I’m still in the middle of BioShock 2, so I’m going to kick this week’s gaming entries off with a gaming topic that I’ve been wrestling with for a while now: “open-world” sandbox gameplay design. It seems like it’s getting more and more popular these days, and while I may be in the minority for this, I don’t think I am a fan. Grand Theft Auto III made sandbox gameplay popular, and ever since then, we’ve seen several games in the last few years implement this “feature’ from Burnout to Halo. The addition of basically being forced to travel everywhere to actually start a mission certainly makes a game longer, but does it make a game more enjoyable?

Sandbox/open-world gameplay design is really tough to naildown, as there are many games out there that have some implementation of it while not necessarily relying on it. I think back to the old school NES days, and games like Kung-Fu, Super Mario Bros. 1-4, etc. all were pretty much focused on the missions. While the later Super Mario Bros. games started drifting towards more traveling between missions (like Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World), it wasn’t until Super Mario 64 that you were forced to go open doors to start a level on a huge castle map. And it’s that jump to all this “downtime” between the missions is what is starting to annoy me. Here are some examples of recent games that tackle (or deal with) open-world gameplay.

Burnout Revenge vs Burnout Paradise
Burnout Paradise is probably one of the strongest examples of a sandbox style game. Prior to Burnout Paradise, the previous Burnout games, including my favorite, Burnout Revenge, were all level based and selectable from a mission menu. You would choose which race/challenge you wanted to compete in, and the race would start. If you lost, you could simply start the race/challenge again from the menu.

When Burnout Paradise was first released, the game was an open world so you actually had to drive everywhere in order to find a mission to start it. Is there really a lot of fun in having to drive several minutes to find a mission to take on? What if you don’t want to do that particular mission? You have to drive across town in order to do the mission you want to do? And on top of that, when the game was first released, if you lost a mission, that was it. You would end up somewhere else on the map (wherever you lost in that mission), and you would have to drive all the way back to the mission start location to start the mission again. Thankfully, that has since been patched so quick restarts are now in the game (after a lot of people complained), but my annoyance remains that I have to physically waste time driving everywhere I want to actually start a mission.

I do realize that it’s fun to play through an open world sandbox with friends online, but it’s not something that really provides a tangible benefit from gameplay. It’s like I’ve now being forced to commute anywhere I want to start a mission when it was fine before that.

Halo 3: ODST
Halo 3: ODST was the first Halo to implement a sandbox-style world, forcing you to travel through the streets of New Mombasa in order to find equipment from your squad that would trigger their flashback missions. While I still prefer no sandbox to sandbox style game design, I thought it worked quite well for ODST and I probably enjoyed the Halo 3: ODST campaign more than any other Halo’s campaign. I’m still trying to determine why I wasn’t as bothered by the Halo 3: ODST sandbox, and I think it’s most likely because the primary aspect of Halo 3: ODST, the combat, was still present during the sandbox mode. As you moved from one area to another, you still had to take on enemies, so it almost didn’t feel like a sandbox at all. In my previous example with Burnout Paradise, the driving from one mission to another was NOT the primary aspect of Burnout Paradise. Driving is not the same as racing.

Grand Theft Auto IV (& its expansions)
Having recently beaten The Lost and the Damned expansion, I was annoyed that I had to keep traveling across the map in order to get to a new mission. The problem with the Grand Theft Auto games is that if the sandbox was taken away and the game was just a series of missions, I think the game would probably fall on its face and not get the high marks it usually gets. If you could take away the driving between missions in Burnout Paradise, and even all of that hub traveling in Halo 3: ODST, both of those games would still be quite enjoyable to play, and would thus be played like a Call of Duty campaign: mission after mission after mission. And that’s honestly the gameplay design choice I would always prefer.

