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Burnout 2 Awsome Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 16
Date: August 29, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Burnout 2 is the best game ever made!!!! I would recomend it to anyone who has PS 2,Gamecube, or Xbox. Its very fun

Looks great

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 7
Date: September 06, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Have to say I'm looking forward to this game. My PS2 is actually going to have 480P on my digital TV, that with 60fps and I'm a happy camper. And the lighting on this game looks incredible.

Burnout 2 is a must have for PS2

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 9
Date: September 16, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game is going to kill the racing market. All the magazine previews are saying that Burnout 2 is going to be fantastic and I can't wait to play it.

Leaves the original in the dust

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 30 / 32
Date: October 05, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Burnout, Criterion's original traffic-weaving arcade racer, was a hit-and-miss affair with many. It delivered an intense racing experience, but was marred by short length, fuzzy graphics, and annoying crash replays. However, Criterion has taken all complaints into account, and delivered their masterpiece: Burnout 2 - Point of Impact. It looks better and is deeper, but retains the same magnetic gameplay of the first game. Burnout 2 is one of the best games on the system, and is one of the best arcade racers to come along in a long time.

The first thing you'll notice is the graphical upgrade. Anyone who thinks the PS2 is underpowered should look at what Criterion's been able to coax out of it. Burnout 2 is filled with visual beauty: lens flares, weather effects, beautifully rendered car models, lifelike tracks brimming with ambient activity and traffic, and wince-causing crashes. The roads are choked with traffic, each moving independently (Criterion says there are several different types of AI behavior now). All this at a screaming 60 frames per second...without an ounce of slowdown - even in multiplayer. When you consider the detail, the speed, and the amount of moving objects on the screen at any one time, Burnout 2 is one of the best-looking games on the PS2. Criterion and its Renderware tool deserve some serious praise for what they've accomplished.

But games aren't all graphics, are they? Burnout 2 has some of the most enjoyable, adrenaline-pumping gameplay you'll find. The premise is simple: race AI-controlled opponents as fast as you can, along checkpoint-riddled courses overflowing with traffic which serves no purpose except to get in your way. Weaving amongst the logging trucks, passenger cars, and buses, time running out, AI on your tail....what a rush. The CPU cars aren't perfect, either - they'll crash as often as you do, making the races much more realistic and forgiving. Go too slow, and you'll miss the next checkpoint, losing the race - the game WANTS you to take risks, and constantly rewards you for it. If you should be unlucky enough to hit another car, be ready for a ferociously portrayed impact. However, the replays have been much shortened from the first game - one short replay and you're back on the track in no time.

Another complaint that's been addressed is the lack of modes. Burnout 2 sports a training mode called Offensive Driving 101, which teaches you the advantages of power-sliding, jumping, driving against traffic, getting Near Misses, etc - all of which fill your Burnout meter. When full, you can access a speed boost that'll launch you into serious high-g territory, complete with screen blur and a soundtrack change. Drain your meter without crashing and you get a score multiplier. Time Attack is exactly what you'd expect - try and set your best lap/course times. Pursuit Mode is also new - you're a police car chasing another vehicle, with no other purpose but to ram it into submission...while avoiding traffic yourself. Do so, and you'll unlock the car for the other modes. None of the cars are licensed - not surprising when you consider the twisted hunks of metal they become - but it's easy to see their source of inspiration (i.e. the Classic is obviously an old-school Caddy...and you can choose to make it pink!).

A brilliant new mode is called simply Crash. Criterion's smart - it knew it had a great creation with its impact engine, but fully including it in the main racing modes disrupted the flow of the races. Enter Crash mode, in which you're given a few seconds, a full Boost meter, and a busy intersection just ahead. Here, the object is to cause the biggest traffic accident you can. After you throw yourself into motor mayhem, you're treated to an ego-indulging, overhead, slo-motion replay, and you're given a final score (in insurance dollars). Plus, wreck five cars at once, and your total is multiplied by five. This mode is a stroke of genius that's huge fun with friends, in an un-ending competition to wreak the most havoc.

Championship Mode is similar to the original Burnout: progress along a series of races, unlocking cars and new courses as you go, but in Burnout 2, you're given a points system rather than the rigid "You Must Finish First To Advance" rules of the first. Burnout 2's single-player mode is longer than before, but still has the same difficulty level. Driving game vets will be able to jump in and unlock stuff right away. But once you unlock everything, you'll most likely leave Championship behind - the real replay value of Burnout is in the multiplayer and Time Attack modes (plus a couple other worthwhile secret ones!).

Burnout 2: Point of Impact is a thrill freak's dream. It's the fastest game on the PS2, looks gorgeous, has great sound, and packs tons of replay value. If you liked the original, you'll love the second - case closed. If you passed on the first, Point of Impact is definitely worth looking at, because all the gripes you mave have had have been fixed, and the new modes make Burnout 2 quite an attractive package. As the AAA-title-swamped end of 2002 approaches, Burnout 2 may get lost amongst higher-profile titles, but as of October, it's without a doubt my pick for Game of the Year...and I'm not really a huge fan of racing games.

One of the Best Racing Titles Ever!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 15 / 19
Date: October 05, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I just can't say enough about this game. If you liked the first Burnout or are looking for an amazing gaming experience this is the game for you. Awesome visuals a 60fps framerate and rocking gameplay will have you in front of your PS2 for hours on end. I just picked this game up today and have been playing for 4 hours straight.

