Review by: Bob Mandel
Published: October 10, 2005

If there is one genre that has been a success during the roughly half a year that the Sony PSP has been on the market, it has been arcade racing. What with Ridge Racer for conventional driving and Wipeout Pure for futuristic combat racing, and many other titles available for other different preferences, it would seem like the full range of tastes would be satisfied. However, Criterion Studio’s fabulously successful Burnout series on the game console is really something special, so why not add this option to the spectrum of choice for handheld fans?

Rather than being a totally novel release, Burnout Legends includes some of the best elements — both vehicles and tracks — from the first three Burnout releases on the game console. The play modes are typical of this franchise. Due to the limitations of the PSP, there are a few compromises: four opponents participate in a race instead of six, crash mode lacks some scoring enhancements, and some graphics limitations are inevitable in the move from console to handheld. Nonetheless, the essence of what makes this arcade action series great is present in the PSP release.

The two key facets of the racing in Burnout Legends are speed and crashes. A lot of your pleasure derives directly from using your vehicle as a flying cannonball and smashing opponents to smithereens. The collisions are extremely gratifying, incorporating slow-motion elements to allow you to savor the destruction. Most amazing, you really feel as if you are zipping along at a tremendously fast pace as you drive. Though this game is never slow, once you unlock the faster vehicles you really experience a true need for speed.

The vehicles and the tracks do not disappoint. You get to select from a wide selection of automobiles, all imaginary, with a variety of colors available. They range from powerful muscle cars to little compacts. Although the tracks are pretty familiar to fans of this series, they work well together in this new release. Among these diverse courses are Airport Terminal, Big Surf Shores, Palm Bay Marina, Interstate Loop, Winter City, Alpine, Island Paradise, Golden City, Dockside, Downtown, and Vineyard. Some allow you to zoom at top speed smashing into everything you encounter, while others require more skilled driving abilities due to very sharply-angled turns.