Burnout, BMX 2 digitally impress; Supercross disappoints

  Acclaim "Burnout" is an arcade racer for PlayStation
2.

PlayStation 2 ““ Burnout Acclaim Entertainment
Rated E for everyone

Burnout takes a new approach to racing games by forcing its
racers to weave through crowded city streets populated with
slow-moving traffic while avoiding collisions. Burnout’s
distinguishing feature is the crash sequence. When a collision
occurs, the game cuts to a blurred, slow motion replay, showing the
collision from three perspectives. After the cut sequence,
play is resumed with the car humming happily along the road and no
evidence of the crash. The game touts PS2’s abilities with
Dolby Digital sound and clear, alias-free graphics (no jaggies).
Like Crazy Taxi (Arcade, Dreamcast), Burnout rewards near misses
but rather by charging a meter that can eventually be used as a
turbo boost instead of simply earning money. The game packs five
modes of play including championship, single race, time attack,
head-to-head and special mode, in which specific requirements can
be set up, such as “complete the track without
crashing”. The control is very tight. Minor adjustments of
the wheel yield sharp and controlled car movements. With light
throttle lift and short bursts of brake prior to a turn, most
casual gamers should be able to power through all but the sharpest
turns at nearly full speed. On the negative side, hitting the brake
will push the car into a slide, which is very useful when making
turns, but destructive when trying to regain control after a tricky
maneuver (e.g., to avoid a collision). A course map would have also
been appreciated in order to prepare players for the turns ahead.
In addition, collisions become tedious after awhile because the
player is forced to view the three-part replay every time there is
a collision. This takes the rhythm out of the game and causes
impatience.  Lastly, there are no damage models for the cars
““ cars do not show signs of physical damage ““ and there
are no real life cars or cities a la Project Gotham Racing for the
X-Box. 

Robert Esposito   Acclaim Dave Mirra is
back in X-Box’s "Freestyle BMX 2."

X-Box ““ Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 Acclaim
Entertainment Rated T for teens

This game rocks ““ literally.  With music from Rage
Against The Machine, Sum 41, Queen, Sublime and more, players are
never left in the silence. Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 is basically
Tony Hawk 2X with bikes, and it definitely delivers. The graphics
are realistic and vivid with beautiful textures and effects such as
grass that deforms under the wheel of the bike. Lighting effects,
such as real-time shadows and lens flare, add realism to the game
while not being over-accentuated. Audio is presented in Dolby
Digital ““ the new status quo, it seems, for next generation
games. There are a total of 13 interesting multiplayer scenarios,
the most interesting possibly being “Inflict the most
physical harm on the bicyclist.” The parks are also large,
varied and realistic. To quit the game, players simply ride out of
the park’s bounds. The single player game is like Tony
Hawk in that it assigns tasks that must be accomplished in a finite
amount of time.  More than just giving tasks, though, the game
requires the player to follow other players to specific locations
and ask for clues. The list of available characters is filled
with established greats in the BMX world, as well as a few humorous
characters, such as the guy from the Slim Jim commercials. This mix
provides a welcome and familiar mesh of entertainment with serious
gameplay. However, the game may disappoint those who prefer the
split screen mode rather than a turn-based mode in multiplayer.
There is also no blood in the game, which makes eating it that much
less enjoyable. The only glaring flaw of this game is that gameplay
is abruptly frozen whenever the audio track is switching
songs. Otherwise, it is a viable alternative to good ol’
Tony Hawk. 

Robert Esposito   Acclaim "Jeremy McGrath
Supercross World" lets players race on their PlayStation 2.

PlayStation 2 ““ Jeremy McGrath Supercross World
Acclaim Max Sports Rated T for teens

Do not buy this game! Do not even rent it.  This game does
not even deserve a review. It not only has every possible
flaw, but it isn’t even mildly amusing.  In fact,
it’s tedious and frustrating. Graphics like these hearken
back to the blocky textures and aliasing problems of first
generation Playstation games. The droning music and sound
effects only torture the player more. Supercross plays like a beta
of an already horrible game. Worth noting is that while most PS2
games are burned on DVD-ROMs, Supercross is written to a smaller
capacity CD-ROM. Environments are basically composed of hills
sparsely populated with tumbleweed here and a rotting tractor
there.  Aliasing is such a problem that hills look more like
step pyramids. The ground is covered with blotchy green squares of
different shades that are supposed to represent grass. Around each
square, there are white jagged lines that belie the seams between
blotches of ground. The character models are too small and
undetailed, looking more like faceless stick figures. The AI
is so dumb that when the computer takes over the driver after a
race is completed, it crashes into posts and walls.  Speaking
of crashes, there seems to be only one animation for a crash
regardless of whether the bike taps a pole at 5 mph or slams into a
Winnebago at 82 mph. Monotonous anyone? How this dastardly game was
approved by Acclaim, which is responsible for some high quality
sports games for the PS2 and X-box, is an offensive conundrum.

Robert Esposito