by lights, making them easier to pick out in the rapidly passing backdrops. Generally, they work both ways too, so those reversed tracks always feel like new.

Crash mode returns on those same courses, and as is the norm for this new edition, completely redesigned. Gone are the aggravating and over-complicated power-ups from last year's game. An odd new feature, each crash junction begins with a meter which requires timed button presses to set speed from the starting line. This is not a golf game, and the usefulness of this feature is negligible. Most of the sections now have multiple plans of attack, ramps, and other various hazards.

Traffic checking plays a role a role here like it does everywhere else, allowing you to earn cash before the pile-up even begins. All of that shows Criterion is set on providing new experiences, and in the end, it's just too convoluted (like the menu system). The crash junctions were once the centerpieces, and they've taken away the visceral simplicity the series was built upon. They sit behind the Burning Laps and Road Rage modes, and that's disappointing. There's nothing wrong with offering 25 same-looking sections with four lanes of traffic and letting people smash into the center. They seem to have forgotten the appeal there.

Being able to look back on the series is the easiest way to determine where this entry falls. It arguably does as much right as Burnout 3, but the controversial change to traffic checking could very well be a sign they're out of ideas. Its inclusion, like many over the short lifespan of the series so far, is obviously to keep this fresh regardless of how annual a new version is released. Burnout Revenge is memorable, but only to those who can embrace the changes that rip the heart right out of their favorite series, only to replace it with something that turns it into something else entirely.

Article Author: Matt Paprocki

Matt Paprocki is a 12-year movie and game critic. He currently freelances for Blu-ray review site DoBlu.com and video game site MultiPlayerGames.com.

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