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Crash N Burn
This game was an
odd one for me to get into. It was sort of like a cheapened version of
Burnout but still a lot of fun with many comparisons to be drawn against
the fun in the Burnout franchise. Basically you are street racing
against the computer generated competition in a highly interactive
environment where you have to avoid becoming scrap over the course of
the race. The action is fast and furious (get it?) and some of the
moments are pure inspiration such as when having to cross live
intersections and the danger of crashing is a very possible reality.
Every race is
different is a selling point for this title and whilst it is true, it's
also true that the general feeling of the game is very samey and does
run the risk of boring some players. I think younger players are going
to get a blast out of this title and won't mind the repetition that the
title brings. It's funny to say that when the game truly does feature a
degree of random interaction in the way that vehicles crash and remain
charry husks on the road and that really is the only thing that is
different every time.
Your car has a
health meter and takes on damage as you play the game. The more damage
you take, the closer you come to being a screaming wreck and another
melting point on the track. There are plenty of gameplay options to take
advantage of in the title and I did find that for a quick fix I would
often just go straight to those modes to get my racing fix. Out of those
I had a number of favourites including a kamikaze mode where you would
stack into oncoming traffic and the others were Bomb Tag where you would
have to pass a bomb before it went off, and King where you had two
groups of cars each trying to smash their way through to the other's
"King".
Graphically the
game looks fine, in fact they look pretty damn good, but the offshoot to
that is that they also slow down the game's framerate something
shocking. It's one of the issues with the aging PS2 hardware in this age
of quantum leaps where unless the game has been absolutely fully
optimised for the PS2, it is going to suffer from frame issues and other
problems. The sad thing is in this age of multi platform releases, games
don't get the attention that they deserve with some of the platforms
they have been released on for maximum performance.
There is a modest
soundtrack that has pumping music suited to the game. It really helps
with those destructive urges in any case which is always a good thing.
The title does feature online elements which are a bit of fun but to be
honest I had a lot more enjoyment just playing it offline. The career
mode is a solid piece of gameplay that should keep most gamers
interested all the way through, and for the most part entertained. I am
just not sure of the replay value for older players.
Basically I'd say
that if this title is for younger players then by all means pick them up
a copy if you can find it on the cheap. Older players might want to hire
it out first. I'll give it a recommendation of a fun play with a hint of
caution thrown in for good measure.
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