Grand Theft Auto IV is tough because the sandbox + mission structure are so intertwined in that both of the parts together are what make the game enjoyable. If the game was just one or the other, neither is strong enough to be entirely fun, but I can see why the kids like it. The combat system in GTA IV is laughably poor compared to any 3rd person shooter these days, and the only reason anyone would enjoy the sandbox gameplay of having to drive anywhere you need to go is because you enjoy stealing vehicles and killing civilians. It’s just not my thing. To be fair though, GTA IV implemented taxis, allowing you to fast-travel to anywhere you want to go, which was a MAJOR reason I was able to beat this game but none of the previous GTA games on the PS2. Thank you for that. And The Lost and the Damned allow you to call your friends to bring you weapons or motorcycles, which also eliminate needless commuting and errands you would be forced to run otherwise in order to actually play the game.

Assassin’s Creed 1 & 2
The Assassin’s Creed games are like historical Grand Theft Auto games, in that they are open world and you move across town in order to pick up new missions. Of course, back then you didn’t have cars so you would have to run across rooftops and use a horse to travel from one town to another. Assassin’s Creed 1 was pretty bad when it came to being forced to “commute” through its open world, but Assassin’s Creed II fixed a lot of problems that were inherent in the first game to make it much easier to play. In the sequel, you no longer had to ride a horse for like 15 minutes to get from one town to another – instead you just warped to it. Assassin’s Creed II also had fast-travel spots in various towns, allowing you to quickly move from one point to another on a map. This didn’t eliminate all “time-wasting commuting” between missions and such, but it made the game a lot less annoying. It’s a step in the right direction, and one of the reasons why I consider it to be the best sequel of 2009.

The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion & Fallout 3
Both of these games have huge sandbox style worlds from Bethesda Softworks. You could honestly travel on foot throughout both games for hours and still feel lost. I actually think that Oblivion and Fallout 3 handle their sandbox gameplay design the best. In both games, you have to physically commute to any new location in the world, but once you have gotten there, you can always fast-travel back to that spot. This allows for exploration, but doesn’t force you to waste unnecessary time commuting back to the spot. No complaints here, and if future sandbox games all incorporated fast-travel like this, maybe sandbox games are evolving.

Final Fantasy X & Final Fantasy XIII
RPGs may have been the first real games that forced this “open-world” sandbox into gaming as you had to navigate across an overworld to go from a town to a dungeon and such with random encounters along the way. But like Halo, RPG games primarily focus on combat so the random encounters in the overworld are not so bad. The Final Fantasy games are going a little bit crazier in this aspect and really evolving. When Final Fantasy X released on the PS2, it was the first Final Fantasy game with no overworld map. People were gasping that you just got in your airship, and selected the zone you wanted to travel to you and you would just start there. It may have been jarring at first, but it turned out to be awesome. The overworld was commuting that I don’t miss at all.

Final Fantasy XIII is going even one step further – apparently there are no towns in this game. I don’t know how it works since I haven’t read too much about it, but my impression is that a “town” will simply be a location you can go to, and then you will have a menu of some sort that you can navigate and pick “Armor shop”, “weapon shop”, “Item shop”, etc. all from a menu as opposed to running around town into various buildings looking for the shops. If I’m now being forced to travel through a menu to get what I need to do instead of running around a huge town for hours, that works for me.

In Conclusion
When done right, sandbox style games can work, as I’ve mentioned several games that have ways that don’t force you to commute – at least all the time. But what I’m hoping for is that the future’s games don’t rely on the sandbox gameplay design to artificially lengthen their games. If Crackdown 2 is being heralded as a 30 hour game but 15 of those hours are actually traveling to get to each mission or boss, then is it really a 30 hour game?

If I were to give my opinion to game designers, it would be to focus on the actual gameplay itself. Make everything as simple as you can such that we gamers can actually enjoy the game. Games like Burnout Revenge, Gears of War, and Modern Warfare all have missions that are forced one right after another or are selected from a menu. If you want to make players travel across a sandbox to get to these missions, please show some consideration as to whether or not the forced commuting really adds value. Sandbox gameplay is not necessarily a step forward in gameplay design!

I’ve been going on a Burnout frenzy since I got my 360 back, spending a good number of hours in both Burnout Revenge and Burnout Paradise. After putting about five hours into Burnout Paradise, I’ve decided that it’s just not as good as Burnout Revenge – even after all of the free DLC and updates.

