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Burnout (PS2)
by shaneo632
Burnout is a solid game that is admittedly somewhat pale when we look back at it from the awesome sequels that have followed. Nevertheless, it instigated an unforgettable legacy of CARnage, and thus must be praised for this. In Burnout, you are granted the freedom to drive into oncoming traffic, smash opponents into guardrails, and just ... about do anything with as much bombast as possible to win the race!
As one of the first PS2 games, Burnout was a visual revolution upon release - it stands up pretty well today, and the various lighting effects and motion glare touches are very clever and refreshing indeed. Soundtrack, however, isn't so hot - the game didn't yet obviously have enough clout to get "proper" songs in the mix, so it's mostly independently written music that's just been churned out for a quick buck. That said, the actual sound effects of the shunts and bumps of the cars are very impressive indeed, and sound just as though I imagine getting creamed by a bus would sound like!
There's a multiplayer offering that really spices things up - you can race with a buddy, although the PS2 hadn't been optimised enough yet to really allow this to be a smooth experience, even if it is nevertheless quite fun.
When compared with its sequels, there's not much to really come back for at all in this game - it's improved upon in every way by the sequels, and the game can be ploughed through in a night if you're determined enough. Also, the selection of vehicles and tracks isn't that grand, and again, the sequels give you a far better choice of far better vehicles. Nevertheless, it has a place in the lineage of racing games, and opened the floodgates for some fantastic sequels that really ramped up the carnage and made things alot more accessible to the casual racing gamer!
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Burnout 2: Point of Impact (PS2)
by shaneo632
The frst Burnout game was a decent enough racer, but it was the second game - Point of Impact - that made the series what it is today, a brutal racing experience with a focus on causing as much vehicular and property damage as possible. The realism of the first game has been thrown out of the window in favour of more exaggerated gameplay ... that's also a whole lot more fun! I thought Burnout was good, but this is one of the best racing titles for the PS2, even if the best bit isn't the racing itself!
Visually, it's a very impressive game that has stood the test of time quite well. The locales have a wealth of detail, but what really catches the eye is the level of detail on the vehicles themselves - also, the damage detail in particular is very impressive. Let's say you're travelling fast, hit the Burnout mode, which causes the screen to become embossed with a huge motion blur, and then you can't control yourself properly and just careen into a waiting bus or something - your car will crumple into a ball in slow motion, as particles of metal fly off of it. Then you'll be thrown back into the action to do it all over again (albeit at the cost of some time if you're racing).
This is a fiendish little game that really has put the emphasis on chaos - the damage has been ramped up loads, and the traffic also seems a lot more fierce than before. Also, in keeping with the focus on fun, things are a bit less challenging this time around, making it more accessible to the casual gamer. You'll get frequent Boosts and Burnouts which will ensure you win a race, and the new Crash Mode which has been introduced, in which you must attempt to cause the most damage possible by flying through the air, is insanely fun. The focus here is on mayhem, and Burnout 2 absolutely delivers.
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Alias (PS2)
by heekeer
Alias is an action game for the Playstation 2 developed by Acclaim.
The games storyline picks up during season 2 of the show, you take on the role of Sydney Bristow an agent working for SD6 who pretend to be the CIA, she finds this out and is also really working for the CIA under her handler Michael Vaughn. The game picks up ... as Sydney is on the hunt for some Rambaldi artifacts which contain significant information that could help SD6 (though she secretly will switch them so the CIA get them) battling her rivals along the way including Anna Espinosa another super spy like Sydney. The story is actually very good and was actually written by the show's writers.
The game also does a really good job of making you feel like you are in the show, the characters all lend voice work to the game including Jennifer Garner as Sydney, and the game even starts up with the Alias theme tune!
It all begins to fall apart after that however, the gameplay which consists of and stealth sequences and combat. Combat is fairly decent at a glance aside from the problem you seem to have trouble deciding which enemy to hit and as a result Sydney will rather stupidly flail at empty space a lot more often than you would like. The gunplay is decent but the game goes the route of giving you hardly any ammo rendering guns useless! The camera in the game is also all over the place as it frequently likes to give you more dramatic views of the action which really don't aid your visibility and leads to frustration as you fail through no fault of your own!
Stealth gameplay is hit and miss, sometimes when it works well you will be able to creep past enemies un noticed or you can take them out in a stealth kill, when it doesn't work so well you will get seen from nowhere and instantly have swarms of guards ready to take you out, it can add to the frustration believe me.
Graphics and sounds are both good with accurate character likenesses and the voice over being done by the cast of the TV show.
The game has good production values but the gameplay itself is rather lacking.
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