Burnout: Revenge [PS2]

Famed for its outstanding feeling of speed, its spectacular and exaggerated crash sequences and its addictive blend of racing and car-on-car violence, the Burnout series has won many fans. Revenge is going to win it even more - it builds on the strengths of the past games, adds plenty of new toys, and provides yet more proof that this series is one of the best things to happen to racing games in quite some years.

So, what's changed? Revenge's most obvious new feature is that now, when you're racing through traffic, cars moving the same way as you can be bashed out of your way without penalty. Seriously, they fly like they're made from tinfoil, causing a major road hazard. Hitting them into other traffic (or, better yet, your rivals) is both encouraged and rewarded, and there's a new game mode, Traffic Attack, that pits you against the clock to trash as much traffic as possible.

Course design has also seen some work -- it wasn't exactly bad before, but it's a whole lot more exciting now. Jump ramps, short-cuts, alternate routes and smashable barriers all give Burnout players many more options, and with those options come many more opportunities for spectacular takedown moves.

Another addition is the Crashbreaker - triggered after you're nailed by a rival, it's a thumping great explosion that'll take out everything around you. Timing this to nail a troublesome AI car or two (or, better yet, a human opponent) is marvelously engaging. It's cheap, sure, but there's no better way to irritate your friends.

Burnout is still at the top of the graphical pile. Revenge isn't much of a leap forward over previous titles, but let's be honest, there really wasn't all that much room for improvement. It's a fantastically well presented game, keeps its frame-rate constant even under the most extreme of circumstances, and conveys an absolutely breathtaking feeling of speed. The licensed soundtrack will be a matter of personal taste, but the absence of Burnout 3's prattling DJ ought to please just about everyone.

That's one irritation gone, but another one remains. Burnout's much-criticized catch-up AI is back, and much the same as it was before. For the uninitiated, this means the speed of the computer-controlled cars is boosted when you're driving well. It's intended to keep the race competitive by preventing the player from pulling out too much of a lead, but it can also lead to last-lap frustration when a small mistake turns what should have been a strong lead into a last place.

For some, this will probably be enough to put them off the game by itself, but that'd be a real shame. Revenge has more variety in its events than Burnout 3, so you're not just competing to be first over the line each time out. The revamped course design also helps, as while you do still end up tangling with the AI cars pretty much continually during a race, there are now many more opportunities to take them down.

So here's a question for you: ever felt like playing golf with cars? Revenge's Crash mode, familiar to players of the earlier game, gives you the chance to kamikaze-catapult your ride towards a crowded intersection, in an attempt to cause as much damage as possible. It's lost the power-up icons so crucial to high scores in prior games, so all you have to focus on is the traffic. Oh, and button-mashing to charge your Crashbreakers to cause maximum destruction - yes, you'll often be able to pull off more than one per run.

Where does golf come in? At the starting line of a Crash event, your speed is determined by a "swing-ometer" straight out of 90s golf games. As it rises and falls, you have to time button taps for maximum power and straightness, then pow! Your ball - er, "car" - speeds off down the track to certain destruction, or so you hope. Plenty of tracks and a fairly forgiving difficulty level make these events among Revenge's most compelling, and well worth repeat plays. Only the inexplicable omission of replay videos mars it.

If you found Burnout 3 a little tough, you'll probably appreciate Revenge's more relaxed difficulty level. Your AI opponents don't sling traffic in your direction, and don't use Crashbreakers, so you're nearly always playing with a stacked deck. Without having to dodge through traffic quite so much, your risk of crashing is significantly lower, and the handling model won't take anybody too long to master.

Multiplayer is where most players will look to find a stiffer challenge. Online play is available on both platforms, and comes with a Halo 2-like player-matching system. Oddly, unlocks for single and multiplayer game modes are separated, so you can't use your favorite vehicles from the single-player side online without unlocking them again. Still, it won't take long, and online play is more than enjoyable enough to justify the extra effort.

Burnout Revenge has it all: outstanding presentation, gripping gameplay, excellent track design, and most importantly, enough new content to set it above its predecessors. Irritations like the frequent loading pauses and annoying savegame prompts have been dealt with. And most importantly, the mixture of blistering speed, edge-of-the-seat thrills and explosive crashes works just as well as it ever did. The Burnout series gets better and better every time.