Anyone with the need for speed would do well to pick up a copy of Burnout Revenge.
The gameplay is excellent. Fast-paced and fun. It really gives you that feeling to crush your opponents. Once on the road, and using the game's very nice nitro boost system, you will find yourself flying at outrageous speeds. It's actually unbelievable that you can actually steer your car, but it works. Multiplayer is very nice too, working the same way as single-player, but you will care not about computer players. You will seriously want to smash your friend's car into tiny pieces. The game also includes online play, which can be fun too, if you find anyone online. The game consists of a few cool modes including:
Race,
Crashbreaker Race,
Road Rage,
Crashbreaker Road Rage,
Elimination,
Crashbreaker Elimination,
Traffic Attack,
Grand Prix,
and Crash.
Throughout the game, you will go through many series of races, boosting your rank higher depending on your score in the race. Race is a normal race, basically you just try to prevent your opponents from reaching the finish line before you do, road rage is a competition to see how many other cars you can "takedown" (takedown is a Burnout term for destroy). In elimination, you must try to keep ahead of everyone else, because if the time runs out, and you're in last place, you are done. The timer keeps going until everyone but one is eliminated from the race. In traffic attack, you must destroy as many non-racing vehicles as you can. The more you destroy, the more time you will get on the timer. When the timer runs out, your score is counted. Grand Prix is a series of races, and in crash, you must see how many cars you can utterly destroy by using a well-planned strategy with provided ramps and collectables. The more money that your destruction is worth, the more points you get.
What is a crashbreaker? Crashbreaker is one of the cool things that makes Burnout one of the greatest racing games out there. When you have the opportunity during a match (usually by crashing), you can press R2 and wreak havoc upon your opponents. Your car will explode into a fiery ball of destruction, and if you use your slow-mo technique after crashing, you can effectively hit your opponents, and crash them. Why do you think they call it Burnout Revenge?
There is so much to gameplay to like, but I am really disappointed that unlike in Burnout 3: Takedown they did not include an option to set up a random match, instead of playing campaign mode. That really took away from the experience, but Burnout Revenge is still a pretty good game.
Now, enough of gameplay. Let's review the graphics. As usual, the graphics are amazing. Not Final Fantasy amazing, or Metal Gear Solid amazing, but pretty good nonetheless. The graphics still stay pretty sharp, even when the world is flying past you and your vehicle. Not really much to say here though.
On to sound. Sound was pretty good, with the car crashing, and the car sounds, everything fit in the game perfectly. But there was a mistake the developers made...the music. The music is filled with a lot of pop/punk commercial music, used to market the game better. I don't like it at all, and I actually turn the music off when I'm playing. EA could have chosen some better music here, maybe something heavier and darker. That would definitely fit the game a lot more.
This game is really coming down in price, now that it is aging a bit, and selling a lot of copies. It's not a Greatest Hits, but you should be able to find it for around $30. Maybe cheaper, if you look for it previously owned. But you definitely get what you are paying for, and that is high-speed, fast-paced racing action, am I right?
I tilt this game 10 out of 10, giving Burnout Revenge a final score of 9.0. A superb game, to say the least. So, in conclusion, if you are tired of Gran Turismo, Need For Speed Most Wanted, or any of the Need For Speed games, and want a truly different racing experience, don't be afraid to give Burnout Revenge a try. Anyone with a true need for speed will enjoy this, I guarantee it.