The first game in the Burnout series, 'Burnout' set the platform for a new generation of racing games, with a focus on speed, extravagant crashes, and a goal of driving as recklessly as possible.
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Ta wapo
Burnout delivers pure arcade racing thrills from start to finish. Its core gameplay revolves around high-speed driving, aggressive near-miss maneuvers, and gloriously spectacular crashes. The sense of speed is exhilarating, and the risk-reward system encourages you to drive like a maniac to earn boosts. While the selection of cars and tracks might feel limited compared to modern racers, Burnout stands as a timeless joyride for those seeking a shot of pure, unadulterated adrenaline.
Burnout suffers from "first game syndrome". It's easy to overlook for those who wish to go through the highlights of the Burnout, and by extension, arcade racer peak. On the other hand, it's a bland slog that shows points of promise for the more historically inclined. A glorified tech demo, that it's been often described as, is just about sufficient to determine whether you wanna experience these frustrating beginnings.
The RenderWare engine, in it's sixth-gen infancy, still looks quite nice. The cars sheen, and the detailed and tight race corridors are all quite nice to look at... but the game suffers from some emptiness. Perhaps it's the boring music, or the maladjusted audio mixing, but it's hollow, and it makes the racing a bit boring at times.
The rubberband AI here is the worst, it discourages driving like you'd expect from a Burnout game. If you crash often but stay fast, you'll never be able to get to first place. The game contradicts itself by rewarding following racing lines and staying on the right side of the road (or cheesing your way to the end of the opposite end). There may be times where it all clicks together, and you find yourself chaining up Burnouts, but it's too rare to really get you to seek out this title. The hit detection is dumb. A slight nudge and you're done. The lack of damage you can take is such a major oversite. The racing itself, for whatever is worth, is okay at best.
Once you clear all the GPs, you can unlock some additional cars in "Face-Off" but I found myself too bored with the title by then to really go through the tracks again with my new fangled hardware.
Burnout, at this point, is better served as a historical capsule to be observed and maybe lightly played. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone saying the OG was better than the numerous sequels.
The RenderWare engine, in it's sixth-gen infancy, still looks quite nice. The cars sheen, and the detailed and tight race corridors are all quite nice to look at... but the game suffers from some emptiness. Perhaps it's the boring music, or the maladjusted audio mixing, but it's hollow, and it makes the racing a bit boring at times.
The rubberband AI here is the worst, it discourages driving like you'd expect from a Burnout game. If you crash often but stay fast, you'll never be able to get to first place. The game contradicts itself by rewarding following racing lines and staying on the right side of the road (or cheesing your way to the end of the opposite end). There may be times where it all clicks together, and you find yourself chaining up Burnouts, but it's too rare to really get you to seek out this title. The hit detection is dumb. A slight nudge and you're done. The lack of damage you can take is such a major oversite. The racing itself, for whatever is worth, is okay at best.
Once you clear all the GPs, you can unlock some additional cars in "Face-Off" but I found myself too bored with the title by then to really go through the tracks again with my new fangled hardware.
Burnout, at this point, is better served as a historical capsule to be observed and maybe lightly played. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone saying the OG was better than the numerous sequels.
A particularly ROUGH proof of concept
decent for the time extremely dated
My copy of Burnout 1 arrived yesterday and first impressions are mixed. Graphics are good. Presentation is fairly basic. The music was bland rubbish that didn’t seem to fit the adrenaline rush gameplay. I turned that off pretty quick. The actual driving is fun. A nice sense of speed, especially using the internal view. Handling is generally good, but I’m yet to fully understand the drifting mechanics.
So far I’m finding the game as frustrating as it is fun though. It takes ages to build up your Burnout bar - in a three lap race lasting around 8 minutes, I’ve been lucky to fill my bar once. And just one little crash can wipe out quite a lot of what you’ve already built up. Sometimes you drive really well, weaving in and out of traffic at full speed, and yet your bar barely fills. Often a crash will see all of your rivals speed past you leaving you in last place. The timer can be quite tight and seems unnecessary when you already have a ranking requirement in each race and limited credits to finish a championship. Several times I have run out of time despite not being in last place. In fact , after a couple of hours play, I’ve yet to complete the first championship - I was on the last lap of the third race and the game crashed as I ran one of my rivals into the central reservation.
So far I’m finding the game as frustrating as it is fun though. It takes ages to build up your Burnout bar - in a three lap race lasting around 8 minutes, I’ve been lucky to fill my bar once. And just one little crash can wipe out quite a lot of what you’ve already built up. Sometimes you drive really well, weaving in and out of traffic at full speed, and yet your bar barely fills. Often a crash will see all of your rivals speed past you leaving you in last place. The timer can be quite tight and seems unnecessary when you already have a ranking requirement in each race and limited credits to finish a championship. Several times I have run out of time despite not being in last place. In fact , after a couple of hours play, I’ve yet to complete the first championship - I was on the last lap of the third race and the game crashed as I ran one of my rivals into the central reservation.