The many modes in Burnout 2 are great. You have the normal Championship mode, Time Attack, Single Race, Pursuit where you play a cop trying to ram the baddies off the road ala Chase HQ, and then the ultimate mode of any game CRASH. In crash mode you strategically crash your car into an onslaught of other cars to cause as much damage as possible.

I have just started playing this game, but can honestly say that it will be in my PS2 for a long time to come.

Awesome Crashes!!!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 4
Date: October 06, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game is the coolest! I played it when my friends came over and it's awesome. The crashes are 100% realistic, and now there's even a Crash Mode, where you have to get the biggest crash and get the most damage and owe the most money you can. In one level, you can even go flying off a cliff!
I would have given it five stars, but the racing mode can kinda get a little boring. When I played it, I almost always came in first, and the opponents get up to 7 seconds behind you, so if you make a brutal crash, they still don't catch up. Overall, though, this game is one of the best car games i've ever played.

It's all about the racing...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 14
Date: October 08, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Let me first get this out of the way: Burnout 2 cannot compete with Gran Turismo, but it doesn't have to. They are different styles of games, with very different goals.

The Gran Turismo series is all about the real cars, the real driving physics (minus damage) and tuning options out the wazoo; Burnout 2 is about racing and crashing in spectacular fashion. If your idea of a good driving game is to be able to change the gear ratios, modify the spark timing, et. al. then you probably want to skip Burnout 2. If you want to drive wrecklessly through oncoming traffic and see some of the best slow motion, metal wrenching, car crushing crashes while playing a very fast and tighly controlled arcade racer, the Burnout 2 is where you want to be.

Burnout 2 takes classic checkpoint racing and brings it home at a blazing speed. The game has no slowdown from it's beautiful 60 fps. The cars offer excellent detail (though not quite so much as Gran Turismo), and the backgrounds (or what you see of them while zipping by at outlandish speeds) are also richly populated. The game just looks good. Add to that the excellent crash physics (and a special mode where you just try to wreck in the most expensive and destructive manner possible) and you have a wonderfull little game. The crash mode alone makes this a great party game if for just to see who can cause the most spectacular wreck and cause the most property damage.

But keep this in mind when checking the game out. If you like arcade racing, then Burnout 2 is the new cream of the crop. If you want a realistic simulation of driving and tuning, then this is not going to be the game for you.

Oh, wow! Amazing...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: October 08, 2002
Author: Amazon User

this is absolutely amazing, the gravity and real world driving simulator is incredible, these cars act like they are real and the gameplay is very cool.

BUY IT NOW!

Think you know burnout? Think again!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: October 14, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Graphics and sound 10/10
Technically this is the most impressive videogame for ps2. the game blazes at 60 frames per second, the sense of speed is unrivaled, the textures and lighting are gorgeous, the physics are amazing(incredible crashes), and it supports progressive scan televisions.

Gameplay 9/10
This game blazes. Nothing has ever been faster than this. The controls are tight and it actually takes skill to drive. There are a lot of interesting modes(crash, offensive driving 101), multiplayer racing, and racing series.

The Best Arcade Racing Game Ever Made

Retina-Frying Motorway Mayhem

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: October 14, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game is fast. Really, really fast. Your nerves regularly get frayed during the points where it's made obvious that you have to use multiple turbo boosts to catch up with the leader, and this usually results in a frenzied kamikaze charge through busy intersections and oncoming traffic. Funnier still is the fact that even though you frequently travel at the speed of sound, you can somehow scrape dangerously close to 40 foot articulated lorries and swerve past a palm tree within an inch of your life. Ultimately though, you'll wrap yourself around a schoolbus in a cringeworthy shower of shrapnel and with a very terminal crunching sound.
And this is the fun. This game revels in the art of crashing - there's even a minigame where the emphasis is causing massive pile-ups for insurance money. Multi-player is fantastic too, there's nothing quite like the feeling of storming up a busy freeway with your friend trying to nose his way past you, and then forcing him into the path of an oncoming truck. Or during single player when you find yourself cursing the car that has just overtaken you, only to whoop with glee as he piledrives into a jack-knifed 18-wheeler seconds later.
The computer controlled cars are generally pretty nippy, but ingeniously do occasionally wipe themselves out when they're under pressure.
The game gets quite hard too around about the Custom Championship, and you'll soon find it hard to unlock the remaining bonus cars and tracks. My only gripe with this astounding game is that it has quite a lot of bugs. Nothing too earth-shattering, just graphical glitches like smashing against a wall only to find your car drifting through space and twirling about in a blue vortex for 30 seconds. And this happens quite a lot. Your car can get stuck in out-of-bounds places too, and it'll irritatingly jitter about until the game engine figures out that it needs to be repositioned.
Also, the menu system is majorly flawed. Just try to reset a game and you'll be forced to read a minutes worth of options before you can restart. And this happens every single time you finish a race. Very annoying.
So despite a shedload of graphical bugs that you'll more than likely encounter within your first few hours of play, and a patience-testing menu system, this is in my opinion, the best multi-player entertainment the PS2 has to offer.
Cheers.

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