Burnout Revenge
Burnout Revenge is a 2005 arcade racing game from British studio Criterion Games, considered by many fans to be the high point of the whole series before it moved into an open world with Burnout Paradise. The game continues the tradition of extremely fast, adrenaline-fueled races where crashing and destruction matter just as much as winning outright, and the key new mechanic became so-called Traffic Checking - the player could now deliberately ram civilian traffic driving in the same direction from behind and literally blast it off the road without suffering noticeable damage themselves, completely changing the tactics of driving through streets full of cars. Where every brush with traffic once meant the threat of an instant end to the run, here it became a tool of attack and a source of boost - which, after all, is what Burnout is chiefly about.
The controls stayed instantly readable - gas, brake, nitro, and evasive side moves, plus Takedowns performed by ramming an opponent at full speed. The famous Crash Mode, where the player deliberately causes the most destructive and expensive traffic pileups possible for the highest score, received further expansion and a refined vehicle-destruction physics model still prized today for its spectacle and detail. Visually, the game leaned on a dazzling sense of speed supported by motion blur, sparking collisions, and an aggressive rock soundtrack, making it feel remarkably brisk and loud even on period hardware.
Critics praised the incredible sense of speed, the addictiveness of the payback system against opponents through Takedowns, and the overall polished, near-perfect arcade driving physics, all of which place Burnout Revenge among the best-reviewed racing games of its console generation. The game cemented Criterion's reputation as masters of destructive, purely fun arcade driving and paved the way for the series' subsequent move to an open world. Many longtime fans still consider Revenge the best-balanced entry, one that still combined traditional circuit tracks with all-out destructive action, and returning to it today reveals how little of its pace has aged.
Game 85 of 176 for Microsoft Xbox
The same title elsewhere (1)
Burnout Revenge launched in 2005 simultaneously on PlayStation 2 and Xbox with the same content and tracks, including the new mechanic that let you ram slower traffic off the road. Xbox had a stronger graphics chip than the PS2 at the time, so steadier frame rates and cleaner textures were common across multiplatform racing games of that era, and this title was generally no exception. Shortly after, an Xbox 360 version also arrived, running at noticeably higher resolution and smoothness than either older version, and many players still consider it the best way to play Burnout Revenge today. The PS2 version remains fully playable, just with visibly more modest graphics.
