| Burnout | |
|---|---|
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| Genre(s) | Racing |
| Developer(s) | |
| Publisher(s) |
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| Platform(s) | |
| First release | Burnout 1 November 2001 |
| Latest release | Burnout Paradise Remastered 16 March 2018 |
Burnout is a series of racing games developed by Criterion Games. The first two games were published by Acclaim Entertainment, while later installments were published by Electronic Arts.
| 2001 | Burnout |
|---|---|
| 2002 | Burnout 2: Point of Impact |
| 2003 | |
| 2004 | Burnout 3: Takedown |
| 2005 | Burnout Revenge |
| Burnout Legends | |
| 2006 | |
| 2007 | Burnout Dominator |
| 2008 | Burnout Paradise |
| 2009 | |
| 2010 | |
| 2011 | Burnout Crash! |
| 2012 | |
| 2013 | |
| 2014 | |
| 2015 | |
| 2016 | |
| 2017 | |
| 2018 | Burnout Paradise Remastered |
Burnout's origins came by way of Criterion Games, a division of Criterion Software Ltd. established in 1999 to showcase the type of games that its RenderWare game engine was capable of, with Fiona Sperry in charge. Their first game was a fast-paced skateboarding game, TrickStyle , published by Acclaim Entertainment for the Dreamcast and released in 1999. As a follow-up title, Sperry's team, now with Alex Ward on board, developed a racing game that showed off the capabilities of the newest iteration of RenderWare, named Burnout , also published by Acclaim in 2001. [1] Burnout was aimed to be an arcade-style racer, placing fun over realism as series like Gran Turismo offered. [2] Burnout was successful enough for a sequel Burnout 2: Point of Impact , released by Acclaim in 2002. Besides races, Burnout 2 introduced the series' signature "Crash mode", in which players would drive a car into a tableau of other cars and objects to try to do as much damage as possible. At this point in the series, the games were focused on driving on rural and country roads, and while the crashing mechanics were part of the game, these were not emphasized as gameplay elements but simply the undesirable, though often spectacular, result of a collision. [3]
In 2004, Acclaim filed for bankruptcy and sold off its existing properties to other publishers. Electronic Arts (EA) acquired Criterion Games as well as the rights to the Burnout series and RenderWare for an estimated US$48 million that year. [2] [4] EA had been interested in Criterion before from their TrickStyle game, and were initially in 2002 hoping for them to expand that out to be an open-world type skateboarding game under the Skate or Die! moniker, similar to the popularity of Grand Theft Auto III . However, Criterion could not find a way for that to work and the project was dropped; it is believed by journalists that this would ultimately be released in the 2007 game Skate by EA Black Box. [5] The cancelled project left some animosity between Criterion and EA, but in 2003, EA reached out to Criterion, wanting to resolve the matter and to have them work on a second Burnout sequel. Criterion agreed as long as EA left them with creative control over the title. [6] The game was near completion in 2004 by the time of Acclaim's bankruptcy and EA's acquisition. Burnout 3: Takedown took the series in a different route, as Criterion incorporated some of the more combative elements from the SSX series, such that players were "fighting through traffic" rather than just "racing through traffic", according to Ward. [7] Players were able to ram into opponents to focus them into crashes ("Takedowns"), which not only temporarily knocked them out from racing in a similar way to the weapons utilised in games such as Mario Kart , but also benefit the player by providing some boosting effects. [8]
Burnout 3 was highly successful, with more than 2.3 million copies sold through 2006 in the United States alone. [9] Criterion continued to develop additional Burnout games, culminating in Burnout Paradise in 2008. Paradise was envisioned by Ward as putting the Burnout series in an open world, giving players the option of what routes to take to complete races, alongside other traditional game modes, while adding a social element to the game. [10]
Around 2008–2009, some of Criterion's staff had jokingly asked if they could work on an instalment in the Need for Speed franchise, which put more focus on stunt-type driving than collisions. The series' games had been bounced between several of EA's internal studios. EA allowed them to develop a title, 2010's Hot Pursuit which was both critically and financially successful and led to Criterion becoming the lead studio for the Need for Speed franchise. [11] Hot Pursuit and its 2012 follow up, Most Wanted , were noted to feature elements from the Burnout series.
