Burnout 2: Point of Impact

Sheesh! If my insurance agent saw this game, he’d probably have nightmares for weeks. Anyone who has played the original Burnout by Akklaim will know what I’m talking about … fast and furious racing on the right or wrong side of the road and “threading the needle” between semis or traffic with mistakes resulting in some of the ugly crashes I’ve seen. Burnout was extremely fun … and Burnout 2 not only provides the same amount of enjoyment, but also improves on the original title in the process.

I’ll take a quick second to explain the concept for those of you new to the series. Burnout 2 up front provides some similar ways to play as other racing titles. You can select a single race mode to race any unlocked track with any unlocked vehicle, time attack to face the clock, or you can select a championship mode to race in a number of circuits to progress through the game and unlock new cars and tracks to race on. Pretty standard overall, but then the additions come into play that bring out the fun factor and set it apart. Burnout 2 doesn’t take place on a closed track with a bunch of spectators or sponsors watching. This game instead takes racing out to the streets where you violate numerous traffic laws to get the first place trophy. You will need to race through rush hour traffic jams at high speeds, run red lights through busy intersections, and drive on the wrong side of the road constantly making split second decisions to avoid a nasty wreck.

Some additions to the single player game modes that are new to Burnout 2 include Crash mode, which has you trying to rack up as much damage dollars as possible to obtain medals. For example, go racing at super high speed into the back end of a car stopped in traffic, then see how many buses you can bounce off of or how many other moving cars you can get to slide into and damage each other. Also, you have to complete an Offensive Driving 101 course before you can really get in and play the game. Don’t worry … it’s not really difficult and you’ll be in and running before you know it.

One of the biggest improvements to the game that I saw was the stackable combo style of the Burnout boost. In Burnout 2, you can grab a burst of speed once a Burnout meter fills all the way up. You increase it by grabbing air, drifting, and narrowly missing other vehicles. Stacking these up results in quicker filling, and by linking different things together you get additional quickness in topping it off. Basically, driving in between two semis will give you 2 narrow misses, then drifting around a turn into oncoming traffic will give you additional stacking for the drift plus the amount of time you stay in the wrong lane. You can almost re-fill it as you are using it by being creative and finding continuing ways to do these things, resulting in consistent high speed until you screw up.

Another neat addition to Burnout 2 is the mixture of race styles that you get to run in Championship mode. Starting off, you do a pretty standard “get the most points in three races to advance to the next level” thing … but then have to square off against an unlockable car to beat it and unlock it to play with in the next circuit. Then, rather than racing another three race circuit, you can play a pursuit game which has you in a police car bashing a target vehicle at high speeds (similar to the old Chase H.Q. arcade game). This provides a fun and diverse aspect to the standard style, and breaks up monotony by not having you do the same thing over and over again.

Championship mode also branches into two different styles, since the fist one you race is a Standard Championship. These are your normal sports cars (and a new addition … hot rods) and the style during the track racing parts are reminiscent of the original series. Once you’ve beaten that one though, it’s off to the Custom Series Championship … which tricks out the initial vehicles for some serious speed and comes complete with body kits, decal sets, tuned engines and improved handling. While the Custom Series racers are the most intense racing vehicles in the game, don’t think you’re going to get shortchanged in the Standard mode. The overall speed has been turned up in Burnout 2 overall, providing some really high speeds and intense racing overall.

Graphically, Burnout 2 looks great. Everything while playing and in replays zips by at a fast and constant framerate, and even with a lot of vehicles on the road and things going on, I didn’t notice or see any slowdown. The vehicles, lighting effects, and backgrounds themselves all look great, and while they’re not “GT3 great”, they look good in their own right and the game looks better than the PS2 version in my opinion. The big winner here though is the replays when crashes occur, which result in a slow motion replay to capture in full and painful detail all of the flying metal and traffic pileup enjoyment that you caused from multiple camera angles. The presentation in the Crash mode also really stuck me as nifty, since the camera will show all of the fender bending that happened while it’s going on … but will then move to a traffic copter to do a pan and swing by of the accident scene to show you how much destruction you caused overall.

