The King of arcade racers is back.
Graphics.
If you thought Burnout 3 looked good, this game will blow you away. It's much better than B3 was. The blur effect is still there and kicking ass. The whole "paradise" look (really bright and colorful backgrounds) is gone for more realistic shades. The tracks just simply look amazing. The crashes are much better here. In the previous games the cars only bent in certain parts, for this game the crashes look even more real, while keeping their insane style. One thing a lot of people will like is that a lot of the cars no longer are splattered with fake racing stickers all over the place. Burnout 3's cars didn't give a real feeling, they looked like race cars, and this game however, went for the more realistic tone which is a good thing. Now colors are a different thing. The last Burnout game had only around 3 colors per car (most of them), and they were usually: black, red, and blue, with the occasional different color thrown in to replace one of them. This game now has different shades of black/gray, blue and red.
Gameplay.
Again a more realistic approach has been done here. The cars feel more solid, more like real cars, while still keeping their wild speed and handling. Possibly one of the biggest changes is checking traffic; in past games traffic going in the direction you were traveling would cause a crash if you hit them. Not any more (for the most part), though hitting big vehicles like buses and semis will still cause a crash (or a regular car if it's going incredibly slow), everyone else can be pounded out of the way. So you can now, literally, plow through traffic. Also, oncoming traffic still cause a wreck, and it looks like there is more traffic this time so it'll be harder driving on the wrong side of the road. And of course all of these crazy driving techniques, if they're considered techniques, will give you boost, and everyone knows boost is a good thing. Takedowns will increase the size of the boost bar, though only the harder takedowns give massive boost now. If you crash the boost bar decreases, this is where another aspect of the game kicks in. After touch, after... you crash the car will still be controllable, so that it's possible to still takedown other racers with your crumpled heap (later races have a crash breaker, which just explodes the car, making it possible to wreck other cars without necessarily having to hit them) Driving physics have been much improved; it is now harder to takedown an opponent. Though the most reasonable reason is in the games name.
The point is now revenge takedowns. When you are taken down, that racer becomes a revenge target and when you take them down, you get... revenge. There have also been additions to the type of takedowns, including an awesome vertical takedown, the more insane the takedown the more points. Points?
Yes this game now has ranks. Events are categorized by rank, the better you do in an event. The more points you get advancing you in rank. This will unlock more cars as well as (obviously) more events. You will be rated on aggression of pretty much everything. The game has a good amount of different types of events to keep you busy. It's mostly just racing, or trying to cause as much havoc as possible.
Tracks.
Again an improvement on the past games, though there still aren't that many tracks. These tracks finally have some variation, and they don't keep blending into each other. No map, these games rely on memorization of the track, it used to be easy, but not there are many hidden paths through out a track, so finding, and remembering where they are, should keep things interesting, there are 8 different locations where tracks are set, but there's much more than 8 tracks. Also, a little added fun factor, jumps, yes these tracks actually let you catch some mad air, and the sense of speed will rip you apart, not exactly rip you, but it will be awesome.
Multiplayer/Online.
For online the events are pretty much the same as in regular play. There is not much lag. It's fun. The part that's not so great is that this game's headset system doesn't require a pushed button to talk, so you can hear everyone breathing. I won't say much more about this, since it is basically like offline play, but with the opponents being other real people. Same for two player.
Sound.
This is where it lost a point for me. I did enjoy the music in Burnout 3. But most of the music in this game is just not very interesting. Luckily all the other noises (explosions, grindings, crashes, engines roaring and what not) are all excellently done. So if you fit into the category that didn't like the music in B3, which is most people, you will probably hate this even more.
Replay value.
Does this game have replay value? Of course it does. There are a lot of unlockable cars, as well as extra things to do besides the basic events, and if you have online, there will be hours of extra play time in this game.
Burnout once again proves that it's still the best arcade racer this generation. This game has set for a more realistic tone, which is for the best, while keeping its rugged insanity. Graphics are better than ever, and so is the fun. Oh yes, and a lot of destruction, how can you go wrong not buying this game. Oh yeah, the music, I was just a little sad when I heard it. It's not enough to ruin the game though.