Review:
Burnout 2 – Point of Impact
Platforms:
Xbox
PS2
Nintendo Gamecube
Release Dates:
2002
2003 (Xbox)
Introduction and Opening Commentary
I always liked racing games from a young age.
I remember my mom buying me Cruis’n USA, Cruis’n World, and then Beetle Adventure Racing for the Nintendo 64.
Cruis’n USA has a nice little selection of cars to choose from and traffic-littered tracks taking you all the way across the continental United States, with cheat codes to play as a police cruiser and school bus among other vehicles, making for a fun little trek I may want to revisit soon.
Cruis’n World lacked a bit of the same simple charm and didn’t hit its potential, but was a bit more graphically enhanced.
Beetle Adventure Racing was quite something, sporting imaginative tracks, wild shortcuts, big jumps, vehicles like the “Alien Beetle” and the “Police Beetle” to mirror Cruis’n USA’s choices just a hair, and it had quite an interesting battle mode for multiplayer, or so 5-year-old me thought at the time.
Soon enough, I moved onto Cruis’n Exotica, the San Francisco Rush games, and then PC games such as Need for Speed 3 and the truck simulators of the 18 Wheels of Steel series; I’ll probably wind up reviewing those games later.
The point is, I had quite an appetite for racing games, and Burnout 2 was a game that scratched a bit of an itch for something arcade-y, wild, and yet realistic, as I wanted to play a game with a sense of speed, authenticity, and “high-octanity” all in one, and it seemed to sport police chases, the desire of any young lad, to either be the chaser or the “chasee”.
What it gets right
The vehicles have a bit of a “heavy” feel to them, while at the same time picking up plenty of speed, cornering well, and catching quite a bit of air on jumps; and honestly, this physics engine is one of my hands-down favorite aspects of Burnout 2.
To those unfamiliar with the series, in both Burnout 1 and 2, you also have to rely heavily on the “Burnout” mechanic the games are named for, by driving dangerously to fill up your Boost gauge, which, once done, allows you to activate quite a burst of speed, and then you have to continue boosting until the gauge is empty, in order to receive your “Burnout” which refills the boost gauge halfway.
The caveat is that you must drive dangerously while boosting, so that combined with the “Burnout” you regain a full boost gauge, and then, can continue your fit of speed, and each “chain” you accomplish is numbered, resulting in a “Burnout x2”, “Burnout x3”, and so forth.
Burnout 2 offers more vehicles, a new set of tracks, a “Crash” mode, and a “Pursuit” mode over its predecessor, with the latter two modes being what drew younger-me in so expediently.
Crash mode is about trying to cause a massive pile-up in an area of dense traffic convergence, combined with traffic cars being driven by denizens who shouldn’t have been given their license, vehicles with brakes that just don’t work in any serious fashion, or a bit of both.
And contrary to the expectations of juvenile me, this game doesn’t feature being chased by police during races or in Single Player, yet rather in the Pursuit mode you have to yourself be the police and slowly wear down a Target Vehicle until achieving a satisfying “take down” of the car once you’ve depleted their health bar.
Two Player mode allows you to be the one who is chased in Pursuit mode while the other player is the Law Enforcement officer, and then in the Single Player Pursuit events, you’re forced to always drive the standard Police Cruiser vehicle modeled loosely after a combination of a Crown Victoria and a Chevy Caprice interceptor, which boasts decent performance, yet faces an engaging challenge keeping up with some of the more high-powered “Custom” series vehicles you have to chase further on in the Career mode.
To further cement my appreciate for the developers of this console generation, many games from this era I’ve found to be astounding in design, artistry, and visual clarity, and Burnout 2 is a clear example of this, leaning more on a colorful, imaginative-realistic aesthetic as opposed to the more gritty or detailed feel of games such as Need For Speed: Most Wanted or Rallisport Challenge 2.
What it gets wrong
Racing games that feature any form of fantastically or realistically illegal activity need a warning plastered on them:
“Please, please drive safely in real life, and if you want to race, go to your local track.”
Need For Speed: Most Wanted and Need For Speed: Carbon made sure to include that, even if the warning is a bit lacking in abundant clarity.
Because street racing is real, and often dangerous or rebellious in the real world if I had to guess.
I saw the movie Crossroads: A Story of Forgiveness, and then another movie, called Street Racer, seems to tackle a similar theme, of tragic death and accidents caused by street racing in real life…
…so please, keep all the racing IN THE GAME, ON THE TRACK, or for that time you’re on a mission from God like the Blues Brothers and have to outrun time or the mafia.
If I were on the Development team…
…or creating a Re-Release/Remake…
Upscale the graphics to HD resolutions, keeping the models and tracks the same.
Add a traffic setting up to a Rush Hour level for races, and have up to 8 opponents.
Put in a few more Police Cruisers to chase/race as, add all the tracks from Burnout 1, and add online play.
More importantly, plaster the “Don’t try this at home” message on the game’s start up.
Conclusion
A solid racing entry from an era of high-quality, not necessarily bigger but perhaps-if-not-definitely-better gaming…
…give it a pickup if you can.
I wish Burnout Paradise had honestly picked up on the feel, aesthetic, and charm of this game, combined with some of the thematic of Burnout 3 and Burnout Revenge.
It felt like it was trying to be a Burnout game but in reality was some generic driving game with an open world, only loosely resembling the series namesake.
And please, don’t drive like an idiot in real-life.