By now you should have heard about the new game from our studio, Burnout CRASH! and I am sure some of you are scratching your heads a little wondering what we’ve been up to. Burnout CRASH! is a spin-off from our much-loved Burnout series, but this time focusing solely on the Crash Mode gameplay which you may remember from previous Burnout games.
A lot of games take themselves too seriously, sometimes all you really need is to just kick back, relax, and blow stuff up. With that in mind, we designed Burnout CRASH! with a tongue-in-cheek style, harking back to the arcades we all used to hang around in. Our inspirations were manic pinball gameplay, over-the-top game show-style presentation, all tied up with our favorite music tracks from yesterday.
But I hear you ask, “I loved the original Crash modes, will I like this?” But of course! We have kept the spirit of the original Crash mode alive, with its simple gameplay of drive into a junction and smash as much traffic as you can – layered with deeper puzzle elements to work out the highest scoring strategies. The perfect game to sit on the sofa passing the controller back and forth with your friends, showing action that is as fun to watch as it is to play.
Looking back at previous versions of Crash mode, the single biggest request from our fans was to keep the crash going for longer… so that’s the first thing we did, giving you much more than the single Crashbreaker of old. This, in turn, leads to many more scoring opportunities and craziness — much like a pinball table, it’s easy to play but you need skill to rack up the really big scores. In addition to the standard scoring methods of smashing traffic and multipliers, we have made all of the buildings destroyable, introduced street furniture to add to your smash chains, added lots of different skillshots, explosion combos, and many more crazy new features. Some of these help rack up your score, such as the Lightning Storm, and some get in the way, like the Bulldozer.
Of course, this being Criterion we couldn’t leave out Autolog, as last seen in our previous hit game Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. Autolog adds that essential element of personalisation to Burnout CRASH!, as your high score tables (Crashwalls) will only be populated with your friends’ scores. We still have the Autolog staples of Recommends based on what your friends have been doing, with Friends Recommendations to help build up your PSN friends list.
We’ve also taken the social competition one step further with the new Autolog Challenges. This is a much more direct mode of play where you can select any of your PSN friends and challenge them to a one-on-one contest. You each get one turn on a level, with the winner taking the cup. Sounds simple, but it works a treat… I have been battling some of the other guys in the studio for some time now, and the trash talking alone is gold (Doug, I am coming for you!). And of course one of the Trophies is for beating a friend three times in a row in Autolog Challenges.
If you like having pure mindless fun, then come and check out Burnout CRASH! when it hits PSN today for $9.99.