In 2013, oversight of the Need for Speed series was transferred to EA's newly formed subsidiary, Ghost Games, as well as 80% of the developers at Criterion; the remaining staff served as advisors. [12] In April of that year, Alex Ward said that Criterion would be steering away from the racing genre, placing the future of the Burnout series into question. [13] Sperry and Ward would ultimately leave Criterion in early 2014 and later form a new studio, Three Fields Entertainment. [14] [15] As the IP for Burnout still remains with EA, the studio would spend several years working through smaller game ideas to develop a spiritual successor to the Burnout series, with Dangerous Driving being the first game meant to capture several aspects of the series. [16] [17] In 2019, development of the Need for Speed series was reverted to Criterion Games; Ghost Games would be reverted to its original name as EA Gothenburg and became a Frostbite Engine support studio. That year's instalment, Need for Speed Heat , would also feature loose elements from the Burnout series, such as billboard destruction, ramps located throughout the game world, and a diverse terrain. In 2020, Criterion would once again become the lead developer for the franchise with Need for Speed Unbound being released in 2022.
| Game | Metacritic |
|---|---|
| Burnout | (PS2) 79 [18] (GC) 78 [19] (Xbox) 75 [20] |
| Burnout 2: Point of Impact | (GC) 89 [21] (Xbox) 88 [22] (PS2) 86 [23] |
| Burnout 3: Takedown | (Xbox) 94 [24] (PS2) 93 [25] |
| Burnout Legends | (PSP) 86 [26] (NDS) 38 [27] |
| Burnout Revenge | (PS2) 90 [28] (Xbox) 89 [29] (X360) 89 [30] |
| Burnout Dominator | (PS2) 76 [31] (PSP) 76 [32] |
| Burnout Paradise | (X360) 88 [33] (PS3) 87 [34] (PC) 87 [35] (PS4) 81 [36] (XONE) 80 [37] (NS) 75 [38] |
| Burnout Crash! | (iOS) 77 [39] (PS3) 69 [40] (X360) 66 [41] |
The most notable feature that the series is known for is its Crash mode. This series is well known for its emphasis on aggressive driving and high speed. In-race rewards are given to a player if they take risks such as driving towards oncoming traffic or deliberately attempting to make their opponents crash. [1] In Burnout 3: Takedown the latter action, referred to in-game as a "takedown", was showcased extensively and gave rewards such as points and boost when successfully performed.
It was not the racing element of the game but the slow motion replays of crashes that show the cars being deformed realistically that brought Burnout to the attention of the public. Criterion picked up on this and introduced a special "Crash Mode" as part of Burnout 2: Point of Impact . In this mode, players are instructed to cause as much damage as possible by crashing their vehicle into traffic in a specially designed level featuring "crash junctions", areas where many vehicles are passing by (such as a highway). During these events, traffic is constantly the same, utilizing a trial-and-error method to succeed. The mode was excluded from Burnout Paradise due to the arrival of Burnout Crash! . [42] Instead, it is replaced with a "Showtime" mode, which allows the player to crash "anywhere, anytime". [43] Point of Impact also introduced a Pursuit mode, where the player drives a special police car and must chase down a speeding racer and stop them before the racecourse ends. This mode was discontinued, but was featured in Burnout Legends and has reappeared as an available upgrade for purchase in Burnout Paradise known as Cops And Robbers. [44]
The takedown element of Burnout 3: Takedown is what differentiates it from other racing games. It is an essential strategy for winning races, especially in single player. There is also a "Road Rage" mode in which the object is to takedown as many opponents as possible.
Burnout Revenge introduced the "traffic check" feature, which made it possible for the player to hit smaller traffic vehicles without crashing and to use them to try to take down rivals. Burnout Dominator is the only game without the crash mode from the previous games. Dominator mainly focuses on the original game's "Burnout", which is using up the entire boost meter non-stop and trying to chain boosts as long as possible.
Burnout Paradise added new features such as its open world gameplay where players could explore Paradise City at their leisure and race whenever they want once they get to race-starting areas called "intersections". It also introduced a feature called "mugshot" where, using the Xbox Live Vision camera or PlayStation Eye, it takes a "mugshot" of their opponent once the player took them down. [45]
Burnout originally featured a small collection of cars, [1] including the small Compact, the Saloon (as well as a sports-modified GT version), the Pickup and the Muscle. This collection grew in Burnout 2 to include cars such as the Oval racer, the Cop Car, the Classic, The Gangster and the Hot Rod. Once Burnout 3: Takedown was released, the original cars were no longer used, except for the Custom Coupe Ultimate, a lime green Coupe that was one of the "Custom" cars in Burnout 2 (this car also reappears in Burnout Legends, Burnout Dominator, and Burnout Paradise). The Paradise version is called the Kitano Hydros Techno. The same happened in Burnout Revenge where the car collection was entirely new. For the most part, Burnout Paradise's car collection is all new but there are some vehicles (such as the aforementioned "Custom Coupe Ultimate" and the Custom Roadster from Burnout 2 or the Revenge Racer from Burnout Revenge) that are models from previous Burnout games. Paradise is also the first Burnout game to designate manufacturers and realistic car model names for its vehicles (such as the "Carson Annihilator" or "Nakamura Ikusa GT").