For those that have never played the Burnout games, I highly recommend them as I’m not a driving game fan but I really love Burnout Revenge. The Burnout games are definitely less sim and more arcade, and reward you by driving more aggressively and destroying opponents’ cars by forcing them into walls, trucks, etc. Burnout Paradise eschews the traditional racing game structure of Burnout Revenge and other racing games by switching over to a full open city.

In Burnout Paradise, you drive around the city and can pull up to most intersections to start one of the races that also take place in the city. I’ve yet to play the multiplayer, which can probably lend itself to some fun with you and some buddies all driving around the same city, but from a single player standpoint, this open world interaction for a racing game is just superfluous. It’s like the PS3′s Home compared to the 360′s Dashboard – bloated and unnecessary when you want to get to the real content (I’m also worried the Halo 3 ODST campaign may play out similarly).

I’m a lot more critical about timesinks in games these days since I have so little time to play. Do I really enjoy driving around the city looking for the next race to participate in or to change my car for the right race type when in Burnout Revenge I could have just selected the race and car from a menu? It seems like the only “benefit” that came out of this open world is to allow for hidden collectibles (ramps to jump and billboards to break), which in and of itself is just fluff anyway. From what I remember too, the developers remarked that there would be no loading time in this open world but there is plenty of loading before a race starts or when you’re changing your cars (it’s quite noticeable when you’re changing cars).

Burnout Paradise isn’t a bad game, but it’s definitely not as good as its predecessor. Besides the lack of benefits coming out of switching to an open world interface, several gameplay features and racing modes that were present in Burnout Revenge did not carry over to Paradise, which result in an ultimately less enjoyable racing game. I’ll most likely jump back to Burnout Revenge for my Burnout fix in the future.

The stock market has dropped below 7000 points, people have less disposable income, and video game studios all over the country are filing for bankruptcy or shutting down altogether. Though video games have been touted as “recession-proof”, that really isn’t the case; consumers are buying less titles and taking less risks, staying away from question marks and sticking to sure-fire franchises.

In this first of a two part feature, espion4ge and I have compiled a list of our favorite mainstream titles that you can get under $30 now. If you’re trying to save money and haven’t played these games yet, I’d definitely recommend picking some of them up. In many cases you can buy two of these games for the price of one new title today so if you’ve missed out on some of them, there are great deals to be had.

At my job I often receive questions about what game or games to buy if one only wants to spend X amount of dollars. Usually they come up in the form of, “I can only afford one game, should I buy Fallout 3 or Left 4 Dead?” As always, the answer is “it depends.” But what I really try to recommend for those who can’t spend as much cash on entertainment is to look for the games that are the best value, games you can get on the cheap and get a lot of playtime out of. Or if you don’t have a lot of time to play games, then I’d recommend cheap games that are shorter but still offer excellent gameplay, “short but sweet” games.

Mass Effect
[360: $19.99 , PC: $16.99 on Amazon] [espion4ge's review]
espion4ge isn’t into sci-fi as much as I am so I’m not sure if this title will make his list, but I think Mass Effect is a great value at $20. The game definitely has some problems as alluded to in his review, but I found the storyline incredibly engaging, especially the sequences towards the end. There is a lot of gameplay to be had due to the numerous choices you can make in the game, optional sidequests feel more unique than in other games, and there is some great character development. You can spend anywhere between 10 to 100 hours on this game, depending on how many times you choose to play it (and how), so at 20 dollars it’s a steal.

Bioshock
[360: $23.99 , PS3: $36.99 , PC: $19.99 on Amazon] [espion4ge's review]
If you’ve never set foot in Rapture, 2K Boston’s underwater dystopia, you’ve missed out on one of the best gaming experiences out there. I waited to pick up this game because I generally can’t handle scary games, and even though I had to play Bioshock in the daylight, I loved every minute of it. Rapture feels perfect; like Liberty City, it is a setting that has been meticulously crafted in such a way that it transcends all of the characters in the game. In Bioshock, your character is trying to escape Rapture, while you as gamer never want to leave.

