I’ll never forget when I failed my first driver’s test. I was completely confident that I was going to pass with relative ease and for the most part I did well ? until I got onto the highway. It was rush hour and I had to navigate through the congestion of sports cars whizzing by, rustic looking vans chugging along and massive shaky eighteen-wheelers. I was instructed to make a lane change and having forgotten to check my blind spot, cut off an SUV, the driver of which honked his horn in fury. Indeed, the license officer wasn?t impressed I nearly caused an accident.

Ironically, with a game like Burnout Revenge, available for PS2 and Xbox, my bad driving habits are actually rewarded. In this action racer nearly everything that makes a person a bad driver in turn becomes the skills needed to dominate. Crashing into cars, cutting off opponents, causing huge explosions, and of course doing speeds of more than 200kmh is all part of the fun.

The main one-player mode titled World Tour consists of ten levels each of which has a variety of events. Depending on how well you fare out you can win bronze, silver, or gold and the better the rank, the more events you can unlock. The cars themselves are not from the auto industry but what with an obvious influence from super cars like Ferrari and Lamborghini they look totally awesome. Plenty of cars are unlocked as you progress through new events.

Traffic Attack, Burning Lap, Race, Crash, Road Rage and Grand Prix are the scenarios that make up the events – each one unique in its own way.

In Traffic Attack the aim is to check as many cars as possible, which adds time to your clock, so that you can cause hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage. As with all the events, crashing into a wall or ramming an oncoming car slows you down.

In Burning Lap it?s a simple race against the clock ? the faster you tear up the lap, the shiner the medal.

Race pits you against five opponents in a no-holds-barred battle to the finish line. Gaining the lead and then keeping it depends on how well you can check the competition into civilian cars or vice-versa. It also helps if you get the hang of Aftertouch; whenever you crash your car you can press a button to start a sort of bullet time in which you control the momentum of your car?s crash. This allows you to pick off people looking to overtake you.

In Road Rage you have to make sure a specific number of racing cars have an unfortunate accident before the clock runs out. Evidentley this event is just like Traffic Attack except instead of crushing civilians you have racing cars to pick a bone with.

In Crash mode your car will explode on impact once you pick up enough speed so you have to try to navigate through the streets and into the most congested area so that your vehicle becomes a weapon of mass destruction. Lastly, is your typological Grand Prix in which whoever ranks the highest in three races wins.

In general, I?m not too crazy about these kinds of racing games with the exception of Mario Kart. Usually, I prefer your Need for Speeds and Grand Turismos but that doesn?t mean this game isn?t fantastic. It takes a lengthy amount of time to fully beat and it?s online compatible. I played the PS2 version and the graphics definitely could have been smoother, so I imagine they are on Xbox.

If you prefer these kinds of racing games I strongly recommend making an investment in a steering wheel. Oft times it?s only with a d-pad that you get precision when trying to slide through turns. Since the basic strategy of this game throws manoeuvring skills right out the window it?s way more fun with a steering wheel. Come to think of it, I?m actually surprised Burnout Revenge wasn?t originally made for arcades because it?s such a high-speed thriller of a racing game.

If you?re a reckless driver then run, don?t walk to your nearest gaming store and try out a copy of Burnout Revenge.






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