[RETRO GAMING] Do You Remember Burnout Revenge?

Racing games are a dime a dozen. The only difference between these games is how players handle and customize cars and where the game is set. These settings range from mountain passes with roads that require drifting a la Initial D Arcade Stage or city sprawls that allow for street races on highways, side roads, and even sewers, like Need For Speed: Underground.

However, the goal in every racing game is to always be the first in every race, which could get boring even at the best of times. In addition to that, some players also want a mix of chaos and destruction in a race that includes totaling or making rival cars crash.

For that kind of racing game, Burnout Revenge is the game they'll want to have.

Burnout Revenge - History, Gameplay, Reception

Burnout Revenge was a racing game developed by Criterion Games and previously published by Electronic Arts (EA) for the PlayStation 2 (PS2), the original Xbox, and the Xbox 360, per the Burnout Revenge wiki.

The official Xbox page for the game mentioned that it is about exacting revenge against rival cars in a struggle to dominate enemies and be "the fastest, most dangerous racer on the road."

Simply put, the game rewards players that play dirty with each dirty racing they take, which can be tracked through your "Revenge Meter."

In addition to the revenge meter, players can also trick up their cars to deal the maximum amount of damage to rival vehicles by ramming other cars into the path of enemies or setting up an explosive multi-car pileup.

These attacks can be done during the game's many racing modes, such as Race, Traffic Attack, Crash, Crashbreaker, Eliminator, and Grand Prix.

To practice for the real thing, players can enter Burnout Revenge's racing school to develop tactics, and strategies, and gain advice on how to deal with rival racers in certain situations, per IGN.

Burnout Revenge was received warmly by critics and players alike. Gamespot gave the game a rating of 8.8/10, while Metacritic gave the game a score of 89 based on 61 critic reviews and a user score of 8.3 based on 176 ratings.

However, as the game's score may say, it is now without its flaws. Its framerate drops occasionally while checked traffic sometimes around like it's weightless. Additionally, the game is riddled with repetition, making the game a chore to do at some points.

Awesome Games also found that it is difficult to make 25 vehicles blow up in "Smash My Ride," and that having a high Crashbreaker level in some cars can lead to players button mashing, resulting in finger aches.

However, the game's great sense of speed, soundtrack, online action, and solid progression system makes up for its flaws.

An Accessible Relic Of The Past

Although Burnout Revenge has seen its prime come and go, it isn't without its loyal fanbase. Currently, the game is backward compatible on the Xbox One, but there won't be any increase in resolution or performance, per Destructoid.

The game is available on Microsoft's Xbox Store for $9.99 with some in-app purchases. Although its online multiplayer servers are long gone, its single-player can still be played.