The Orange Box
[360: $19.99 , PS3: $19.99 , PC: $27.99 on Amazon] [espion4ge's review]
When the Orange Box came out, it was championed as “the best deal in gaming.” For 60 dollars, one could play 5 different games: Half Life 2, Episodes 1 & 2, Team Fortress 2, and Portal. A lot of people had already played Half Life so it wasn’t the best deal for everyone, but now at $20 the Orange Box truly is one of the best deals in gaming. The Half Life series is classic, so if you haven’t played through it it’s definitely worth checking out. For my money, Portal alone is worth this price of admission. For those interested in multiplayer, the only thing Team Fortress 2 is missing is matchmaking, other than that it’s a great experience. I strongly recommend picking this box up, there’s something for almost everyone inside.

Battlefield: Bad Company
[360: $27.99 , PS3: $19.99 on Amazon] [espion4ge's review]
For those looking for more of a light-hearted shooter, Battlefield: Bad Company might be the way to go. The single player is pretty short (7-8 hours) but it is amusing in a lot of sections and the gameplay is pretty decent. The multiplayer offerings are actually a lot of fun. At first they seem simplistic, but if you have a few friends to play with you can actually get a lot of replay value out of it. Bad Company isn’t the deepest game out there, but it definitely is a lot of fun as long as you have the right expectations.

Braid
[360: 1200 MS Points/$15 on Xbox Live Arcade] [cmfl3x's review]
I was debating whether or not to put downloadable content on here, but after thinking about it, I’d rather have a short and sweet game for $15 than a long, drawn out game that costs $15. After all, time is money. Take a look at my review – it’s probably one of my 5 favorite games on the system. It only seems expensive because it’s an XBLA game, but in reality it’s a great deal. Check it out.

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2
[360: 800 MS Points/$10 on Xbox Live Arcade]
Another great XBLA title that you can get a lot of playtime out of is Geometry Wars 2. The original dual-stick shooter has spawned a legion of imitators. The sequel features the same addictive quality that the original had, along with a bunch of new game types that really prolong the experience. It’s the kind of game you can pick up and play when you have 10 minutes to kill before going somewhere. Just make sure someone is around to actually make sure you go where you’re supposed to go, otherwise you might never leave.

What’s funny for me is that for me I tend to always be gaming on the cheap. I love buying games at inexpensive prices, and sometimes I even question whether I like buying games on the cheap more than even playing them, as is evidenced by my huge backlog.

But for me to really think about it, if you have a tight budget but still want to play 360 games, it’s best to buy games that have either lengthy single player or an enjoyable multiplayer experience to allow you to continue returning to that game night after night. I’ve been playing the 360 longer than cmfl3x, so I will be able to reach even further back into the 360′s library. Here we go…

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition
[360: $27.99 , PS3: $29.99 , PC: $19.49 on Amazon] [espionage's review]
Oblivion was my game of the year for 2006, followed by BioShock in 2007, and then Fallout 3 in 2008. One thing that all three games shared in common was not only their presentation and gameplay mechanics, but their immersiveness and attention to both scope and detail. For those that have played Fallout 3, you realize that the game ends at about 50 hours or so, but in Oblivion, there is no ending. Even after finishing the main questline, you are free to continue exploring the land searching for new sidequests, enemies, and treasure. It’s a game that you can get lost in and play over and over and possibly the best RPG you can buy on the cheap for the 360.

Saints Row
[360: $19.99 on Amazon]
For those that were disappointed with Grand Theft Auto IV, consider Saints Row. While it’s a knockoff of the GTA games, it retains one of the most important aspects that made the GTA games popular in the first place: humor. Saints Row doesn’t take itself anywhere as seriously as GTAIV, and at the same time, allows for dozens of hours for you to wander the city like your own playground while also allowing you to step online to play adversarial as well.

Rainbow Six Vegas
[360: $19.99 , PS3: $29.99 , PC: $18.99 on Amazon]
While there is also a sequel out to Rainbow Six Vegas, the first one is still the better of the two. Not only is its level design a lot more attractive and enjoyable, its single player is about 15-20 hours long compared to the 6 hour sequel. On top of that, the first Vegas game supports 4-player co-op (the sequel does not), while both have Terrorist Hunt mode for up to 4 players on Live, allowing you and your buddies to spend countless hours just hunting down randomly spawned terrorists on various levels. Skip the sequel if you’re on a budget as the first one is better.

