There are 2 types of arcade car racing. One in which you wag your tail and take your car cleanly to the finish line and the other in which Satan himself is your navigator. The world is nothing but a blur and all you are worried about is kicking the butt out of your opponents. Quite literally.
The Burnout Series has been at the pinnacle of such wreck to win madness and today we shall take a look at the latest installment.
Graphics 10/10
They are an absolute delight and look equally marvelous in HD or on normal displays. The car designs are as good as they get and Paradise city, the epicenter of all metal pounding action, itself is simply stunning. You just want to drive around the city for a good half hour when you start the game up initially, just to get a hang of the place. Its just so effing huge.
As is the case with all Burnout installments, the car crashes are a delight to watch. You can play the role of a sadist and watch the opponent cars mash into pulp and feel very, very happy about it.
Sound: 9/10
The sound, too, is nothing short of brilliant and it just complements the brilliant graphics. The crashes, the revving engines, the squealing tires sound real enough to make you feel you are out there on Paradise City, clinging to on to all the metal for dear life.
The soundtrack though is something that might not be to everyone’s taste. The in-game announcer, DJ Atomica is a repetitive bore and it will be best to ignore him.
Gameplay
There’s not much to do, really, you just race around the city with various modes, which range from burning routes to normal 1st over the line races. There are the ‘Takedown’ races (which depend on how many cars on you ‘takedown’, of course) and some gravity defying stunt challenges. That’s pretty much it but then, that is what Burnout is all about. Single minded madness.
There are 40 cars in the game and you’ll be able to unlock the 40 modified versions by participating in ‘Burning Route’ events which are basically timed sprints to a finish line. Other cars are unlocked periodically by completing events. However, once a car is unlocked you still don’t get to use it. Unlocking it simply means that it will show up in the city. You just have to find it and wreck it, like your life depended on it.
Luckily, these cars have a tendency to seek you out, so you don’t have to go hunting for them. Once it has blazed past, you’ll have to give chase. These chases are probably the craziest part of the game and they very often turn into intricate dances of death that lead all across a city.
Online the game well and truly kicks butt. Even in India the game is absolutely lag free. The controls are slick, the cars are insane and well, taking down other players from the world is always fun (so what if that’s the only thing you can do). You have to complete some challenges to prove that your veins are really filled with high octane petrol.
You can also make online rivals, ooh I love this. Making 50 rivals will also unlock a sweet ‘Firestarter’ achievement. I never loved my enemies so much. You can also simply “Freeroam” in the city in which up to 8 gamers can join you. Then you can start your own challenges, races or you can simply have fun by taking other gamers down in the game.
Game play (Offline): 6/10
Online 9/10
MAJOR DRAWBACKS :
This installment of Burnout does have its share of problems, though. For instance, I hate the fact that there is no offline multi-player, which could have been a lot of fun. For online gaming, an XBox 360 hard disk is a pre-requisite. God knows why, when everyone else is happy with memory cards. Also the map navigation is a bit irritating.
Conclusion
Even with its share of niggles, if you are an arcade racing game fan, not having this game in your collection would be as bad as sacrilege.
SatishSays dot Com Rating 9/10
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