The Demo Site

BURNOUT: Revenge 360 Guide


Burnout Revenge on the 360 is very similar to Burnout Revenge on
other consoles. It is, however, dissimilar to other racing games
in that it's as much about carnage as it is racing. There are
several types of events to participate in, and the game will
likely take you a good week or two to complete.


BASICS:

The key to being first is to pretty much use your boost all the
time. Boost is earned by driving through oncoming traffic without
hitting them, smashing into your opponents, or leaping over
ramps. Hitting the boost button will result in you zooming along
the track at crazy speeds. Crashing isn't actually as much of a
problem as you might think when you're boosting. Mainly because
the game's actually fairly forgiving in that respect - as long as
you don't hit a wall head on you're usually just pushed off it.
But be sure to watch out for obstacles in your way - while you
can knock small cars and vans out of the way from behind, hitting
a bus or truck will result in a crash. As will hitting any
vehicle head-on. And crashes can cost you precious seconds.


CRASHING:

If you want to get your opponents to crash, there are several
ways of going about it. The two simplest ways, however, are to
force them against a wall for a few seconds, or to ram traffic so
that it flies over you and into them. If you yourself manage to
crash, be sure to use the 'Crash Aftertouch' feature by pressing
A and moving the joystick. This lets you move your car as it's
being wrecked - if you steer it into an opposing car you'll get a
crash bonus, also known as a 'Takedown' which will earn you
enough boost to let you get some of your lead back. Plus it'll
help stop them overtaking you. Some later levels let you hit the
'B' button to blow your car up after you've crashed, but if you
fail to blow up an enemy vehicle in the explosion, you lose all
the boost you had.


COURSES:

There are about six different courses, all of which are repeated
as you progress through the game. There are shortcuts and ramps
to be found on each. Racing round the tracks a few times will
certainly help you learn the lay of the land. But you don't need
a perfect memory to know where the shortcuts are - they're
handily marked by glowing blue lights. These shortcuts are
generally faster than the main race route, but they can be more
dangerous, with pillars that you can crash into if you're not
careful. Some of the computer opponents will also use shortcuts
so taking one isn't a guaranteed way of getting ahead of the
pack.


UNLOCKABLES/ACHIEVEMENTS/MEDALS

At the end of each race/event you'll be given a rating and a
medal. To get a high rating - a four star rating - you need to do
cool things during the race such as using your boost for a long
time, smashing up lots of other vehicles or various other things.
You'll also receive a bronze, silver or gold medal - before the
race you're told what you need to do to get a particular medal.
If you get a four star rating and a gold medal, you'll be given
an extra star and a 'perfect' rating. Conversely, get a bronze
medal and one of your stars will be taken away from you. The more
stars you get, the faster your rank progresses and the more races
will made be available to you. Also, you'll also be given access
to faster and better cars, which will give you a better chance of
getting faster times when you replay earlier races. As far as
actually official X-Box 360 achievements go, the game is a little
stingy. You can browse the achievements in your dashboard, but to
get any decent points you need to finish each set of races with a
'Perfect' rating on each, or get 250 takedowns. Also, half of the
achivements can only be accomplished online.


RACE TYPES:

There are several race/event types you'll encounter. These are:

Crash Junctions: These require you to cause as much damage as
possible by crashing your car into another vehicle. The resultant
crash then causes other cars to crash and so on. These start off
fairly simply, but later on in the game you'll find there are
junctions where you can only get maximum points by spreading the
crash across two levels. The way to do this is to position your
car so it crashes into another one, then as your own car is
spinning, use crash aftertouch (the A and the joypad) to roll it
into the next lane or over a bridge into the traffic. Do enough
damage and your car will explode and you can then use crash
aftertouch again to roll the wreck into any cars that might have
escaped.

Road Rage: This event has you taking down as many enemy cars as
you can to score points. Don't bother using much boost in this
race, since enemy cars - marked by an arrow - appear all over the
race-track. But be aware the clock is always ticking and you
won't get extra time till you've taken down two or three cars.

Race/Elimination: There are two race variants - both require you
to be at the front of the pack to score the most points. The
twist with elimination is that instead of having to complete a
certain number of laps, the last racer is eliminated every thirty
seconds or so. Hence you can only win gold by being at the front
with racer number two is eliminated. In both cases, use boost and
shortcuts like there's no tomorrow.

Burning Lap: This is a simple time trial race. Beat the top score
to a gold, the second score to get a silver and, well, you get
the picture. Again, boost and short-cuts are the order of the
day. If you crash even once you'll lose precious time so if
you're going for the gold, you might as well start the race
again.

Traffic Attack: This event involves slamming into any traffic
driving along your side of the road, with the exception of trucks
and buses. Don't boost unless there's no traffic in sight as it's
easier to ram the vehicles when you're moving more slowly. Be
careful not to stray into the oncoming lane as any oncoming
vehicles will total you.


CHOOSING A CAR:

As the game progresses you'll have access to faster vehicles for
racing and bigger vehicles for crashing. As you might expect,
it's best to choose the fastest car you can when you're involved
in a race. When you're tackling a crash junction event, however,
it's not so easy to choose. Scope out the track first, and if
it's got ramps, take a medium-weight car, as heavy vehicles won't
make it far over a ramp. If, on the other hand, there aren't any
ramps, you're best off sticking with a big heavy vehicle like the
Burger Van.

FINALLY:

Don't forget about the game's online mode - if you think single
player's fun, just wait till you're annihilating people on X-Box
Live.