Take down (vb) 1. To record in writing 2. To lower or reduce in power 3. To administer pain, destruction or any other form of punishment through the medium of vehicular combat.’ Okay, so we made that last definition up. But considering the phrase ‘take down’ is already in the dictionary, it should definitely be added because of Criterion’s sterling work in the field of arcade racing. Pulling up alongside a rival car, looking the driver square in the eye and then bapping them square on the wing mirror with a well-placed shunt, leaving them tumbling through the air in a shower of sparks and flames… it’s almost the very definition of joy itself. Providing that, like us, you have a taste for a little mayhem and destruction, baby.

Of course, the process of evolution means that the Burnout franchise isn’t exactly what it used to be – after all, we fondly recall pulse-increasing races along open highways, weaving through traffic at ridiculous speeds as we tried to chain as many boost-fuelled sprints together as we possibly could. Since the invention of the takedown, however, much of that has gone by the wayside and while there’s still an element of driving on the wrong side of the road and dodging past oncoming cars with mere inches to spare, the focus now is very much on causing as much carnage as possible rather than avoiding it. For us this is definitely a good thing; not because we hated the gameplay of the original, but rather because the change has opened up the series to a whole new audience… oh, and allowed us to ease our constant bloodlust into the bargain too.

And with the arrival of Burnout Revenge on the 360, we really couldn’t be happier. After all, here is a game that’s not only already proven itself the ultimate example of motorised carnage (yes, even over Full Auto… and that had more weapons of mass destruction in it than the whole of Iraq), but now also looks the absolute business… what exactly is there not to like? Unless you’re one of those purist types that values precision driving skill and the unwritten rules of the road that suggest you really shouldn’t trade paint with other drivers – and yes, we’re well aware you exist, so more power to you – then Burnout Revenge is going to be right up your street. Or highway. Or even back alley packed with obstacles, just waiting for you to crash into them with enough force to completely write your car off for good. Joy.

So, let’s assume for a minute that you haven’t spent hours and hours playing Revenge on any of the other formats (hey, the Xbox 360’s here… why would you bother?) and haven’t read anything about it before now. What exactly are you getting yourself into here? Quite possibly the most violent, brutal and downright aggressive racing game ever created, that’s what. Sure, so the concept of vehicular violence isn’t exactly unique thanks to the likes of Carmageddon, Twisted Metal and even Full Auto, but the big difference here is Revenge’s method of execution. For instance, Revenge really is a racing game at heart and so the aim of reaching that finish line in the fastest time possible (whether it be against the clock or a gaggle of other racers) is ultimately paramount. As such, it’s important to have your wits about you in order to survive, which is where the need for driving skill comes in – there are obstacles aplenty, sharp corners, sneaky short cuts and all manner of other environmental hazards that you’ll need to avoid and/or take advantage of if you want to make sure you bag those elusive gold medals. Take it from us, it’s not just about bouncing off walls and hoping for the best… well, not all of the time, anyway.

On top of that, though, you have the added bonus of being able to take out the opposition if they get in the way, or you happen to be playing one of the more crash-specific modes, or even if you just feel like it. The thing is, there are no weapons here for you to make use of, no machine guns, rocket launchers, mines or anything else with which to obliterate your opponent. Instead, it’s all about the car; cue plenty of barging, nudging, rubbing and general abuse that’ll do as much damage to your vehicle as it will to theirs… until you score that vital takedown, that is. The added benefit of the 360’s visual power has allowed Criterion to really show this effect off: watch as your car goes from a pristine piece of gorgeousness at the start of a race to a banged-up heap of scrapes and scratches that not even Xzibit would consider pimping. It’s a joy to behold, particularly in all the wonder of highdefinition and clearly, Criterion has made the effort to polish up Revenge’s graphics a treat.

The same, however, cannot be said for the game itself. Everything that you enjoyed in the Xbox and (shudder) PlayStation2 versions is here in full force, from basic races and Road Rage events (where taking down as many opponents as you can is the goal) to Burning Lap time trials, Eliminator circuits and the carnage-frenzies that are Traffic Attack and Crash mode. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing considering the quality of the overall package, but even so, it might be enough to make some people wonder whether it’s worth re-buying a game they’ve already played to death. The actual additions to the offline side of the game are minor at best – the rather obvious visual tweaks aside, it’s only the addition of ten new Crash junctions, some incredible polishing of the whole Crash mode to include some truly spectacular explosions and the improvement of the enemy AI (making it quite a bit tougher to score those vital takedowns, as they fight back more often than not) that stand out. It’s a shame, because we’d hoped for a little more… but then, when it appears that much of Criterion’s time has been spent improving the online side of things, we can’t really complain as much as we would like to.

Ah yes, online play. The true joy of Burnout – since it turned to the ways of the takedown – has always been found in turning your friends into heaps of smouldering metal rather than just faceless AI opponents and thankfully, Revenge doesn’t disappoint. However, whereas the original Xbox version offered players a fairly standard selection of modes and little else, Criterion has grasped the Xbox 360’s online bull by its rather pointed horns and taken full advantage. Admittedly, some of it is purely for show – the new Save And Share mode, for instance, grants players the ability to watch replays of every event they participate in, pick out key moments of violence and then save them as a video clip before finally uploading them to Xbox Live for all to see. That there are achievement points to be had for doing so does seem a little cheeky though, but no doubt the crash-hungry among you will be gagging to make it into the list of most popular downloaded clips. However, it’s the new addition of Live Revenge that’s perhaps the most exciting – simply because it makes it easy for you to keep tabs on your online rivals whether they’re on your Friends List or not. The more you punish (or get punished by) someone, the higher the Revenge ranking rises. Then, if they happen to be online at the same time as you, it’s simply a matter of diving into their race and taking your sweet revenge… and as we all know, revenge is a dish best served on a chunk of charred metal.

But then, whether you’ll actually buy into all this will depend entirely on how much you were ‘into’ Revenge before. We can certainly see the argument for not buying it if you’re the kind of person that isn’t into incidental changes and upgrades, although we do think it’s a bit silly to deny yourself a great Xbox 360 game purely for that reason alone. For us, however, it’s a no-brainer that we’ll happily pick it up and plough through the whole thing all over again (regardless of the game being rather slow at the start), so we’ll look forward to making enemies of the lot of you with relish. A word of advice though – don’t look in your rear-view mirror too often. If you see us coming, you’ll no doubt want to get out of the way pretty quickly. You've been warned.