Crackdown
[360: $18.98 on Amazon] [espion4ge's review]
If you enjoy sandbox games and superhero games, Crackdown definitely scratches that itch. While it doesn’t have the depth and humor of other sandbox games like Grand Theft Auto and Saints Row, it makes up for it by implementing an addicting level up system that allows you to become more of a superhero as you leap from building to building and hurl cars to take out criminals. The game also supports 2-player online co-op, allowing you to have even more fun playing the game with a friend.

Burnout Paradise
[360: $18.49 , PS3: $19.99 , PC: $36.99 on Amazon]
This game is still sitting in my backlog, and the only reason why I haven’t even opened it yet was because I’ve been telling myself that I need to finish Burnout Revenge first. But for those of you wondering – Burnout Paradise is THE racing game for the 360. It changes the formula a little bit in that it has a more sandbox style feel where you drive around a city in order to take on races, but the developers of the game continue to pour in content for the game and with multiplayer racing, it’s a game that can last you possibly forever. At first I was wondering if this was considered a niche game since it’s a racing game, but if you’ve driven a car before you will most likely enjoy any Burnout game. They’re that fun.

Bully: Scholarship Edition
[360: $19.99 , Wii: $19.99 , PC: $19.99 on Amazon]
Originally released on the PS2, Bully: Scholarship Edition was re-released on the 360 and Wii for the rest of us to enjoy. It follows a very similar mission style format to the GTA games, but with it taking place at school, the violence and explicitness is a lot more toned down. That doesn’t mean the game isn’t any less enjoyable or amusing. Pretty lengthy and worth a look if you don’t mind the antiquated last-gen graphics.

Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Colonies Edition
[360: $27.99 , PS3: $16.95 , PC: $29.99 on Amazon] [espion4ge's review of the regular edition]
Lost Planet was originally released back in January of 2007, but then the Colonies “gold edition” of the title was released more recently, containing more single player modes, multiplayer modes and options. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the single player in the original title due to the time pressure, but the multiplayer was relatively enjoyable and it may be worth checking out again now that Lost Planet 2 was recently announced. If you like mechs and huge bugs though, definitely worth a look.

Stay tuned for next week when we present part 2: niche titles that can be enjoyed on the cheap, provided you are a fan of the genre.

It hasn’t been helping lately that I’ve been playing a string of mediocre games, like Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway, Prince of Persia, and now Infinite Undiscovery. I guess coming off of better games like Call of Duty: World at War, Fallout 3, Left 4 Dead, Gears of War 2, and Dead Space just makes it all the more difficult.

Infinite Undiscovery – Seemed like there was a lot of potential at first when I started playing the game, but it ultimately isn’t delivering as much as I’d like in the end.

Burnout Revenge – Decided to pop this in to give myself a break from the mundaneness of Infinite Undiscovery. I stopped playing it before because the load times got too annoying, but now that I’m able to install it to the HD, it’s a bit faster. Actually reminds me of the Time Trials of Mirror’s Edge, as I’m collecting stars from doing well on courses but it’s also proving to be just as frustrating with restarts.

Shadowrun - Saw it on sale on the PC for $3 so I went ahead and bought it. It’s the first game that has cross platform 360/PC play, so I was actually able to log into Live when playing it on my new PC. For some reason, it feels more enjoyable to play it with the 360 controller though. Maybe that $3 wasn’t worth it as I’ll probably end up going back to the 360 version.

The combination of slow motion and the amount of destruction you cause is very difficult to not enjoy.

I’m in the middle of playing Burnout Revenge, but I think I’ve put in enough hours to write up a review for it. I think it’s going to take several more hours to get all the Achievements I’m after, but unlike other games, this one doesn’t have a strong storyline or plot that requires me to get through the game to write up my thoughts.

This is one of those rare games that I had never planned to give the light of day, but through circumstances, I played it and realized, “Wow this game is great! I’m quite happy that I got a chance to play this.” (The only other game I can think of that was a pleasant surprise for me was Dark Cloud 2 on the PS2.) My brother had given me this game along with some other stuff for Christmas last year, and I never got around to it until recently when I was considering trading it in during the Gamestop trade-in promotions.