Another thing to note is how many of the cars could be based on their real-life counterparts, especially the vehicles from Burnout Revenge and Burnout Paradise. An example is the "Carson GT Concept" from Paradise, which resembles a fifth-generation Chevrolet Camaro.
Certain games in the series also have compatibility with other games, such as in Revenge, where players can unlock the Madden Challenge Bus by having a save file from Madden NFL 06 , [46] and a Burnout 3: Takedown save file unlocks the Dominator Assassin.
Criterion prioritized compelling sound as key to the Burnout experience. Using the RenderWare Audio component, developers evolved the soundtrack over the years with each iteration of the game. The first Burnout used Fourier resynthesis for the engine sounds. Burnout 2 used a wavefolder with distortion and turbo/supercharger noises to add more realism. For the next game, the team began developing a granular playback system, which shipped with the Xbox 360 release of Burnout Revenge. [47]
Need for Speed (NFS) is a racing game franchise published by Electronic Arts and currently developed by Criterion Games, the developers of Burnout. The series generally centers around illegal street racing and tasks players to complete various types of races while evading the local law enforcement in police pursuits. The series is one of EA's oldest franchises not published under their EA Sports brand. The series released its first title, The Need for Speed, in 1994. The most recent game, Need for Speed Unbound, was released on December 2, 2022. Additionally, a free-to-play mobile installment released in 2015, Need for Speed: No Limits, is actively developed by Firemonkeys Studios, the developers of Real Racing 3.
Burnout is a 2001 racing video game developed by Criterion Games and published by Acclaim Entertainment for the PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox.
Burnout 3: Takedown is a 2004 racing video game developed by Criterion Games and published by Electronic Arts. It is the third instalment in the Burnout series, which is characterised by fast-paced arcade racing. A staple of the series is the use of boost, earned through risky driving, to rapidly increase a car's speed. The central mechanic introduced in Burnout 3 is Takedowns, which allow players to slam their opponents until they crash. Takedowns work in conjunction with the boost system by filling up and extending the boost meter. Aside from standard circuit races, the game features modes focused on performing Takedowns on rival vehicles and causing monetary damage at a junction occupied with traffic. Each game variant is featured in a single-player campaign mode called World Tour, which serves as the primary method for unlocking new and faster cars. The game supports both online and split-screen multiplayer.
Burnout 2: Point of Impact is a 2002 racing video game developed by Criterion Games and published by Acclaim Entertainment for PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox. It is the sequel to the 2001 video game Burnout and the second title in the Burnout series. It was the last Burnout game to be released on the GameCube and the series would not see a release on a Nintendo platform until the release of Burnout Legends in 2005. The game also marked Acclaim's last entry in the Burnout series, as Acclaim would go bankrupt in 2004; the rest of the series would be published by Electronic Arts.
Criterion Games is a British video game developer based in Guildford. Founded in January 1996 as a division of Criterion Software, it was owned by Canon Inc. until Criterion Software was sold to Electronic Arts in October 2004. Many of Criterion Games' titles were built on the RenderWare engine, which Criterion Software developed. Notable games developed by Criterion Games include racing video games in the Burnout and Need for Speed series. As of April 2017, Criterion Games employ approximately 90 people.
Burnout Revenge is a 2005 racing video game developed by Criterion Games and published by Electronic Arts for PlayStation 2, Xbox and Xbox 360.
Burnout Legends is a racing video game developed by Criterion Games and published by Electronic Arts for PlayStation Portable. The game features many of the tracks and gameplay modes from the first three Burnout titles but repackaged for the handheld format. Many of the gameplay modes are similar to Burnout 3: Takedown using a mixture of old and new tracks. The Nintendo DS port was developed by Visual Impact.
Need for Speed: Carbon is a 2006 racing video game and the tenth installment in the Need for Speed series. Developed by EA Black Box, Rovio Mobile and published by Electronic Arts, it was released on October 31, 2006, for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox, Xbox 360, GameCube, Windows, and Mac OS X, and on November 19, 2006 as a launch title for the Wii and in 2008 for arcade cabinets. The game sees players conducting illegal street races within the fictional city of Palmont City, with the game's main story taking place after the events of Need for Speed: Most Wanted and focusing on the player's character taking control of the city from various street-racing gangs. While the gameplay is similar to its predecessor, Carbon introduced a number of new features, including crews and racing wingmen, Touge-styled racing events, and greater customization options.
