• ID = PS0096
• STYLE = Sports Car Racing
• DEV. = Criterion Studios
• PUB. = Acclaim Entertainment, Inc.
• R-DATE = Nov-01-2001
• ESRB = E / For Everyone
• PLAYERS = 1-2 players
• LIST PRICE = $19.99
  

Burnout is a high-risk, high-energy arcade-style street racer. No learning curve is required; just pick up and play. The game monitors your driver's heart rate, as you're rewarded for near misses. Civilians steer clear! There's only one way to drive in Burnout: dangerously. Force traffic into your opponent's path and risk a head-on collision to secure a win. Slide, cut close, and drive into oncoming traffic and you'll be rewarded for your risk taking. Crashes are based on actual crash and damage physics for extra realism.

Instant replays allow you to relive your handiwork from multiple angles in all its cringe-inducing, metal-bashing glory. The advanced traffic AI means civilians try to avoid and warn you while opponents try to slam you off the road. Cruise the U.S. and Europe on 14 awesome, traffic-filled courses through cities and into the countryside. More than 300 vehicles fill the streets and highways, making reckless racing and wild demolition a certainty. Dolby Digital surround sound brings the roar of screeching tires and twisting metal to life. The game is analog-controller-compatible, so you can feel every turn, skid, and crash.

Features:
• High-risk, arcade-style street racing.
• Rewards dangerous driving.
• 14 traffic-filled courses through cities and the countryside.
• Over 300 vehicles.
• Advanced traffic AI.

Amazon.co.uk
Like your racing games fast, furious, and full of spectacular smashes? You're in luck. With Burnout, Acclaim removes all pretense of providing a serious simulation and instead serves up a delicious dish of pure arcade fun on the PlayStation2. The title features two key selling points the speed of the action and the spectacular crashes. To facilitate these, the setup couldn't be more straightforward, as the aim is simply to be first past the post. You can increase your chances by driving more dangerously, although that comes with obvious pitfalls in the shape of those aforementioned smashes. Let's just say that to get through the game you're going to have to take your chances.

Contrary to the serious approach of Gran Turismo 3, this is foot-to-the-pedal stuff, and tremendously good fun to play. And when you do put your proverbial foot down, get ready to move, for this is a blisteringly fast title that deceptively requires more concentration than at first appears. The downside is that this won't appeal to those who like their racing games nice and serious, nor to those looking for anything particularly innovative. Burnout has few qualms about marrying the multimedia power of the PlayStation2 to a game engine that forsakes bells and whistles for speed, destruction, and sheer good fun. Fortunately, in this case, it's all the better for it, making it yet another PS2 four-wheel treat. Highly recommended. --Simon Brew