Burnout blows the doors off of Need For Speed. That's a good thing.
Gameplay- 8/10
Although it's all smashing fun (no pun intended) among the five modes: Race, Road Rage, Burning Lap, Pursuit and Crash, the Pursuit mode needs some help. Reminiscent of NFS Hot Pursuit 2's Cop mode, you play as the police and attempt to crash a target car into submission. the problem is that the target often retains a perfect racing line, and therefore if you get too far behind you can't get back in time, but the other modes make up for it. Race is a circuit race with 3 laps and 3 other opponents. Road Rage has you driving on a map and trying to score as many Takedowns (completely destroying the other cars) as possible. Burning Lap is a one lap time trial. And Crash mode, a signature of the series, returns, which involves you, your car, and several hundred thousand dollars of money to be made in damage (I'll let you guess what you're supposed to do.). Glitches are rare, but I have experienced the hit-an-invisible-bump-in-the-road-and-go-flying glitch and the pop down though the street, but the latter only makes you laugh harder.
Graphics- 9/10
Generally, the graphics look pristine and polished, and the game moves at a nice frame rate, but on the Vineyard levels the trees can cause some unfortunate lag, which also can show up in Crash mode explosions.
Sound- 9/10
I've only heard of one song on the playlist- Do What You Want by Ok Go, but the EA Trax is surprisingly well-picked to suit the hectic atmosphere of Burnout. Unfortunately most of the cars sound the same, but crash noises and explosions sound spectactular, especially with headphones. If only they'd added a custom playlist...
Controls- 10/10
No problem here. (I'm going to throw the camera in here- beware, as the Crash Cam is a double-edged sword. It'll give you a glorious view of your opponents destroyed ride tumbling through the air, but then the auto controls sometimes direct you into the path of an incoming semi, and you know who'll win(not you.)).
Multiplayer- 5/10
Too bad I don't live in Japan, where every single kid in town has a PSP. They limited a Burnout game to Ad Hoc. That's all. That sucks. No infrastucture. No online play. Nothing. So I haven't experienced multiplayer at all, which is one of the biggest trump cards Burnout has to offer. Bad problemo.
Final Score- 8.9/10
A few bumps are experienced in your not-so-leisurely drive, but with the hundreds of cars to unlock, one hundred Crash situations, and the sheer fun of blowing people up with Crashbreaker make up for them. Go buy it. Now.