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I've
been playing a lot of racing games lately on my PS2. I started
off with the original Burnout, checked out Need for Speed Hot
Pursuit 2 and finished off with the second installment of
Burnout, Point of Impact. All of the games were fun especially
when playing with friends until the wee hours of the night,
but there hasn’t been very much innovation when it comes to
racing games. While Burnout 2 may not be innovative, it is a
pure arcade racer, and it is easy to pop in and start playing
at a competitive level right away.
Burnout and its sequel were the first to add a new dimension
with the Boost Gauge. In order to fill the boost gauge
aggressive driving is a must. The gauge fills up for driving
against traffic, near misses of other cars or drifting around
corners. Once the gauge is completely
full an added boost propels your vehicle down the |
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road. The original Burnout gave a
much better sensation of speed by blurring the image and
landscape, Burnout2 increases the speed of the vehicle but
isn’t as visually appealing. Speaking of the visuals, Burnout
2 looks clean, with good landscapes and tracks. The cars are a
little plain and generic (compared to the licensed NFS cars),
but the bonus cars are pretty cool: stock car racer, flaming
roadster, old-fashioned limo and more. The least visually
appealing part of the game is the on screen text; whether it
be the menus, high score tables, pretty much any text on the
screen is almost illegible. I thought it was just me after a
couple too many beers, but all my friends who played the game
agreed. I looked for a way to adjust the visuals in the game;
I changed cables and TVs, but to no avail.
Typical game modes are available and are identical between
Burnout 1 and 2. There are Single Player Races and
Head-to-Head competition. There is also a Championship Series
that starts with a 3 race series. If you win a series other
races and bonuses will open up. Typically if you win the
series the next series will open up, however if you win Gold
in all of the races in the series the bonus will also open up.
Bonuses come in a couple of flavors: Face-off and Pursuit. In
a typical race there are 3 other competitors on the track. In
the face-off there is only one in a brand new car. If you win
the face-off, you win the car and can choose to drive it in
future races. Pursuit is similar in that there is only one
competitor, but just like NFS Hot Pursuit you need to chase
down the computer-controlled competitor before he gets to the
finish line. As an added feature, you win the car if you can
hit the other car 8 times. The Championship series is about 15
events with between 1 – 6 races each and will take a while to
finish, after all of those races are complete the Custom
Championship Series opens up with more Series, Face-offs and
Pursuits – too bad it is on all the same tracks just reversed.
I got a little ahead of myself with the game modes because the
first thing required before you can play any of the game is to
go to Driving School 101. There are 15 license tests in
Driving School that must be passed to open up the other modes
of the game. Getting Gold in all of the tests adds the Drivers
Ed car to your garage of selectable cars – don’t get too
excited though the car reminds me of a Geo Metro and has
similar driving abilities.
The newest and best feature of the game is a Crash Mode.
Burnout is known for the awesome stop motion car crashes in
the first version. I thought this slowed down the game play in
Burnout, and luckily it has been toned down during racing in
Burnout 2. Toned down in the racing modes but now available
independently from racing in a separate Crash mode. In Crash
mode you can play by yourself or against a friend. There are
15 crash sites to choose from and your boost is always full –
all you have to do is fly down the road and crash – whoever
causes the most damage wins. The game sets dollar limits to
attain Bronze, Silver and Gold levels for each stage and the
next stage doesn’t open until you get at least a Bronze. I
wish I could tell you what happens when you get Gold in all of
these events, but I can’t do it. I have 12 Gold, 2 Silver and
1 Bronze after many hours of playing. This is where the stop
motion (Matrix style) video really shows off the crash scenes.
Afterwards a helicopter flies overhead panning over the
wreckage so everything can be taken in. Hands down the best
part of the whole game.
Like I said before the game is a lot of fun to play, but it
can also be frustrating. Like most driving games the
developers want to make it challenging and difficult; the
Burnout series takes the cake. They have catch-up mode on all
the time, so what that means is no matter how well you are
driving, no matter how much boost you use, the competitors are
always right behind you just waiting for you to crash right
before the finish line. I know it sounds like I am whining,
but if they require Gold in all six races of a series to open
the bonus and there is no ability to restart a single race in
the series it makes it very, very difficult to ever get the
bonus. I guess that gives the game some added lasting appeal,
but when a game frustrates me enough I typically throw it in
the drawer and move on to something better.
Overall the game is a step above the original in all respects.
It is a typical arcade racer that is very fast and technically
sound, aside from the blurred text. Playing head to head
against friends will be a blast and if you play the game
without the intention of ever finishing it you’ll have a good
time.
Hoover Rating:
3 out of 5 Planets
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Burnout 2>> |
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Buy It @
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