Burnout returns to PS2, PSP Comments by Tom Bramwell

Do we need another Burnout game?

I don't know why but i'm not that excited about Burnout these days.

Plus i'm shocked they're going to do a Burnout for the PS2 next year mustn't be satisfied with how much money they've sucked out of that market yet.

Not being developed by Critereon...? Or have they had their name changed in the usual EA takeover style?

The last Burnout title to be farmed out to a different development team was the Burnout Legends DS. An omen perhaps?

Oh god yeah Criteria seems non-existant.

Probably deissolved the whole dev team into EA to increase output to multiple formats.

Gone are the days where it was Game Design > Profit.

And yes, happy new year to you, too, EG! May 2006 be better than 2005!

What's the "essence" of this Sony-only Burnout?

it started on the PS2, looks like it'll die on the PS2 as well.

Take out the feckin' rubber banding if you really want to bring back the fun elements of the old burnouts like burnout 2!

As a huge fan of Burnout 2, I feel like the game has taken a walk off the map since Criterion got sucked up by EA. But, if this is a return to Burnout 2 form, with the refined engine from Takedown and Revenge, then I'll probably snap it up on both platforms.

"Plus i'm shocked they're going to do a Burnout for the PS2 next year mustn't be satisfied with how much money they've sucked out of that market yet. "

Blah blah blah generic anti-corporate bullshit. How dare they make a game that millions of people will enjoy? They should be making niche crap for you and your sweaty friends to fill internet forums talking about.

also... "Gone are the days where it was Game Design > Profit" Can you tell me the last time it was those 'days'? I haven't seen them in at least 10 years.

"Burnout Dominator focuses on the reckless skill-based racing and fear of crashing that fuelled the first games."

Does that mean it's actually gonna be good? Burnout 3 disappointed, I didn't even bother getting Revenge.

I think the series peaked with Point of Impact. Takedown was great too, but I preferred POI's pure racing, as oppose to the battling elements of TD. I didn't even bother with Revenge.

And given that this game is not even being developed by Criterion, I probably won't even give it a look.

Not very optimistic TBH.

I've said this before, but I'm one of those few who actually like 1, 2, 3 and Revenge and prefer the later titles. Each to their own. Burnout Legends is one of my most played PSP games. And I still play Revenge on my 360.

I think I'm done with the Burnout series. I loved Takedown (haven't played the first two), but didn't really enjoy Revenge. And then this Eurogamer interview didn't really help convincing me of the Criterion's vision for the future games in the series.

No, I have to agree. Burnout 2: Point of Impact was the highlight of the franchise. It may not compare to the visuals and "battling" elements of 3 and 4, but it wins hands down in the most "balanced" racer of the series. I bought Burnout 3 and immediately didn't like it. I thought they would come to their senses with 4, but they went even more at a tangent. B2 had just the right mixture for boosting, dodging, driving dangeriously, to win boost etc.

I am about 84% of the way through B4 and not too impressed with it tbh. All the cars I am unlocking, even at this point in the game all feel very similar, and the racing experience itself is given a backseat. I have been continually frustrated with the number of times I just feel like racing, and the only events I have available (to progress to next stages) are crash events or burning lap (beat a specific lap time), or traffic attack, etc. The worst part of it all for me was that they totally scrapped one of my favourite modes from B2, the pursuit mode. It's awesome to play that with a friend, why on earth did they take it out.... to make way for all these tiring non-racing events incorprated into the main mode....

Criterion, if you read this: please bring the core elements of the franchise back on track - pure racing!! (also, if you could redo the audio 'effect' when you trigger boost from B2, in B5 that would be nice)

Since we're asking, I'd like the old boost method back, too.

Building up the burnout bar and then hanging on for dear life once you activated it was a brilliant game mechanic. Dumbing it down so you could access it any time just took the point out of it - and over-used the motion blur effect.

Chaining burnouts together in Burnout 2 time trials was brillant fun - I think I managed 14 on the point-to-point coastal track. :D

> I am about 84% of the way through B4 and not too impressed with it tbh.

Yet you've still played it to 84% completion? Why bother if you don't like it? Do you like people whipping you and tying clamps to your nipples as well?

I've completed B2 about 10 times so I don't really play that anymore. I lost the B3 disc, probably an omen in disguise. B4, I've been playing parts of it over the past year or so, perhaps one go every month or so lol.

Anyway, on a brighter note, look what I found
http://www.criteriongames.com/downloads/...

Make it your mobile phone ringtone, to keep the B2 spirit alive!

What's the "essence" of this Sony-only Burnout?

The essence being that the Xbox and NGC are dead and buried. That they can't really pull of a straigt port of the next gen version of Burnout and that the Playstation community hasn't yet fully transistioned to the PS3.
That all spells "PS2 sequal ported to the PSP" to EA.

Oh and Criterion is (or rather was) based in Guildford. Given that this game is being made by EA UK in Guildford I think it's also safe to say Criterion as a studio has been fully assimilated into the EA machine.

Burnout 2 is excellent, still play it today. Didn't like the EA style menus added in Takedown and the blur effect was over done, for some reason it wouldn't read the disc on a certain race quite far into the game so I traded it. Played Revenge and got bored, it felt dumbed down as you ram into traffic. Crash mode didn't feel right

Ooooh.. yearly updates to point where no-one cares any more..

Welcome to EA criterien!

Burnout 3: Takedown sucked because the AI cheated. Burnout: Revenge apparently fixed that, and was more fun because of it.

I like what they have added so far, but I fear a point will come when an addition to the formula seems to be added just to add something, and not to make the game better - just bigger...

I hope they make it more like Burnout 2. B2 was, by far, the best one the series. B3 and later was not bad, but it had too much emphasis on spectacular effects instead of fun racing.
Burnout is just one of many series that got more graphical polish for each release, but got less and less fun to play. Another example is SSX, where SSX and SSX:tricky were brilliant and all the later more less sucked.

Yes, more shift towards B2 gameplay, please. Bring back hardcore racing into Burnout again, baby.