Intro
Burnout Revenge is the 4th game in the Burnout series, and my first entry into the series. It was originally released on the PS2 and Xbox in September of 2005, and a 360 version was released in March of 2006. The 360 version was redone quite well to take advantage of not only the Xbox 360′s graphics capabilities, but its online Live infrastructure.

Burnout Revenge is the 7th highest scoring game on the 360, according to GameRankings:

1. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion 94.1%
2. Gears of War 93.8%
3. Guitar Hero II 92.6%
4. Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 90.7%
5. Call of Duty 2 90.0%
6. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 88.9%
7. Burnout Revenge X360 88.8%

It’s the best racing game out on the 360, and highly recommended to racing and non-racing game fans alike.

I personally never cared much for racing games. I’d spent enough time trying to enjoy Gran Turismo when I was younger to realize that I’m just not into cars. I don’t care about installing a new engine to raise the horsepower a bit, figuring out a way to corner a certain turn on a race track, etc. Those types of racing game fans probably have a lot of patience to play such games. Besides the repetitive nature of racing games (driving around a track with no sense of storyline), you also have to worry about damaging your car so you avoid touching anything else with it.

Granted, there are some racing games out there such as Ridge Racer and Project Gotham Racing that are slightly more arcade-like in their game dynamics and feel, but they still play like a racing simulator. For those of you that are not into racing simulators either, I’ll explain why Burnout Revenge is not just for you, but for anyone that has experience driving.

Although rare, it is possible to completely demolish your car and lose the race this way – but it only happens if you crash an obscene amount of times and your car starts to look this bad.

Storyline and Premise
There isn’t a real story to Burnout Revenge – but the premise is simple: a realistic battle racer not unlike Mario Kart. In this game, not only are you trying to place first, you’re also inclined to smash your opponents’ cars and are rewarded for driving aggressively – two concepts that you should not be doing in real life driving. That’s one of the reasons why this game is so fun: it recreates all the violence and destruction that causes rubber necking on the highway right there on your TV, with you in control!

The graphics are truly next-gen as Criterion Games did a wonderful job with that. The sound is effective and the music is supposed to be good, but I went ahead and listened to my own MP3s. I prefer trance when driving so the included music tracks were just not my style.

The single player revolves around World Tour, which requires you to move from the bottom rank to the 10th rank. Each rank has its own races and activities that you must perform to gain points. The more aggressive you drive and the higher the spot you come in for a race or time trial, the higher the number of points you get. The highest number of rank points awarded for an activity is 5 points (usually the most aggressive driving and placing first in a race) and it takes maybe 50 to 60 points to rank up.

One of the tracks in the game takes you through the busy streets of Hong Kong.

In each rank the following activity types are played across 8 different tracks (half of them are American locales while the other four are from Europe and Asia):

RACE: Regular race against 5 other computer opponents.

ROAD RAGE: cause a certain number of computer opponents to crash in order to clear. Generally, you are given one minute to take down 3 computer opponents to get a one minute extension. To earn gold for the stage usually requires between 12-15 takedowns.

CRASH: Crash your car and cause the most possible damage in a busy intersection. This mode is fun because it’s a departure from racing – it’s a set piece of land with traffic and you want to get your car to crash at the busy intersection in the scene in order to cause the biggest pileup and do the most damage.

TRAFFIC ATTACK: In this mode, you are given a limited number of seconds (you start with maybe 20 or so) and you just need to check traffic. Hit as much same way traffic as possible to add another second to your time. Each car hit gives you money; the better the accident caused the more money earned. Earn a certain amount of money to clear the stage.

PREVIEW LAP/BURNING LAP: Most similar to regular racing games – this is just your car trying to get the fastest time on an empty circuit.

ELIMINATOR: Similar to a regular race against 5 other computer opponents, but every thirty seconds, the last place car is eliminated from the race until the last car remains.

GRAND PRIX: A set of three races where the place you finish in each race gives you a point score. Highest point score at the end of the three races wins the Grand Prix.

