They weren’t even going to make it. Having created the promising Burnout and its beautiful, heavily optimised sequel, Criterion moved on to other projects. One being another racer, currently known as Dust Storm, the other a mysterious first-person shooter labelled Black. That could have been that. Burnout in the abyss. But Burnout 2 has almost as many admirers within the industry as it does outside and soon the Guildford-based developer was being asked to speak to other makers. How had it tweezered such searing performance from PS2? How could it deliver so much detail without so much as a shudder or stumble? Somebody suggested witchcraft, before being ejected and burnt – it’s like that in Guildford. But when Criterion began to dissect the game’s super-fast engine, it found mistakes. Despite believing at the time to be pushing the very edge of the machine’s capability, it now saw areas where the game could be substantially improved. Tsk. Or rather hooray! Because that finding resulted in this – a truly crazed sequel that spreads inside PS2, pushes petrol-fumed fingers into every dark place and makes everything explode at once. Yet B3’s far from being all about a few extra polygons and five more miles per hour. It’s the gaming equivalent of a short skirt, so let’s talk about it. There’s noticeably more detail and it’s never more apparent than on the streets of the Far East. Yes, this third iteration has abandoned the US-only setting of the last game and gone back to the globe-trotting of the original, visiting various European and Eastern settings, as well as the States. And as with everything about Burnout, nothing is an exact replica – you race past familiar landmarks and architecture but nothing gets in the way of a good circuit layout. So the roads of the Golden City track wind crookedly through the ancient streets of what is in all but name – and law – Bangkok. The detail really sunrises here because it’s all such a tangle, so full of colour and non – uniform heights, shapes and features. And it’s all going past so damn fast.
MIND THE FRUIT
It doesn’t all just sit there passively either. Nothing how much people liked to smash through the roads works in B2, the developer is including drifts of extra objects – crates and stalls and baskets in the non- Bangkok market, for instance – for you to demolish. It adds an extra thrill for those few seconds when you can’t quite see where you’re going and finding half-concealed routes is always fun. It’s a long way from apeing the multiple shortcuts of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2, though there are frequently choices of routes around various obstacles and buildings. And, as you’ll see, this game sprays you with furious motion in every way it can. Disintegrating objects and sparkling side-swipes only emphasise the irresistible sense of speed. The cars, too are impressively detailed and often rather sexy. Once again, they’re entirely creations of their designers’ imaginations and any resemblance to real-life vehicles is totally coincidental. In fact, the five classes contain more than 50 cars that coincidentally aren’t desirable models, such as a classic Ford Mustang, Mitsubishi Lancer, Honda NSX, Toyota MR2 or the outrageous McLaren F1, no matter what you may think. And it’s more of an expansion than you might at first realise – while the last game had 21 cars, seven of those were repeated as tuned versions, meaning only 14 base models. But while the customised cars are gone, there are two important factors to savour. Firstly, the potentially more boring tier of ‘ordinary’ cars has been pruned off with the game’s starting vehicles being closer to B2’s street-tuned efforts. And secondly, faster cars are race tuned with the ultimate category (super sports) being, shall we say open-wheeled. No, they’re not F1 cars and they’re certainly not their more exciting counterparts from the American CART series either.
THEY’RE OUT TO GET YOU
So there are far more cars and they’re faster. There are more styles of vehicle and more types of track to drive them on – each locale offers different challenges from city grids to sinuous mountain passes to sweeping coastal highways – and the game’s at least a third bigger than B2. But so what, if you’re just doing the same thing as before? Well, you’re not. The boost system’s changes, the focus has changed and, frankly, it’s time to adapt or die. Previously you raced three other cars. Now there are five. And they don’t like you. The first two games were all about racing in traffic but Burnout 3 is fighting in traffic, as you race. While you still earn the all-important boost from lairy drifts, big air and wrong-lane chicken, the big rewards now come from treating your opponents in a way that prevents James Spader from walking in polite company. Hitting them earns you boosts and there are all kinds of manoeuvres to pull off, such as an exploratory bumper-punch from behind, an even more mean-spirited ‘psyche out’ caused just by menacing them, the meaningful sideswipe of the ‘slam’ and the full ‘takedown’ . Each hit earns you a boost and, vitally, steals it away from your victim. Obviously, it works the other way too. And just to make it that little bit more personal, cars are now associated with drivers, their icons appearing to let you know who’s just put your front axle through the ashtray with the help of a tram. Pick on someone and they’ll come for you. It’s so unfriendly. Takedowns – achieved inevitably by causing a total wipe out – earn you an instant full boost. In addition, every course has three or four signature takedowns where the layout presents a particularly dangerous place to crash into someone. The smoothed-off barriers of B2 are long gone. Remember the classic car chase from The French Connection, in and out of those deadly iron struts in pursuit of an elevated train? You’ll find these in the Chicago-inspired city, along with many other dangers. Angle somebody into one of those and your haul points gets even bigger.
LOONEY TUNED
Yes, points. These form a running total throughout the game – earned by driving like a complete lunatic – and unlock your ‘milestone rewards’. These may be new vehicles, secret cars (expect one or two B2 classics to return with a healthy garage of new ones), fresh tracks or even a new mode or two. Potentially very tasty indeed. What’s more, boosts can now be used as soon as they’re earned rather than having to wait until the bar’s full. This could be vital in keeping races alive, as the inevitable extra crashing could otherwise ruin your chances. The handling, the speed, the obstacles, the AI – all the pieces are already in place but how finely balanced the rewards and penalties of lethal driving will dictate the success of Burnout 3’s single-player game. That it’s extremely playable already bodes well but ultimately only time will tell. But never mind the artistry because you, you big lump, want damage. And you’ve got it. Sparks fly, glass shatters and chassis twist like never before – it really is possible to stove an axle halfway up the car. Nasty. What’s more, bonnets now flap and crumple, doors swing open and everything just gets that little bit more hurt. The ever popular crash mode is massively expanded, seeing the reintroduction of ‘large vehicles’ (Criterion refuses to be more specific), more junctions, a two-player mode and online support. Online! We’ve hardly mentioned it but it’s a fundamental part of Burnout 3. And unlike several similar games, all the traffic and eye-fluttering crashes remain and they’re both just as heavy. In essence though (and impressively), it’s exactly what we’ve described above, with the added bonus of up to five real opponents. On the strength of past achievements, this could prove reason alone to hook up to broadband. But ultimately, time will tell. And to think they weren’t even going to make it… Tsk.
Topic: 6 players for Burnout 3 online (Read 620 times)