We unleash some good old fashioned road-rage on the streets of the iOS version of Criterion’s Burnout spin-off…
GDC update: After going AWOL, Burnout Crash was shown to us at GDC today. We are told that it will be released in April this year. Check out our initial hands-on with video:
Originally posted October 18, 2011. For those not in the know, Burnout Crash! is a spin-off from the Burnout series of racing games. It takes one of the best elements from that game – the crash mode – and simplifies it into a more focused arcade-style experience where scoring points is the name of the game.
Each level presents you with an intersection in which you must drive your car and crash it into traffic to create the biggest pile up possible. From there you can activate your Crashbreaker, an on-board bomb that explodes and causes traffic and other objects to fly across the game screen in a ball of flames. These cars and buildings in turn damage other cars and buildings, creating a domino effect of even more carnage. The more havoc you create the more points you get as well as multiplyers which, when powered up, will offer up various special items, some good, some bad. These include: police cars which help create roadblocks for even more pileups; an ambulance which you must allow through the chaos; and a pizza delivery truck, which when crashed into will present you with a wheel of fortune, offering up even more special items, such as sink holes which swallow up traffic. The game ends when the time runs out, or in the case of the Road Trip mode, it ends when you let five cars escape destruction.
For those who have not played the Xbox 360 or PS3 version, you’ll be happy to know that the game comes across to iOS in full form, and not a scaled down version. We were told that Criterion initially had the iOS platform in mind when they created the game, but felt that more time and effort was needed in order to get the touch controls just right. In fact the iOS version we played today has been given an addition to the controls that the 360 and PS3 versions don’t have, and that is a nudge feature. When you play the console version, you can only influence your car’s direction after your crashbreaker is powered up and ready to explode. While the same is true of the IOS version, you can now also nudge your car in a particular direction while not in crashbreak mode. This allows a little more freedom and fun while your crashbreaker powers-up, allowing you to move across the game screen a little, intercepting on-coming traffic or positioning yourself in just the right place at the right time. Of course, once your crashbreaker is ready to roll, any attempt at nudging will cause an explosion.
Graphically it’s pretty much identical to the console versions. It’s presented in a top down 3D view, much like GTA China Town Wars, only with much smaller environments in which to play in. On the iPad you can see pretty much the entire play area, while the iPhone version will include a pan-and-scan style setup, allowing you to see exactly what’s happening, despite the smaller screen size, by zooming in on the action. It’s impressive to watch a giant pileup of cars go bang at the end of a level. A particular standout in our hands-on time was the tsunami item, which takes out everything on screen and even includes a giant great white shark which chomps on cars as they float away.
In the build we played the steering control was touch only, but the final game will also include tilt-based steering. The rest of the game is controlled by simply tapping where you want your exploding car to travel (as well as nudging). Once the car is in mid-air you can influence the distance by lightly counter-tapping in the opposite direction of where the car is set to land.
EA’s Origin system is in charge of the online component of the game, tracking your scores for leader boards. And, more importantly, tracking the scores of your friends so you can compare and brag.
Burnout Crash is due out in the fourth quarter of 2011, so expect it either towards the end of November or the beginning of December. We can’t wait to get our hands-on the final version, as there is nothing quite like this on the AppStore right now, and Criterion themselves state that this iOS version of Burnout Crash is possibly the best one.
Check out our video below, which shows Criterion giving us a quick walkthrough of two modes in the iPad version of the game.
