Burnout Legends Review

Game_Name: Burnout Legends
Platform: Nintendo DS
Developer: Visual Impact
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Genre: Racing
ESRB Rating: E
GamePlay Rating: 3
Graphics Rating: 3
Replayability Rating: 1

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Sometimes when I get bored, I walk over behind the grocery store next to my house and kick down stacks of empty boxes. Coincidentally, I get the same feeling from that as I do from playing Burnout Legends for the Nintendo DS.

Crash...

Burnout Legends is the first installment of the beloved franchise to make its way to the Nintendo DS, and if Electronic Arts doesn’t get its stuff together, let’s hope it’s the last. I’ve been a huge fan of the Burnout franchise. I actually kind of despise racing games, but the speed and intensity and just the overall adrenaline rush I get from the Burnout games makes it an experience like no other. It’s hard to put into words the feeling you get from dodging in and out of oncoming traffic at 140 MPH just to accidentally clip the tail of a bus and send your car barreling through the air. The racing is so wild and high-risk that it’s nearly impossible to resist, no matter what genre of games you prefer. Unfortunately, none of the features that make the Burnout games so unique are present here. The only thing that this game does right is the tracks. The tracks look and feel like Burnout tracks, and the DS displays them nicely. Now with that out of the way, allow me to rip Electronic Arts a new one.

And Burn

To say that the driving mechanics leave something to be desired would be the understatement of the year. The entire thing feels so slow and clunky that you feel like you’re driving a parade float through heavy traffic to get to the parade on time. Even if they changed the name of the game to Parade Float Legends, you’d still be frustrated, and chances are the parade would be over by the time you got there. It literally feels like you’re driving a box. Now, the speed aspect of Burnout games is one half of what they’re all about. The other half is crashes. The Burnout franchise hosts the most spectacular crashes ever witnessed in video games. So much so, that there are game play modes devoted entirely to crashing. In Burnout Legends, crashing headfirst into oncoming traffic feels like throwing a cardboard box at an oncoming rascal scooter. The crashing fails on an even higher level than the racing does. The two key aspects to any Burnout game, crashed and burned and mangled beyond recognition.

Visuals and Audio

Now, I did say that the tracks are done right, and they are. However, that only highlights how bad everything else is. The cars look downright hideous and the backdrops look like pasted on gifs. The game looks like one of those old Game ’n Watch games, where the track moves around your car, but your car stays still. At this point, the audio is just insulting. The soundtrack is comprised of uninspired midi techno songs. The sound effects are perfectly fitting for a game of this caliber, what with the weak metallic clanking noises that the cars make when they collide.

Wrap-Up

Yes, Burnout Legends does support wi-fi multiplayer, but who cares? Nobody who plays this game is going to have the desire to play it with his friends. Given what an outstanding series the Burnout has been, there’s just no excuse for EA to push this garbage on us. [[[Burnout Revenge Review]]]

Crash...

Burnout Legends is the first installment of the beloved franchise to make its way to the Nintendo DS, and if Electronic Arts doesn’t get its stuff together, let’s hope it’s the last. I’ve been a huge fan of the Burnout franchise. I actually kind of despise racing games, but the speed and intensity and just the overall adrenaline rush I get from the Burnout games makes it an experience like no other. It’s hard to put into words the feeling you get from dodging in and out of oncoming traffic at 140 MPH just to accidentally clip the tail of a bus and send your car barreling through the air. The racing is so wild and high-risk that it’s nearly impossible to resist, no matter what genre of games you prefer.

Unfortunately, none of the features that make the Burnout games so unique are present here. The only thing that this game does right is the tracks. The tracks look and feel like Burnout tracks, and the DS displays them nicely.

Now with that out of the way, allow me to rip Electronic Arts a new one.

And Burn

To say that the driving mechanics leave something to be desired would be the understatement of the year. The entire thing feels so slow and clunky that you feel like you’re driving a parade float through heavy traffic to get to the parade on time. Even if they changed the name of the game to Parade Float Legends, you’d still be frustrated, and chances are the parade would be over by the time you got there. It literally feels like you’re driving a box.

Now, the speed aspect of Burnout games is one half of what they’re all about. The other half is crashes. The Burnout franchise hosts the most spectacular crashes ever witnessed in video games. So much so, that there are game play modes devoted entirely to crashing. In Burnout Legends, crashing headfirst into oncoming traffic feels like throwing a cardboard box at an oncoming rascal scooter. The crashing fails on an even higher level than the racing does. The two key aspects to any Burnout game, crashed and burned and mangled beyond recognition.

Visuals and Audio

Now, I did say that the tracks are done right, and they are. However, that only highlights how bad everything else is. The cars look downright hideous and the backdrops look like pasted on gifs. The game looks like one of those old Game ’n Watch games, where the track moves around your car, but your car stays still. At this point, the audio is just insulting. The soundtrack is comprised of uninspired midi techno songs. The sound effects are perfectly fitting for a game of this caliber, what with the weak metallic clanking noises that the cars make when they collide.

Wrap-Up

Yes, Burnout Legends does support wi-fi multiplayer, but who cares? Nobody who plays this game is going to have the desire to play it with his friends. Given what an outstanding series the Burnout has been, there’s just no excuse for EA to push this garbage on us.