Burnout Legends! Hold On This Is One Crazy Ride!

INTRO

One thing the psp is not lacking in is driving games. There are a host of them available on this system already! Ridge Racer, Need For Speed Underground, Midnight club 3 to name a few, no we have Burnout Legends! This game has been a smash (no pun intended) hit on every platform that the game has graced so far. When i heard the psp was getting version of this game i wondered how well it would port on to a portable. The answer is surprisingly well.

HOLD ON TO YOUR HATS!

For those of you who have not heard of the Burnout series before, i will give you a brief run down of the game! In Burnout, the aim of the game is to race, surprise, surprise! However there is a twist to this, you have to create as many wrecks as you can, so yes you road ragers out there will love this game. The bigger the wreck you create the more points you get! The more cars you get involved in the crash, the more points you get. To date there has been 3 Burnout games on various platforms, this brings us to Burnout Legends.

Burnout Legends is a mixture of all 3 previous Burnout games. The developers have taken the best parts of the other Burnout games and have put them into this PSP version. You will get the best cars from the series, the best tracks from the series and the best game play elements from the original series, just like Namco done with Ridge Racer. This however makes for one heck of a game!

THIS IS UNLIKE ANY OTHER RACING GAME

Burnout Legends is unlike any other racing game out there. Yes you have to race, but you have to cause as much carnage as humanly possible. There are many different modes in Burnout Legends ranging from single race mode to world tour. If you have played a Burnout game before you will be instantly familiar with all of the various modes f play. From the main menu you will see the following options. World Tour (where you will spend most of your time) Single Event and Multiplayer. Single Event lets you do various things like, have a single race against the computer, time attack mode, which is where you just try to do a best lap on a track, road rage, in this mode the idea of the game is to wipeout as many cars as possible, and then there is pursuit mode. In Pursuit mode you take on the role of a cop and it is up to to chase down speeding cars. Multiplayer Mode allows you to play against you buddies on a wireless lan. This is great fun! Nothing quite like smashing you buddy into the on coming semi!

The main mode as i stated above is the world tour mode. This is where most of the action takes place, and it includes one of the best game modes ever created in any game! When you start the world tour you start out with only one category of cars (compact) this is a great way to break yourself into this game, the cars are easy to control and you get to familiarize yourself with the controls. Once you have selected the compact category you are presented with a map of the world. The races take place in various locations. Each location has different tasks set aside for you. Example you might pick a location and the task set aside might be a pursuit, or it might be a road rage event or it might just be a flat out race. Every time you complete and event and win a medal another challenge will open up in another location on the map. On most occasions when you complete and event you will u lock new tracks and new cars for you to destroy in what ever way you want! This mode will keep you busy for a long, long time.

The other mode in the World Tour option is the Crash Mode. This is without doubt one of the most entertaining game modes ever created! The idea of this mode is to cause as much destruction as possible from a single run. You will start out in a random location and the idea is to get to a certain intersection and crash, causing a massive wreck involving multiple vehicles. At the start of the even you will be given goals. What dollar amount of damage you need to win bronze, silver, or a gold medal. The crashes are truly stunning. Cars, Trucks, buses, semi's, trams and trains flying every which way, it is quite sadistic, but it is highly satisfying seeing the twisted metal of vehicles flying around the screen. All in all in the world tour mode there are 175 events for you to complete. This will take ages to get through, and there is plenty to keep you coming back for more and more.

HOW ARE THE GRAPHICS

The PSP hasn't failed to impress me yet with it's graphical capabilities, and burnout legends continues that trend. While the graphics in Burnout Legends are not as crisp and clear as they are on the PS2 or XBOX they are still pretty good for a handheld. There are a few graphical glitches in Burnout Legends and it gives me a feeling that the game might have been rushed just a little bit.

At times bits of the road disappear into thin air as do parts of some vehicles, However i have to keep reminding myself that this is a handheld, the graphics are still pretty stunning. At times it can be a little hard to see the oncoming traffic until..oops to late you are through the windshield of an 18 wheeler! However the more you play this the easier you will be able to see the tiny headlights of the oncoming cars. All in all the graphics on this game considering it is on a handheld are very good indeed. One thing i was worried about when i heard this game was coming to PSP was how would the PSP handle the feeling of speed. If any of you have played a Burnout game before you will know what i am talking about. The sense and feeling of speed you get while playing Burnout games is breathtaking, and i am happy to say that this has ported across nicely and the PSP handles this with ease. When you start playing the game you might not notice this as much but, when you get to the faster cars, the scenery zips by at an alarming rate, and there is now slow down during normal playing of the game which is great. The only time i ever noticed any slowdown is when you cause a big crash and there are cars flying everywhere, but even then the slowdown in minimal and does not affect the way the game plays.

HOW DOES IT SOUND

EA have always had great sound tracks on their games and again Burnout Legends is no exception. The tunes are great and there are some big name bands in this game. All of the tunes make you want to drive hard and fast, which is good because that is the idea of the game. The sound effects are pretty good. One of the things that gives a sense of speed is when you pass vehicles on the road you get a whoosh of wind, little things like that add a lot to game play. All of the cars have their own unique sound. When you accelerate you can hear the gear changes and you can hear the whining of the turbo booster kicking in. When you crash, you hear all of the metal twisting as the cars are being destroyed! Very cool!

IS IT EASY TO CONTROL

The controls on this game are very easy indeed, pretty much accelerate and brake. If you are playing the game properly you will not need the brake as the only time you should stop is when you hit a bus or truck head-on! X is accelerate, square is brake. The Right Shoulder button is your boost and the left shoulder button changes the camera angle. One new feature in this edition of Burnout is the after touch effect. When you crash if you hold down the right shoulder button you are able to control the direction your car flies off in when you crash! By controlling where you car flies and lands can involve more cars in the wreck, and as you know, the more cars involved the more points you score, so you really need to learn the after touch techniques.

IS IT WORTH THE MONEY

This is a must have for anybody who owns a PSP. It is such a unique racing experience and is so much fun. I guarantee you will not be able to put this game down for quite sometime. It has everything it's bigger brothers have on the PS2 and XBOX. This is a fun game with a unique twist on the racing genre. Go out and get it now!

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