The lukewarm-to-cold reviews on this really almost put me off of trying it, despite really liking Burnout 3 as a teen (and adult, when I replayed it some years ago). I went ahead and tried it anyway, and boy, is it an exhilarating game. There is an enormous amount of butthole clenching to be had here as you hit the highway with 3 other people with a death wish, going triple the speed limit into oncoming traffic and trying to trip one another up and not lose your own life in the process.
Out of all the racing games I've played I'd say this one probably does the best job of capturing the feeling of being a cold blooded psychopath (in a good way?). At times you feel downright cold inside blasting past swerving civilians, and taking extreme delight in noticing that the guy who was catching up to you is now flipping 20 feet in the air behind.
Contrary also to a repeated opinion in the other reviews, I actually don't think the handling is bad at all, but I have a guess as to why people are saying so. The handling on the "easy" car, the first selection, is atrocious. Do yourself a favor and just go to the "hard" cars immediately. The truck is slower but offers a much better camera angle (higher) and so that will be your advantage. The muscle car on the other hand is very fast, handles probably the best in the game, but has a very low viewpoint by comparison. Either one can win races, but I found the muscle the most effective. You can also complete Face Off 2 to unlock the Roadster, another very effective and well-handling car.
The game also culminates in a very fun ~18ish minute race, 3 laps of the longest track you've seen which winds through just about every other track you've played so far. This gives you a long time to bask in the wonderful feeling of deep flow this game gives, just dodging, racing -- it's honestly joyous. Some of the most fun I've had in a game in a long time, just being allowed to play without any breaks over this extremely long race and soak it in.
The reason I don't give this game 5 stars is that it has two weakpoints. For one, it lacks content. I played the every GP and unlocked every vehicle by doing the 1v1 Face Offs in roughly 2-3 hours (I lost track of time, but something like that). That being said, this could also be construed as a strength, as I enjoyed playing this a lot, and it was over before it could wear out its welcome. If you really want to, you can tinker with the Time Trial and Survival modes, racing as fast as you can or as long as you can without crashing, while earning points for doing dangerous stunts.
The second downside is the rubber-banding AI. This is a pain point in any racing game, and it can be very frustrating. Luckily, it's not that bad here, as if you are being followed closely by an AI and crash, they will almost certainly all 3 pile up behind you, leaving you still in the lead on respawn. Even more so, at times I crashed, was passed, and still somehow respawned infront of the other drivers. All in all, if you're driving one of the fastest cars, you're never going to be out of the race as long as you keep a good pace and don't crash. You'll catch up eventually, and the AI will have a hard time overtaking you, so just... don't crash and the rubber banding won't be an issue.
I definitely recommend this one. I understand that the newer ones evolved the formula and they're good too. But this was a lot of fun. I'll play it again some day.
Out of all the racing games I've played I'd say this one probably does the best job of capturing the feeling of being a cold blooded psychopath (in a good way?). At times you feel downright cold inside blasting past swerving civilians, and taking extreme delight in noticing that the guy who was catching up to you is now flipping 20 feet in the air behind.
Contrary also to a repeated opinion in the other reviews, I actually don't think the handling is bad at all, but I have a guess as to why people are saying so. The handling on the "easy" car, the first selection, is atrocious. Do yourself a favor and just go to the "hard" cars immediately. The truck is slower but offers a much better camera angle (higher) and so that will be your advantage. The muscle car on the other hand is very fast, handles probably the best in the game, but has a very low viewpoint by comparison. Either one can win races, but I found the muscle the most effective. You can also complete Face Off 2 to unlock the Roadster, another very effective and well-handling car.
The game also culminates in a very fun ~18ish minute race, 3 laps of the longest track you've seen which winds through just about every other track you've played so far. This gives you a long time to bask in the wonderful feeling of deep flow this game gives, just dodging, racing -- it's honestly joyous. Some of the most fun I've had in a game in a long time, just being allowed to play without any breaks over this extremely long race and soak it in.
The reason I don't give this game 5 stars is that it has two weakpoints. For one, it lacks content. I played the every GP and unlocked every vehicle by doing the 1v1 Face Offs in roughly 2-3 hours (I lost track of time, but something like that). That being said, this could also be construed as a strength, as I enjoyed playing this a lot, and it was over before it could wear out its welcome. If you really want to, you can tinker with the Time Trial and Survival modes, racing as fast as you can or as long as you can without crashing, while earning points for doing dangerous stunts.
The second downside is the rubber-banding AI. This is a pain point in any racing game, and it can be very frustrating. Luckily, it's not that bad here, as if you are being followed closely by an AI and crash, they will almost certainly all 3 pile up behind you, leaving you still in the lead on respawn. Even more so, at times I crashed, was passed, and still somehow respawned infront of the other drivers. All in all, if you're driving one of the fastest cars, you're never going to be out of the race as long as you keep a good pace and don't crash. You'll catch up eventually, and the AI will have a hard time overtaking you, so just... don't crash and the rubber banding won't be an issue.
I definitely recommend this one. I understand that the newer ones evolved the formula and they're good too. But this was a lot of fun. I'll play it again some day.