![]() Burnout 2 brought gameplay modes, a smoother, more enjoyable structure and the hugely enjoyable ‘crash junctions’ along to the party. Burnout was the arcade racer that added boosts and traffic to the genre. With each update to the franchise, they’ve managed to do something that radically changes the nature of the game. The Burnout team don’t just deserve plaudits for the presentation, however. They don’t just look good – they give you time to breathe. Thank goodness for the slick, movie-style replays that flash in after every crash or takedown. As far as intense audio-visual experiences go, Burnout: Revenge is as good as it gets. And while the hand of EA is again clearly visible in the soundtrack, which is heavy on the up and coming guitar bands, it all fits the action pretty well. From the sounds of steel tearing against steel to the whoosh of the traffic as you boost past or through, this one practically begs for a decent Pro-Logic II surround-sound system (Dolby Digital 5.1 on Xbox). Get your ears syringed while you’re at it, because Revenge sounds every bit as good as it looks. If you see Revenge running and don’t feel the hairs pricking up at the back of your neck, then you’re either stupidly dull or you need to get your sight checked. It even has a lovely faux-HDRI lighting effect that smacks more of this year’s new hardware than something five years old. While doing so, it’s running a spectacular if exaggerated physics engine that throws cars around like toys in a playpen, and AI routines that have a vicious, playful personality of their own. ![]() Somehow, that supposedly near-obsolete black box under your TV is handling rich, detailed environments, gorgeous textures, reflections galore, a packed field of racers, heavy traffic and a whole mass of twisting, shearing metal, all moving at ludicrously high speeds with a frame rate that never seems to drop below 60fps for a second. And while Burnout: Revenge packs a little more punch in its Xbox incarnation, the PS2 version is a staggering achievement. Just when we’d got used to it being the Xbox’s whipping boy – the console that can’t do Doom 3 or Far Cry: Instincts – along comes something to prove it can still deliver on the shock and awe front. ![]() ![]() Nowhere has this been more surprising than on the PS2. Just when it seems that we’ve exhausted the potential of Xbox, Gamecube and PlayStation 2, along comes something that shows there’s still extra power that can be squeezed out of the current-generation systems that there’s enough oomph in the existing boxes to slacken your jaw in surprise and wonder. ”’Platforms: PS2 & Xbox – PS2 version reviewed.”’Įver get that feeling that we’re not quite ready for the next generation? ![]()
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