Developer(s) Criterion Games Director(s) Alex Ward Artist(s) Michael Williamson | Publisher(s) Acclaim Entertainment Designer(s) Chris Roberts | |
Programmer(s) Richard Parr
Hamish Young (GameCube) | ||
Burnout is a racing game that was developed by Criterion Games and published by Acclaim Entertainment. It was released for the PlayStation 2 in North America on 1 November 2001 and in Europe on 16 November 2001. The GameCube and Xbox versions were released a year later in North America on 29 April 2002 and in Europe on 3 May 2002.
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Burnout was the first in a series of high-speed racing games noted for over the top crashes and high risk gameplay mechanics. The game's success led to several sequels.
Gameplay
The main gameplay mode in Burnout is the Championship mode, which is a selection of events with three or four races in each. Here the player competes against three other cars on various courses. Each event gets harder and requires the player to use faster cars to reach first place. After completing each event, a Face Off challenge is unlocked which in turn unlocks a new car if won. Other modes include single race, time attack, and 2-Player. Single race is a mode where the player races against three opponents. In time attack, the player must finish a lap in a certain amount of time.
Each location is connected in "Sprints", so hypothetically one could drive from River City (Paris) and end up in Harbor Town (the Costa del Sol) in a matter of seconds. This however, when tried, is impossible. Each location has a distinct collection of traffic that distinguishes one continent from the next; e.g. American taxi cabs versus European taxi cabs and so forth.
Burnout features a small collection of cars, including the small Compact, the Sedan, the Pickup and the Muscle.
Reception
Burnout received "favorable" reviews on all platforms according to video game review aggregator Metacritic.