So, everyone loves Burnout, right? Of course they do. The series features insanely fast racing, tight controls and great hunks of metal careening through the air and colliding to form twisted lumps of scrap. After making a solid debut with
Burnout Legends on the PSP, the frenetic franchise was all set to make it onto the DS, with fans eagerly wanting to get their hands on some flaming wrecks. What luck then, that
Burnout Legends turned out to be just that - a flaming wreck.
- IGN (35/100) "This should have been on the cutting block the moment the development team realized that the experience couldn’t even come close."
- Modojo (20/100) "When you're in the middle of a crash and you position to hit a car, not only are particle effects from the vehicular damage missing, but sometimes cars will PASS RIGHT THROUGH YOU."
- Gamespot (40/100) "There's a multitude of reasons why Burnout Legends isn't fun to play, but the biggest and most glaring one is that the cars just aren't much fun to drive."
The most glaring complaints about the title are terrible vehicle handling, weird collision detection and no real sense of speed - all qualities you'd expect from a Burnout game. A further interesting point is that the DS version of
Burnout Legends wasn't even developed by Criterion, but by a studio called Visual Impact. EA farming out popular franchises to inept studios in an effort to make a quick buck? Unheard of.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-12-2005 @ 3:12PM
Guy said...
That really is too bad. I was looking forward to this even more than MarioKart but I think I'll stick to the MarioKart now. Burnout 3 is what really got me into the current generation of games and I don't want to see a botched version. Hopefully criterion will see the shame that's been brought to their franchise and do a real version for the DS. And do it right.
The only thing that would've disappointed me more is if Namco made a botched DS version of Katamari Damacy. Anybody know anything about that? Some say it was only a rumor. Some say it was always planned. Some say that it was only a rumor but the reaction got Namco to work on a real one.
Anybody got any news?
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12-12-2005 @ 3:12PM
mariokiller said...
Is anybody actually surprised that this title wouldn't work on the DS? They would have to make the game look like Pole Position to make it work on such a weak graphic platform as the DS. But it would still be fun, right DS fanboys?
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12-12-2005 @ 3:29PM
Ludwig Kietzmann said...
Guy - Katamari Damacy DS never actually existed if I recall correctly. It was reportedly revealed in an issue of Nintendo Power, but it was labeled as an error later on. The only announced portable Katamari game is the one for the PSP - Boku no Watashi no Katamari (Me and my Katamari / My My Katamari). Considering that the PSP barely has a single analog stick (never mind 2), I'm cautious about that one.
mario killer - The reviews of Burnout Legends mainly complain about the vehicle handling, physics and collision detection of the game. Graphics are the least of its concerns and are not the reason the game sucks. If it had played like an actual Burnout game, things would have been okay. It would still have been fun. :)
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12-12-2005 @ 3:42PM
mariokiller said...
Ludwig, thanks for supporting what is being said there. Obviously the loss in gameplay is because they tried to up the graphics in order to make it pretty, thus the statement that they would have to make the game look like Pole Position in order to get good gameplay.
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12-12-2005 @ 3:53PM
Ludwig Kietzmann said...
I don't think that one has to necessarily sacrifice one for the other (Kirby: Canvas Curse and Nintendogs come to mind), but in the hands of a lesser developer, I can see the validity of your point. The game actually manages to run at 60fps, which seems like a silly achievement in the face of all the other errors.
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12-12-2005 @ 7:07PM
mariokiller said...
Definitely, but in the cases of Kirby and Nintendogs, the effect can be short lived. Nintendogs is basically a high-powered tamagotchi and Kirby is kind of short in comparison to a lot of the other DS titles. Point being is that it is sad that Nintendo didn't try to go for a much more next generation and powerful portable instead of the DS, because with the DS there will always have to be some sacrifice in order to create great looking games and great graphics. Would prefer it if most of the DS games were available for the GBA without the second screen capability. I did play Metroid Pinball the other day though and found that one to be a bit of greatness reminiscent of Pinball of the Dead (the ultimate console pinball game).
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12-13-2005 @ 1:44AM
Lagomorpho said...
The gameplay is still there but to a lesser degree. The controls aren't great but manageable. The races are still fun. Crash on the other hand is almost unplayable. There just aren't enough cars to get a decent wreck built up.
If you're expecting PS2/XBox versions of Burnout on the DS, you will be let down. Otherwise, it's still fun. Worth at least a few hours of gameplay.
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