Burnout 2: Point of Impact

At the heart of Burnout 2 is a simple lesson: drive like an idiot, and you'll crash. But while you might have to be pretty stupid to tip your speedometer over 200kph, cross the central reservation and race headlong into honking motorway traffic, it's an obscene amount of fun when the speedometer, the central reservation and the traffic in question are all tucked away safely inside your TV. If you missed last year's sizzling speedathon, Burnout 2 breaks you in with Offensive Driving 101, a short crash course (hoho) in the 'rules' of the road. Driving on the wrong side of the road, drifting around corners, just missing nasty collisions with a trackful of traffic, lifting your wheels off the ground with big hills and big speed - all this will nudge your risk meter closer towards unlocking a piston-churning speed boost. Learn this well. Because in the main Championship mode, your three GameCube-controlled rivals will relish washing your windscreen in gravel unless you earn boost after boost after boost. So racing is forever a dizzying high-speed dice with danger, taking advantage of the gloriously twitchy steering to just scrape past a bus here, nearly collide with an oncoming truck there, or steer a course through a busy crossroads with your eyelids squeezed shut in mortal terror. The punishment for losing the gamble: one of Burnout's trademark multi-car pile-ups, an eye-wincing bird-cam showing bits of wheel and bumper skittering across the gravel, and what's left of the car somersaulting in a graceful arc to land on some unsuspecting truck. Articulated lorries screech to a halt and jack-knife across entire lanes; buses and cars tip over, windows and headlights popping; and the forlorn husk of your crumpled car sits quietly for a few seconds before being placed back in the race, all fixed up. With more vehicles, more Hollywood-style mid-air jumps and flips, and more fizzing of metal scraping across tarmac, Burnout 2 makes the prequel's smash-ups look positively cute. Burnout 2 is also more satisfyingly boost-heavy than its forebear - the risk meter is quicker to fill, and the game encourages you to string boosts together so you're racing entire laps at reality-blurring velocity, almost slipping out of consciousness as the scenery blurs by and the soundtrack's volume rises with distorted guitars roaring their appreciation. As a result of all this extra speed, the best bits of Burnout are now even better. The squeak and rumble of your tyres on the central reservation as you cross into the wrong-way whirlwind. Steering that bit too far and feeling the wheels gently slip out of your control at 200kph. And best of all, tearing towards the horizon side-by-side with a rival racer, then giving them a gentle but firm push into the path of an oncoming truck. All this would count for nothing if Burnout 2's tracks weren't up to scratch. Thankfully, they're superb. The loooong five-minute laps of Interstate Loop's concrete spaghetti, all big turns and gratifying wide straights, are a great start. They give way to the huge San Fran-style jumps and delicious screeching turns of Palm Bay Heights, the gloriously wide bends of neon paradise Sunrise Valley, and the stunning Airport Terminal - often drenched in a gobsmacking rain effect, always a muscle-tensing ride thanks to its narrow tunnels and unexpected crossroads and junctions. Anyone who loved, played, or even glimpsed the original Burnout won't need any encouragement to take this sequel out on the road - especially with thrilling new modes like Pursuit (criminal-bashing police car chase) and Crash (multi junction-based collision test) to enjoy. Newcomers should rip up their sensible driving gloves immediately, and find out just how much fun being an idiot can be.