I’ll be the primary to confess that, regardless of being a extremely popular style within the business at the moment, racing video games should not sometimes my pace (heh, get it, pace?). I really like an excellent kart racer each now and again, certain, however real looking car-based video games are likely to do treasured little for me, they usually fail to carry my curiosity for a really very long time. I’ll give them loads of credit score for his or her unimaginable technical achievements, nevertheless it’s a lot simpler for me to tip my cap and admire them from afar than it’s to truly choose up a controller and play them for for much longer than a race or two.
Generally, although, arcade-based racing video games generally is a fairly enjoyable trip (okay that point, the pun wasn’t supposed), and one which I’ve tremendously loved over time is Burnout. The work of the modern-day Want for Pace builders, Criterion Video games, Burnout was a novel racing sport within the sense that it positioned simply as a lot emphasis on crashing automobiles and pulling off death-defying stunts because it did on ending in first place. Regardless of the franchise seeing some reputation within the 2000s, it solely obtained one new sport within the 2010s and, outdoors of a lone remaster, hasn’t been seen in over a decade. It’s about time for that to alter.
No matter Occurred To Burnout?
The Burnout franchise got here from the event staff at Criterion Video games, a subsidiary of Criterion Software program established as a means of showcasing the bigger staff’s newly developed RenderWare engine. At first a easy software program library, it will later be retooled and given the properties of a correct sport engine, one that will turn out to be very generally used over the 2000s. With the newly established Criterion Video games (then often known as Criterion Studios) in play, Burnout’s first entry was launched in 2000, born out of a need to be extra of a enjoyable, arcade-styled racing sport in comparison with real looking racers available on the market reminiscent of Gran Turismo.
Whereas the primary sport had crashing mechanics constructed into them, it wasn’t till the sequel, 2002’s Burnout 2: Level of Impression that the “Crash mode” can be carried out, the place gamers have been incentivized to crash into different automobiles and trigger as a lot injury as they might. The collection continued on this course with its subsequent sequels, 2004’s Burnout 3: Takedown, 2005’s Burnout Revenge, and 2007’s Burnout Dominator, the previous being thought of the height of the franchise, and even being thought of the height of the arcade racing style as a complete.
It was round Takedown’s launch that Criterion Video games can be bought by EA, and whereas the video games did promote decently properly, the franchise was seen as enjoying second fiddle to EA’s different racing franchise, Want for Pace. This led to 2008’s Burnout Paradise being an enormous reinvention for the franchise, because it was the primary title to set issues in an open-world setting. Collection director Alex Ward needed to combat to get EA to just accept his imaginative and prescient for the sport, however happily got here out on prime with an excellent sport, and a commercially profitable one at that. It even obtained a remaster on trendy platforms in 2018, giving it a little bit further life for many who might have missed it in 2008.
Not lengthy after Paradise’s launch, although, Criterion managed to show a half-joking pitch for a brand new Want for Pace sport into changing into that franchise’s main developer. In consequence, Burnout basically grew to become yesterday’s newspaper for EA, and it hasn’t obtained an entirely new sport in over a decade. Following 2011’s Burnout Crash!, itself a download-only Burnout sport, the Burnout Paradise remaster is the one time we’ve seen something of Burnout. The builders would ultimately transition to engaged on Want for Pace, and the closest we’ve gotten to a brand new Burnout is a religious successor, Harmful Driving, from a improvement studio fashioned by former Criterion heads.
Let The Franchise Pace Again
In some methods, Burnout has not fairly left, and its concepts stay current in at the moment’s racing video games. The aforementioned Want for Pace franchise, which has bounced forwards and backwards between totally different EA builders, reverted again to Criterion within the late 2010s, and the staff has made two titles since. And whereas Want for Pace has been extra identified for stunt driving than collisions, trendy titles like 2019’s Want for Pace: Warmth and 2022’s Want for Pace: Unbound, loosely carried out some gameplay parts that have been fashionable again in Burnout. Thus, Criterion appears to be remembering its roots, even when they’ve to use these roots to a brand new franchise.
Nonetheless, it will be superior to see Burnout make a return, particularly as its emphasis on crashing would give it a little bit of contemporary taste from all of the real looking racing video games we obtain at the moment. As beforehand talked about, Want for Pace is extra stunt-centric than Burnout, and this, mixed with all of the real looking racers available on the market, means we don’t get many racing video games centered round crashing. The racing market might stand to make use of some video games which are a bit extra damaging than your typical Forza or Gran Turismo sport. and a Burnout revival could possibly be the proper avenue to that.
It additionally seems that such a comeback could possibly be taking place proper now. Stellar Leisure, the staff that developed the remaster of Burnout Paradise, posted a teaser of kinds to their Twitter earlier this yr, giving some hints as to what their subsequent sport can be. The tweet made references to being “rear ended” and famous that their bosses hadn’t issued any “take downs,” hinting that the subsequent sport could possibly be a remaster of Burnout 3: Takedown.
Provided that Criterion is now set to be a help developer on Battlefield (whereas nonetheless engaged on Want for Pace), it appears one other staff should be the one to deal with the Burnout franchise. Even so, it will be fairly refreshing to see the Burnout franchise get one other likelihood at success at the moment, and whether or not that’s by means of one other remaster or an entirely new sport, I’ll be protecting my fingers crossed that this franchise comes again in full pressure quickly.