The sound to Burnout 2 didn’t fare quite as well as the graphics and gameplay did unfortunately, and while it’s not horrible, it could have been a little better. The engine sounds all have that same whiney racing tone to them which was pretty close to what you’ll hear in some other racers, but cars like a ford style hot rod also had the same whiney noise only dropped to a lower decibel level. A growling, staccato style engine noise with a thunderous start off rev would have been great for these style vehicles, but it just wasn’t there. The music in Burnout 2 is new, and the developers added in some heavier rock tunes on top of the boppy techno beats found in the original. They’re not terrible, but just a little repetitive and easily forgotten. One neat thing that was done was the volume increase that happens when you use the Burnout boost … but with some of the less enjoyable tracks you’ll probably wish that it didn’t happen. The crashing and tire squealing sounds found when collisions and traffic accidents occur sounded great though, and I would have loved to see some of that same quality in the rest of the sound presentation.

Overall, racing fans will get a kick out of Burnout 2. This has to be one of the neatest racing ideas that I’ve seen in a while, and it is one of the only racing games that I have played that literally had me sitting up on the edge of my seat or holding my breath in anticipation as I narrowly wedged in between two buses or locked up in fear when I knew that I was getting ready to hit another vehicle or plow head on into a truck. The only thing that I could see that would take away from anyone’s liking of this game is if you just have to have realism or a standard racing title to enjoy a racing game. If not, it’s worth the price and will provide many hours of fun and enjoyment. Strap in your seatbelt and get ready for some real white knuckle arcade driving folks, Akklaim has brought us one heck of a great and painful arcade racer on the Gamecube.        

Gameplay: 9.0
The controls are easy to get into, and you will need to complete an Offensive Driving 101 course to help you get used to everything before you start playing. The mixture of race styles in championship mode like pursuit and one on one battles for an unlockable car add in a good blend of racing to break the monotony of standard racing games out as well. There’s a good selection of cars to choose from up front, and some neat additions like Hot Rods, two championship series, and the Crash mode all help to set this game apart and provide for some good replay value. The stackable and constant speed ability of the boost meter was a great addition to this game as well, and Burnout 2 will probably have you tensing up while playing with or without the boost due to the constant split second decisions and possible wrecks which can occur.

Graphics: 8.9
Everyone compares racing game graphics to GT3 nowadays, and while Burnout 2 doesn’t quite get to that level with car detail and lighting effects ... it still looks great and looks better than most other GC racers in my opinion. The wreck replays are spectacular, and the addition of an accident helicopter for the crash mode to give you a full view pan and scan of demolished intersections was really neat. Everything ran at top speed even with a lot going on, and I didn’t see any slowdown or problems even with a lot going on.

Sound: 7.5
While it’s not horrible, the sound didn’t quite meet the overall standards of the rest of the game. The cars all had similar engine sounds which is pretty standard to some other racers that are out, but vehicles like muscle cars or bigger trucks you can race with should have had their own engine style closer to what they would really sound like. The music is a mixture of drum filled or chugging rock tunes, most of which are forgettable and some get a tad repetitive which unfortunately takes away from the volume increase that happens for effect when you use a Burnout boost. The wreck and locking brakes noises sounded good though.

Difficulty: Medium
The game is easy to get into and play, and the AI was well balanced and will give players a good run while not being unbeatable. The courses do get harder as you progress, and things like merging semis 50 feet away while you’re running at 180 MPH add to the challenge, enjoyment, and fun of the game overall.

Concept: 9.0
The concept itself was great in the first Burnout, but the overall game improvements and a lot of additions to championship, multiplayer, and single player styles just made it a lot better. The increased speeds just added to the game, and the addition of some new car styles and even some street racing vehicles made it a winner for me.

Multiplayer: 8.5

The multiplayer mode to Burnout 2 contains standard racing, but also adds in Crash mode for competition and the ultra fun pursuit mode, where one player gets to be the five – o and the other gets to play as the escapee. Up to four players can run in the racing mode, while two can play in the crash and pursuit styles. Good stuff!

Overall: 9.0
Overall, I love racing games and have since the original Pole Position. Burnout 2 is one of those rare arcade racers that comes along every now and then and will tear you away from “real racing” games that you said you would never stop playing (again I will reference GT3 here). If you are a racing game fan, this is one not to miss. If you just cannot enjoy a racing game unless you get to tweak engines and whatnot, you may not be as impressed … but hey! Who doesn’t enjoy some good, old fashioned, head on collision fun? This is a game that is well worth the price of admission, and will provide enough enjoyment to keep you coming back for more for a while.