Burnout is my favourite racing franchise, and it all started with this game, which was quite likely my most played GameCube game as a kid. And while it may feel a bit more pedestrian now, due to many games having similar mechanics, it was also something quite unique when it came out. Burnout doesn’t just encourage you to drive dangerously, it’s required to do well at the game.
Burnout takes place in busy streets, with some tracks based on the USA and others based on Europe. There are only six distinct tracks in total, however, as the flow of traffic is so important, the reverse tracks really do feel quite different. There are also two epically long tracks that combine the three of each region together, making them feel like a connected area.
While the tracks themselves are nothing special, they look really nice for the time and have set traffic patterns that ramp up with each lap.
In order to win, you need to use your boost, however, your boost metre can only be filled by driving dangerously, by almost hitting other cards, drifting and driving on the wrong side of the road. You can only use your boost when fully charged, and if you let go before the bar is fully depleted, you have to charge it up again.
However, deplete the boost bar in a single go and you’ll automatically recharge half of your boost. If you do enough dangerous driving within this time, you’ll be able to continue boosting with an entire full bar. This means that taking risks at high speed is incredibly rewarding, as long as you don’t crash.
The time it takes between crashing and respawning could have easily been a massive flaw with the game, however the crashes themselves are satisfying, with all the card crumpling and distorting, and a tally of how much damage is caused is shown to you (which would become its own mode in later games). You can even save replays of your biggest crashes at the end of a race to watch in more detail.
Going back to the original Burnout after later ones, it definitely feels more muted (the sound effects particularly aren’t as strong), but the deformation is still great.
While Burnout definitely improved in later games, the original is still a great game, with extremely satisfying racing and the traffic junctions greatly enhancing the tracks. You can even unlock a bus for a bit of extra challenge. There are loads of nice additional touches, such as your car indicating before turns and the AI racers making mistakes and crashing, which was really nice to see.
Burnout was also my introduction to the now standard way of controlling racing games: using the left and right analogue shoulder buttons for acceleration and braking. It doesn’t seem like much now, but it was a big change to using A and B.