Revenge Burnt to the 'Core

The timeless art of crunching steel, shattering glass, and igniting gasoline-rich explosions marches on and on in the Burnout series, courtesy of Electronic Arts and Criterion. The newest entrant in this wickedly fun wreck-fest is Burnout Revenge™ for Xbox 360.

I have no qualms giving myself utterly to the charms of the Burnout series, but this next-gen demolition derby's allure is intolerably seductive. Our love affair is as always passionate, if a bit rough around the edges, but the Xbox 360 version, with its persistent online elements and quality achievement goals, offers a whole new level of hardcore gaming opportunities.

Next-gen crash physics. Yum.

Gold is Great, Perfect is Better
The pursuit of excellence isn't a whim for the hardcore, it's a self-imposed demand. It's nonnegotiable. To that end, Burnout Revenge offers a tangible reward for this pursuit. Sure, Bronze, Silver, and Gold medals are up for grabs with each race, but the purer hearts will strive behind the shiny precious medals and reach for the "Perfect" rating. This extra rung on the ladder of true Burnout greatness is a gift to the hardcore gamer. Accept it readily, my friends.

Just look beneath the surface and find countless
hours of previously unseen challenges.

Earning Fame
You won't likely find a hardcore gamer shy of accolades, especially within the gaming community. We take pride in our work, and again, Burnout Revenge for Xbox 360 offers a unique opportunity. With the ability to share clips of ridiculously destructive and artful crash events, as well as establish persistent online rivals, there's plenty to shoot for here.

First, establish your Crash skill by cracking the top-twenty most downloaded clips. Second, it should be your gamertag that folks point to in a lobby and say, "Hey, I'm coming for you, punk!"

Never Best
Though clearly the goal for any dedicated Burnout racer is to achieve the top spot (legitimately) on the online leaderboards, until you achieve such lauded status, make sure you compete against the best of the best. Search out lobbies for other drivers ranked several levels above you. Compete against the best and soon enough you'll become the best.

Needs a bit of detailing work.

Aimed Takedown
Tapping the rear-bumper or shunting an enemy driver into an obstacle offers satisfaction, but the true Burnout Revenge master flings traffic cars into their enemies from afar. With a bit of forward thinking and on-the-fly geometry (not unlike pool), gauge a proper shot and send a nearby car hurtling into the opposition. Make this your default Takedown technique for that added bit of challenge you no doubt crave.

Go for the Signature
There are a lot of games that offer terribly unique challenges for the completeist hardcore gamer: defeating each of the Ninja Gaiden® Master Ninja Tournament rounds, burning through Legendary mode on Halo®: Combat Evolved in good time, completing Condemned: Criminal Origins™ on hard difficulty with no guns. These are all worth attempting, but lump in snagging every Signature Takedown in Burnout Revenge among them (without looking them up). Effort, creativity, and dedication are required. In short, it's the perfect hardcore task.

Showroom quality for about two seconds.

Hardcore Achievement Goals
With dreams of a record setting gamerscore flitting about in so many gamer's heads, it bears reminding that it's not the size of the score, but the quality of the achievements. Achieving World Champion (number one ranking on Universal Leaderboard) in Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter™ is only worth 40 points, but damn—that's an achievement worth shouting from the rooftops about.

Likewise, while you can collect each achievement you earn in Burnout Revenge with a sense of gamer pride, set your eyes on the more difficult achievements. For example:

• Opening a Can! Scoring a Takedown on a Rival is one thing, but putting them into the wall five times in a row is something else entirely. Scratch this achievement off your list and you'll have my respect.
• Road Warrior: Career achievements are a mark of dedication, and with Road Warrior requiring you to net 1,000 Takedowns, you'll put in some quality time to get this one.
• Grudge O'War: Score 100 Takedowns against an online Rival to notch this achievement on your belt. That's a whole lot of road rage to let loose. Good luck.

Burnout Revenge is teeming with hardcore opportunities. Just look beneath the surface, and find countless hours of previously unseen challenges. Enjoy!

Article by Hardcore