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Crash n Burn Review - PS2

Two of the biggest and best releases this year were Burnout 3 and Need for Speed Underground 2. One delivering fast and destructive racing and the other delivering a darker and more customisable side to the sport, did you ever stop to think what it would be like if both games were mashed into one? Eidos did, and subsequently developed Crash 'n' Burn. Despite the interesting concept, the game allowing you to tune and customise your car in the garage before taking it out onto the streets to smash and bash your rivals' cars to unrecognisable lumps of metal, Crash 'n' Burn simply doesn't live up to the two games it was most obviously born from.

Gameplay

From the game's main menu you're able to access your garage, where you can create new cars from a small number of classes - compact, for example, tune existing cars using upgrade points won in races and play with spoilers, side skirts, bumpers and the like and paint the different parts of your cars as well as add decals and vinyl stickers. While the level of car customisation in Crash 'n' Burn isn't as high as that in Need for Speed Underground 2, it's obvious that Eidos spent quite a bit of time here in order to build it up as one of the game's most important features.

Winning races - which isn't as easy as you might think, considering second and third place simply don't cut it - earns you experience points and cash, all of which lead to the ability to, ultimately, improve your car's look and performance. Cash is spent in the shop, which stocks body parts, vinyls and decals that can be previewed and fitted on your car or simply stored for later, upgrade points used to improve the state of your car's innards, and turbo kits that'll allow you to use nitrous - earned after the first lap in each race - for a longer duration and with more power.

The races in the game - some of which being standard or series races, the rest being crazy and dangerous events such as the Kamikaze race - involve many twists. Take the just-mentioned Kamikaze race, for example. This event sees half of the many racers on-screen racing one way around the track, and the other racing the other way - expect many destructive and inevitable head-on collisions. In addition, each track is littered with numerous subtle traps such as dirt mounds and the like that, when hit, will see any car flip through the air, often resulting, frustratingly, in the loss of the race. As you race around the track, bashing and crashing into the hordes of cars fighting for a piece of tarmac, oil will spill and debris will ignite - hit oil during the next or later laps and, for a second or two, your tires will be slick with liquid, increasing your car's likeliness of spinning out. Drive through the many ... (continued next page)