Each map is quite big and has plenty of ways through the course due to shortcuts. The shortcuts are sometimes quite tough to see as they are only indicated by two small blue lights, but with enough time and experience on a map, the shortcuts will be easier to find. What’s interesting is that taking shortcuts is not always the best way to win a race – because by taking these shortcuts you are avoiding any other racers to attack.

What I also like a lot about the game is that as a non-car enthusiast, I can still enjoy the game since it doesn’t focus on the vehicles. There’s plenty of cars to collect, but the cars get unlocked as you rank up, with each new car pretty much being better (e.g. faster top speed) than what you already have. Thus, there’s no need to worry about which car to drive on a course; the newest car is usually best and the car selector defaults to that car when you select a course.

If you can’t tell the jump in speed when using Turbo, you can always look for the blue glow prominently showing from behind the car.

Game Mechanics
How does a racing game like this encourage you to drive aggressively and to crash opponents’ cars? Through a Turbo (or Nitro, for the Fast & the Furious fans) meter. For every aggressive action your car does, your meter goes up a little. Driving on the oncoming vehicle lane increases your meter. Catching a lot of air time with your vehicle by flying off ramps increases your meter. Bumping into cars increases your meter.

Ramming pedestrian cars into other cars, known as checking cars, adds to your Turbo meter.

One game play addition to this game that was not present in previous Burnout games is the concept of checking traffic. Since the races in the game are not on closed tracks, there’s generally regular traffic everywhere. If you hit any car that is moving in the direction that you’re moving, you’ll slam it forward like one pool ball hitting another. The only things you can’t hit are large busses, trucks, and oncoming traffic. If you hit any of those you will crash. Fortunately, any time you crash, your car will respawn again in a few seconds like Mario Kart.

Taking out several opponents will increase your Turbo meter to a max length of 4 times the starting meter.

The main gameplay mechanic around the game is the Takedown, which consequently gives you the most turbo. If you can perform a Takedown on your racing opponents by causing them to crash into a wall, truck, bus, or even flip them over yourself, your turbo bar not only fills up completely, but it increases(up to 4 times the initial turbo meter length). The best part of the Takedowns are that the game switches to slow motion to show the car crashing and burning. Several times my wife has commented that she hears a sinister laugh from me. I never though I’d have such an evil laugh, but I guess it came out with this game (me shouting out, “Eat my dust son! Muhahaha…”). Basically, if you can’t perform Takedowns on your opponents when you race, you won’t be able to generate enough turbo to win the race. You have to take them out. There’s no winning for defensive drivers in this game!

After getting taken out by an opponent, the camera will focus on the car that just performed your Takedown so you can get a good look at your new rival.

The main theme of this iteration of Burnout is revenge. When an opponent takes you out, the camera will focus on the opponent (after the footage of your car crashing) and label him your new Revenge Rival. He is clearly marked with a red arrow when you race (as opposed to blue arrows for the other opponents) and if you are successful at taking him out, your revenge will net you twice the turbo boost you’d get from a regular opponent Takedown. The game definitely encourages vengeance.

Even if another care performs a takedown on you, you can still takedown other cars too. When you crash, other cars will crash too if they hit your crash. It’s funny because if you crash and go airborne, you have some control over where you’ll fall. If you can position yourself in such a way to get an opponent behind you to crash also, you’ll get credit for a Takedown as well and spawn with a full turbo meter. On later levels, you can even blow your car up for a bigger radius of taking down rival racers.

There is also something called a Signature Takedown. These are unique takedowns specifically only accomplishable for particular locations of a track. There are 24 in total for the game, which means there are 3 for each of the 8 tracks. I’ve only gotten a few of them so far, and they were by chance. Eventually, I know I’m going to find it a little frustrating to get them all since they require a lot of things to go right. But the names are inventive like many of the more creative Achievement names for 360 games.

Here are some Signature Takedown examples:

1) Lumber Party – “Slam a rival into the logging machinery”
2) Stairs In Their Eyes – “Get a Signature Takedown on the dividing wall, heading up the steps”

It’s like Criterion Games came up with the concepts of Achievements in their own Burnout games before the 360 Achievement system was even invented.

