Burnout Legends – Sony PSP

Great Great Game! So, here is a different take on reviewing this game. I know everyone else loves the racing of the Burnout series, and surely this is some of the best racing on any platform. However, for me, the absolute best thing about the Burnout series is the crash mode. INCREDIBLE! It is hard to put into words why it is so much fun to drive as fast as you possibly can into a crowded intersection to see just how much monetary destruction you can cause. It’s like primordial fun. Your inner beast gets to come out in the form of plowing through semi trucks cars and minivans. Plus, every time you complete a crash intersection, you unlock another. Each crash is different, each intersection is different. Eventually you’ll get to harder to crash intersections and the crash mode becomes somewhat of an addicting puzzler, trying to figure out how to get the gold. Each crash intersection takes about 1 minute to complete lending this mode of the game to the perfect portable title.

Bottom Line: Is it fun? Yes. If you like completely destroying cars and you don’t mind using a little brainpower to do it, or if you just want the best racer anywhere, get this game. Will I keep it? It can be played forever. Is it for kids? Extremely violent car crashes with no people involved. My kids can’t get enough of it.

The Burnout series has been on my list of greatest racing games since Burnout 1, which was a super sleeper hit. Although Burnout was lacking in a lot of things, it had potential. I didn’t think a second game would EVER come out, but to my suprise one DID come out. Burnout 2: Point of Impact ( My favorite Burnout game besides Burnout Legends PSP ) That game got a lot of praise, and soon enough, Burnout Takedown came out, and just recently, Burnout Revenge. However, Burnout Legends is a handheld exclusive ( PSP and DS only, but the DS version really stinks. )

Graphics: 8.5/10. Probably the low point of the game. This may be confusing; but Burnout Legends in my opinion is THE BEST looking PSP game available, but I give it an 8.5 simply because of glitches. If you are riding up against a wall or something, you can see through them and stuff, just like if you take someone out against a barrier or a wall, their car will often fall through a glitch. It isn’t a bad thing really, it just kinda shows a car falling through blue sky. Moving on!

Sound: 9.5/10. At first the soundtrack I thought was horrible except for Goldfinger’s song “I Want”, but that isn’t really true. After listening to the songs over and over again, i found myself singing some of the songs at home (D’oh.) The soundtrack is all new songs that weren’t on any other Burnout. Besides the music, all the other sounds are in there, they are pretty much exactly the same as the console versions, they sound very good.

Control: 9/10. Can it get too much easier? In standard driving mode, X to drive, D-Pad or Analog nub to manuever, square to brake, and R to turbo; that’s pretty much it. It’s very simple, although the game isn’t simple.

Fun: 9.5/10. Not suprisingly, this was an amazing game, Suprisingly though, is how well the frame rate holds out. You can literally be taking down cars over and over again and there will rarely be any lag on screen. Due to the fact the PSP’s screen is so well sized, you can easily see cars well up the road. ( assuming your face is on screen into action, like mine. ) Many people say this is not worth more than a rental. Uh.. wrong. It is pretty much impossible to even beat this game in a rental period because it’s so in depth. I’ve played it fairly often since christmas ( I have 4 other PSP games ) and I’m only 18 percent through the game. This is simply an amazing game, and a true PSP gem. A must buy for a PSP owner, no doubt.

Electronic Arts and Criterion have made the Burnout series the most successful and exciting racing video game series to date. Now a yearly franchise (or so it seems), Criterion dropped the bomb on the home consoles this September when they released Burnout Revenge. They also released a PlayStation Portable Burnout, titled Burnout Legends, which is one of the best PSP games to date. With all of the hard-hitting crashes and the same blazing speed of the console games, Burnout Legends holds true to its legacy and delivers in every way.

Burnout Legends takes bits and pieces of Burnout, Burnout 2, and Burnout 3: Takedown and optimizes the experience for the PSP. You’ll instantly recognize some courses, cars, and Crash Junctions if you’ve played any of these three games. This means that there hasn’t been much new stuff added to the mix, but what is crunched up into this UMD is impressive. There are eight gameplay modes, including Ad Hoc WiFi multiplayer, and the single player World Tour mode has over 170 events on its own as well as the usual 100 Crash Junctions. It would be safe to say that Burnout Legends will take players as long to complete as Burnout Revenge would on a home console.

After four or five years of high-speed crashes, I’m surprised that EA has managed to keep this franchise fresh and entertaining but somehow they surpass themselves every year with something new. In this year’s revenge, you have the ability to ram pedestrian cars around and potentially cause crashes this way. Unfortunately, Burnout Revenge’s newest feature is exempt from Legends. This means that Legends plays in almost every way like Burnout 3: Takedown, which isn’t a bad thing at all, it just means that Takedown veterans won’t find anything new to try.

Still, all of those events never get old. Crash Junctions are as fast, explosive, and hectic as ever. I could never tire of making 30-car pile-ups. There are rewards for players who rack up damage dollars and collect gold medals, of course, so getting all of the gold medals in this game is as addictive as before. As a side note, though, I was disappointed as I noticed it was slightly easier to get gold medals in most of the challenges.

Visually Burnout Legends ranks among the best-looking PSP games so far. The exaggerated sparks from Burnout 3 return and the explosions, filled with smoke and debris, look right at home on the PSP. The crashing not only looks great, but it sounds great as well. The sound of metal buckling and explosions going off is as sweet as candy. As far as music goes, the soundtrack is similar to most of EA’s other games this year. It contains pop rock and punk rock, so take it or leave it.

I noticed a few small glitches while playing Burnout Legends, but nothing really distracts from the experience. Sometimes when I was taken down or I’d crash, my car would fly into a tree and get stuck or slide along a wall until the crashing sequence ended itself. I’ve always thought this, but some Crash Junctions are more luck than skill. No two attempts at the same Crash Junction will end exactly the same, so some Junctions may take one or two tries while others could take an hour or so to finally beat. I know there was one Junction that I tried about thirty times and still never managed to earn gold until I tried it one last time and blew the score away. It’s inconsistent, but it’s always fun.

In conclusion, Burnout Legends is one of the premium PSP games. It ranks among Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee, Metal Gear Acid, and Wipeout Pure as one of my favorite games on the console. With so much to do and so much excitement while doing it, Burnout Legends is an explosive rush quite unlike anything else on the PSP. The console is loaded with racing games (and there’s still more on the way) but you’d be hard-pressed to find something better than this.

(NOTE: This review is also posted on a website where I review games on a regular basis.)