Burnout Dominator is a 2007 racing video game developed by EA UK and published by Electronic Arts for PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable. It retains the core gameplay of the series, as players race at top speeds through dozens of World Tour events testing "reckless skill-based" driving techniques.
Burnout Paradise is a 2008 racing video game developed by Criterion Games and published by Electronic Arts for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. It was also released on the PlayStation Store and via Xbox Live Marketplace's Games on Demand. It was later added to the libraries of Greatest Hits and Platinum Hits titles and was made backward compatible with the Xbox One in November 2016. It is the first game in the Burnout series to be released on Microsoft Windows.
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is a 2010 racing video game developed by Criterion Games and published by Electronic Arts for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, Microsoft Windows, iOS, Android, webOS, and Windows Phone. The Wii version was developed by Exient Entertainment. Hot Pursuit is the sixteenth Need for Speed title and was released in November 2010, with digital distribution versions released within December 2010. This version is a reboot of Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit (1998). A remastered version, titled Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered, was released on November 6, 2020, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and on November 13, 2020, for Nintendo Switch.
Burnout Crash! is a downloadable action racing video game in the Burnout series. It is developed by Criterion Games and published by Electronic Arts for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, iOS via PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade, and iTunes App Store.
Need for Speed: Most Wanted is a 2012 racing game developed by Criterion Games and published by Electronic Arts. Most Wanted is the nineteenth title in the Need for Speed series and was released worldwide for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation Vita, iOS and Android, beginning in North America in 2012, with a Wii U version following in 2013 under the title Need for Speed: Most Wanted U. The game picked up on the Most Wanted intellectual property, as opposed to the Hot Pursuit reboot that Criterion Games developed previously.
Need for Speed: Most Wanted is a 2005 racing video game, and the ninth installment in the Need for Speed series. Developed by EA Canada and EA Black Box and published by Electronic Arts, it was released in November 2005 for PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, Nintendo DS, Microsoft Windows, Game Boy Advance and Xbox 360. An additional version, Need for Speed: Most Wanted 5-1-0, was released in the same year for PlayStation Portable. The game focuses on street racing-oriented gameplay involving a selection of events and racing circuits found within the fictional city of Rockport, with the game's main story involving players taking on the role of a street racer who must compete against 15 of the city's most elite street racers to become the most wanted racer of the group, in the process seeking revenge against one of the groups who took their car and developing a feud with the city's police department.
Need for Speed Rivals is a 2013 racing video game developed in a collaboration between Ghost Games and Criterion Games, and published by Electronic Arts. It is the twentieth installment in the Need for Speed series and the debut title for Ghost Games, who would be established as the primary developer of the series for all subsequent non-mobile installments up until 2020. Rivals was well received by critics at E3 2013 and was awarded with "Best Racing Game" from Game Critics Awards. It also received mostly positive reviews upon release. It was followed in 2015 by the mobile game Need for Speed: No Limits and the unsubtitled reboot of this franchise.
Need for Speed is a 2015 online racing video game developed by Ghost Games and published by Electronic Arts. The game was released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in November 2015, while a Windows version released in March 2016. It is the twenty-second installment in the Need for Speed series, and is a reboot of the franchise.
Dangerous Golf is a miniature golf game developed by Three Fields Entertainment, a studio formed by former Criterion Games founders and developers Fiona Sperry and Alex Ward. The game, as stated by the studio, is a mix of Burnout, Black, and NBA Jam, in which players attempt to cause the most destruction by playing miniature golf within a confined space, such as a china shop or a kitchen. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in June 2016.
Danger Zone is a video game developed by Three Fields Entertainment. The game involves driving vehicles at high speeds into various traffic situations to cause as much damage as possible. It is directly inspired by the Crash mode in the various Burnout games developed by Criterion Games, which the founders of Three Fields had been a part of prior to founding their own studio. It was released in May 2017 on Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 4 systems, and in October 2017 for Xbox One.
Three Fields Entertainment Limited is a British video game development studio. It was founded in February 2014 by Alex Ward and Fiona Sperry, who had previously worked at Criterion Games, along with developer Paul Ross who had worked with them under Criterion Games.
Dangerous Driving is a racing video game developed by Three Fields Entertainment, released on 9 April 2019 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