If going through all ten ranks and collecting all the Signature Takedowns is not enough for you, each Rank has its own set of Challenges that you can try to complete.

For example, here is one challenge set from a rank:
1) Get double payback
2) Win a race without crashing
3) Do a vertical Takedown
4) Do 1 revenge Takedowns in a race
5) Takedown a special car
6) Check 100 vehicles in Traffic Attack
7) Blow up 35 vehicles High score target: $15,000,000

If you’re trying to do everything in the single player mode, you’ll definitely be spending a lot of time.

Staying in the air for a long amount of time will net you a “Great Air” bonus and more Turbo will be added your Turbo meter.

Multiplayer
I honestly never got a chance to try multiplayer yet, but from what I’ve read so far, the community to this game is still somewhat strong. Games can easily be found for the many game types available similar to the single player World Tour Mode.

Unfortunately, cheating exists and is one of the major deterrents for me not wanting to play online. I’m not exactly sure how people cheat since I was too lazy to look it up, but a quick glance on some forums for this game illustrate to me that cheating exists so even if you were to get really good, it won’t matter since you won’t be holding the records due to cheaters placing better.

The last time I tried an online racer was Mario Kart DS, and everyone I played against was doing the boost dashing all over the place. I was pretty horrified about that and didn’t bother playing it online again, as that was clearly not how the game was meant to be played. I can only imagine how actual online Burnout Revenge games really go. It’s a shame too, because Criterion Games put a lot of time into the online component for Live with such features as remembering your rivals if you ever come across them in games online and the like.

Criterion Games has also implemented video sharing online, so that you can share the coolest Takedowns/accidents that you’ve filmed either through World Tour or in multiplayer races. There are even Achievements associated with video sharing, such as having a video being among the top twenty most downloaded for the week. The sharing of these videos is most likely a good feature in nurturing this online community.

Driving with Turbo for a lengthy period of time will net you even more Turbo!

Achievement System
I’m happy that Criterion Games spent a lot of time coming up with interesting and skillful Achievements. It’s a testament to how difficult to get they are if I’ve already played maybe 10-20 hours into the game and only gotten 3 Achievements so far.

Besides getting perfect (5 points) on all missions for all ranks, the rest of the Achievements are devoted to online modes and video sharing, and offline skillful ones. I like that there’s an Achievement for getting all 24 Signature Takedowns, as that’s something to definitely be proud of when anyone looks at your Gamertag:

Achievement: Should be Autographs!
“Signed off! Awarded for completing all 24 Signature Takedowns!” (35 points)

With a total of 36 Achievements, there’s a lot to accomplish in this game and the Achievements are definitely awards for difficult tasks, as opposed to other games where they’re pretty much handed to you. Without Achievements I’d be content beating ranks in this game coming in 2nd or 3rd place for everything, but there are no Achievements for coming in second or third – only first. Thus, I will probably be playing this game for a while to come to get those Achievements. Bravo with the interesting and skillful Achievements, Criterion Games.

It’s possible to takedown more than one opponent if you’ve crashed – you just need good positioning.

Final Thoughts
As I have said earlier, this game is very well done. For its $30 price point, it’s definitely worth it. It’s even worth it at $60 because it’s such a complete package. The graphics and sound are top notch, the gameplay fun and addicting, and the game is accessible enough that people that don’t know or care about driving games can just play it and enjoy it. The game is incredibly lengthy for a non-sim car racing game. Burnout Revenge always seems to keep providing you with more things to do, and steps up the level of challenge gradually enough that you get better as you play so you’re always improving.

I give this game an A-. It’s nearly a perfect game, but the main issue preventing it from getting the A is the cheating for online and how it hasn’t been dealt with. The loading is also a bit long compared to any other 360 game I’ve played so far. I also docked it a point or two because the game isn’t completely new – in fact, it’s a redone version of the PS2 and Xbox version that came out back in 2005. Having said that, I’m very eager to see how the recently announced sequel to Burnout Revenge, Burnout Paradise, will look. I’m pretty certain I will be lining up and ready to buy the sequel on Day 1, as I’m now a Burnout fan.