I had a lot of fun with this one, but it was generally lacking in depth
GAMEPLAY
A lot better than some of the older burnouts I played. You drive really fast, recklessly, and you fill the burnout meter, which allows you to use boost, which in turn lets you go faster and more recklessly. Great concept, and executed perfectly.
Then there is the rubber band AI. I hate rubber band AI, I will always hate rubber band AI, but here its okay... Just this one time it doesn't ruin the fun of the game. They are mainly there for you to knock off the road and wreck them. They are retarded when not near you, when far ahead of you, they run right into walls and go through traffic, and when behind you, they instantly catch up. But when around you, its awesome. Ones you wronged before will try to wreck you, while you are trying to wreck another one. The best way to gain boost is to take down and opponent. It also increases the size of the boost meter, allowing you to hold more boost.
Take downs are the star of the racing gameplay. Not only are they fun to do, but they look good, sound good, and work well. The only problem with the gameplay of this is that the camera goes onto the other car while it wrecks into rubble. Once or twice it caused me to crash, though both times I was likely to crash either way, I would have liked to have seen what I was going to hit.
Crash mode is the other main mode. You basically crash into an intersection, making the biggest possible wreck and drive up the insurance as much as possible. Its quick, fun and well suited for a handheld, though it has little lasting value, besides unlocking cars.
GRAPHICS
I've played a lot of PSP games, and this game by far has the best graphics. From beautiful slow motion take downs, to the incredible sense of speed, the graphics are top notch. The cars break down and deform so well, that it just never gets old to see a take down, or wreck... for a long time at least.
The cars and levels themselves also look very well, but what happens to the cars is still the star of the show.
The variety of levels is vast, though you can feel a bit of the same graphics in each level, and very few have a defining part of the track that you will loath. There are a lot of tracks, made of roadways and closed off areas, and they look good. The worst looking thing in the game are the non race vehicles on the road. The deform less spectacularly, and are not as nearly detailed as the aforementioned cars. But... who cars when you are going over 200 MPH?
Frame rate is pretty stable, though it hitches up once in a great while, it never made me screw up.
SOUND
Ah, the weak part of the game. The music is mediocre, and even gets in the way of the game. When it changes music to a different track, a notification will come up on screen and BLOCK the boost meter, and a significant amount of the screen, and causes the frame rate to drop. It once again didn't ruin the game, but felt like it was wrong.
The actual cars sound good, explosions are alright, etc. Its basically all servicable, as most work went into the graphics. Though one bright spot is that the slow motion crashes have awesome slow motion sounds with them, and it definitely helps the experience of a big crash.
VALUE
Handheld games are hard to put an accurate value score, because they are vastly different in audience. In a technical sense, there are plenty of modes and events to play in the game, and tons of cars to unlock. Plus there are at least 10 different tracks that I can remember, and you can race each in reverse. There are plenty of crash maps also, and they will also put a gleam in your eye when you launch the perfect crash.
But, the value is not caused by that. The sheer joy in wrecking your opponent and watching the car disintegrate is more fun than anything else in the game, especially when its toward the end of the race, and you only have a few more turns to go.
TILT
This may be me, but I've never cared for the burnout series. I didn't like burnout 1 or 2. So, getting this game was a risk. I have utterly enjoyed it, but the same feeling of not wanting to play the game comes up. It doesn't have that hold that a story (scratch that, a good story) based game has. Given, some games like this don't need, or probably are better off without a story. But it doesn't make up for the fact I don't feel like playing it after going about half way through, and the only reason I am is because I just want to get the game over with.
OVERALL
Its a great game, every respect of it is refined (except music, I prefer real video game music over this licensed crap. Keep people singing music out of video games!) and the game comes off extremely easy to pick up and play, and has a variety of things to do. Just make sure this is your kind of game before you dive in head first.