Latest Game Reviews

Burnout 2: Point of Impact Review - Gamecube

11th October 2003 by
86%
Burnout was a unique racer boasting a realistic look and feel that came together with its crazy aggressive driving, rewarding players for doing insane things like driving on the wrong side of the road down a busy highway. With the sequel, we get all of the fun from the original with plenty of improvements and extras, making Burnout 2 a must buy. The driving has become even crazier with all new ways to get rewarded for your antics, including bigger, better and more spectacular crashes. Is this all enough to warrant a sequel, or was this a formula that shouldn't be repeated? Strap yourself in; it's going to be one hell of a ride.

Gameplay

Picture this, I'm driving down the freeway on the opposite side of the rode in my supped up pickup truck when suddenly the Japanese muscle in front of me clips a family sedan and sends it into a huge truck, which I plough into and suddenly I'm airborne at a speed enough to get me three traffic fines in one. Sound like fun? You bet it is. The game itself gets some new features for its GameCube release, though this isn't exactly a massive list. It's had the visual and audio tweaked, but all that its had to warrant its delayed Gamecube release is an extra 15 crash junctions. This is disappointing really, because you would have thought maybe some extra vehicles or improved multiplayer modes were in order. Hopefully we'll see something better made out of Burnout 3!

Straight from the start, you jump into the driver's seat in "Offensive driving 101" which is like your tutorial for the game, teaching you all the skills you must develop to succeed. The weird thing about this is that it's compulsory. You have to complete this to progress on to the other game modes, which is definitely a strange decision on Criterion's part, forcing Burnout 1 veterans to go through an explanation course of what they really already know. Once you get going there's quite a few different play modes including: Single race, Championship, Time attack, Pursuit and Crash (Which is what makes this game famed. Try to create the most damage possible!)

The theory behind Burnout 2 is that you take a race circuit, build apartments through it, and encourage generic traffic to drive through it. Whilst it is street racing, the tracks are set out and there are barriers in place. The control scheme works fine but it's hard to make something bad of controls for a racing game. You'll learn very quickly just how much you need to lean your control-stick to get around those hairpin bends, which is really important because if you don't get it right, you'd better hope you're not paying for the repairs. Burnout 2 is unique for its street racing themed boost. The boost is called "burnouts" but it's not a tire-melting screech. You have a Burnout Meter at the bottom left of your screen, (continued next page)

next page »