Even Tikhona, who has been standing behind the wheel, can turn into an uncontrollable maniac. It is enough to assemble motorists in the same area, scoring roads and making movement impossible.
Fortunately, the games of the Burnout series will help release the accumulated anger and anger. All races take place on public roads, which encourages the rules – otherwise not to break out. Burnout has become one of the most famous racing franchis in the zero, but now it has been frozen. Judging by the latest news, “Phoenix can be revived from the ashes” by Codemasters forces.
The origin of the legend
The project was born in the bowels Criterion Software under the draft header Shiny Red Car. The game was developed for PlayStation 2, and the French short film “This is a date” (a spectacular race along the streets, shot by one frame without installation, understudy and road overlapping) and the painting “Ronin”. In both films there are spectacular chases along the streets of Paris, and this gave rise to the main concept of the game – dangerous driving in urban conditions. “We watched many films with automobile pursuit,” says Alex Ward, Burnout designer concept designer. – The DVD market then beat records, which allowed us to purchase many films. They even copied to the game pursuit from the “Basic Instinct” and “No matter what” ”.
Not only the "blue screen" became a source of inspiration for the team. They took a lot of other games. “Traffic appeared under the impression of the original NEED For Speed for 3DO – a game about fast driving on real roads. Real routes mean transport traffic, and traffic jams are accidents. All other games of that time were simulators of motorsport ". Criterion wanted to make a race in the action genre, offering players the opportunity to evade collisions and fly through traffic jams. “From Arkad on slot machines, we were inspired by hits such as Thrill Drive, Crazy Taxi, Emergency Call Ambulance and Jambo Safari.
The unique “chip” Burnout was added after a meeting at EA Canada when Criterion showed the game to the future publisher. Hanno Lemke asked Alex and the head of the studio Fiona Spirri to come up with an argument that would push Gamer go into the oncoming lane. As a result, there was a frying mechanics, which rewards dangerous driving with additional acceleration. Dangerous maneuvers, for example, drift, gap from the ground, entering the oncoming lane and travel next to another car, fill the acceleration strip, and accidents reduce it. After filling out the scale, you can spend it on a limited surge of additional power, and if you manage to burn all nitro at a time, you will be rewarded with even more. Experienced players can make a “burnout” chain (from English. Burnout – hence the name of the game), devastating and replenishing the acceleration scale until they have an accident.
Crash test
The original Burnout does not have the right to error – the collision may send the car to an elegant somersault on the road or lead to a simple accident. The team used this mechanics to the maximum, demonstrating failure from all angles. There is even a table of records of “worst riders”, reflecting who caused the greatest damage during the race. Thus, you can “savor” an accident, enjoying the undeveloped destruction. “It is interesting to watch and review it,” says Alex. – This approach was used in just a few games, such as Out Run, Thrill Drive for arcade machines and NEED For Speed on 3DO ".
The first Burnout became an excellent arcade race with a single regime, championship and survival. The game was released for PS2 in November 2001, and he became the publisher Acclaim. In the spring of 2002, versions for Xbox and GameCube were released. All three versions have positively accepted the press. The EDGE magazine appreciated the game for PS2 at 8 points out of 10, warning that “the game is quite short, but that surge of the adrenaline that you experience from dangerous driving is definitely worth it”. Play Magazine set the game 77%, wondering how to set a gamer the goal of avoiding accidents in the game, where the main feature is spectacular car accidents.
They did not delay with the continuation, and again Criterion was inspired by the cinema. "We just watched" Fast and the Furious ". And there was a foreboding that the film would become a cult, ”recalls Alex. -Therefore, they added something from the movie to the game. I no longer remember that it was. Nevertheless, the designer Chris Roberts and I often laughed over this Easter. Burnout 2: Point of Impact Developed the ideas of the original. A new Pursuit mode has appeared, which borrowed mechanics from the game HQ game. The player is given a police car and set a goal to break the car offer to unlock this car. This was the first mechanics of the battle in the series.
But the most interesting is the https://pirate-spins.uk Crash mode. “The first players who played in continuation on E3 were embarrassed,” Alex explains. Since the game emphasizes impressive accidents and all the undertaken damage is assigned a monetary rating, it becomes clear that people can incorrectly interpret the goal of the game. The new regime actively encourages the player to create impressive clashes in order to inflict as much damage as possible. And the game can display it. Alex describes this as "Bowling, but with cars".
Violating the rules – fun!
Publisher Acclaim chose a strange way to advertise continuing. The idea was to pay for all fines for speeding in the UK on the day the game launch. “We have nothing to do with it – this is the idea of the publisher,” Alex explains.
Burnout 2 sold well and impressed critics. The game was released on the PS2 in the fall of 2002, and the versions for Xbox and GameCube went on sale in the spring of 2003. Official PlayStation 2 Magazine put up Sicvel 8 out of 10 points. The publication noted that "local mechanics cannot be attributed to revolutionary, but their implementation deserves praise". Edge gave the same assessment by calling the game "perfect sequel". There were no bothering to versions for consoles from Microsoft and Nintendo. Success prompted Criterion to create the next game.
The publisher changed to the third part of the project, since the developer attracted the attention of the industry giant. “There were many reasons to sign a contract with Electronic Arts, – says Alex. – We made for them the restart of Skate or Die! within a year, but nothing came of it ". Negative experience encouraging the team to request more creative freedom in the development of Burnout 3, and EA provided it. Alex believes that they were helped to focus on the vision of the game. “The guys from EA helped to find what all the players would like, and that they will unite. Takedown became such mechanics. Paul Glansi called them “Knockouts”, but “Takedowns” sounds much more American (we are talking about American football, where there is a touchdown) ””.
IN Burnout 3: TakeDown The emphasis was replaced by a racing to the combat. Takedauna caused this – you are offered to break opponents about walls and traffic, and not avoid collisions. To do this, you can use acceleration, the scale of which will be filled after each successful teikdown. The new direction prompted the team to create a new mode – Road Rage.
The game was made very quickly. The working version appeared after only six months of development. “The reason is simple – we had stable tools and code after the previous two games,” Alex explains. – In addition, the whole team worked on the project. We wanted to show EA that we are one of the best developers ".
The development was very smooth. “We were inspired by the fact that we were“ under the wing ”with a major publisher. We were already ready to show the project on E3, and this is simply incredible, ”Alex recalls. – The team worked very hard, and was preparing to travel to the show accordingly. I remember how we entered the Los Angeles center in a column of three Cadillac SUVs. We were going to “make noise” at the exhibition, and we did it ”.
The game feels a huge budget inherent in projects from the EA of that time. She looks amazing, offering players 60 frames per second – for console games, it was a step forward. And no bugs that were enough in the past parts – everything was tested and polished.
The soundtrack contains performers such as Franz Ferdinand and My Chemical Romance. There is even online mode here, despite the tense relationship between EA and Microsoft at that time. “We became the first game from EA at the E3 exhibition with the support of the Xbox Live service. We were told about this in April, and the show was in May. Other internal EA teams knew about the launch of the service back in December, but did not provide its support at the exhibition, ”Alex recalls.
Without the help of the publisher, the development of online mode would become impossible. “Paul Ross and Amy Phillips were engaged in the network. They used and adapted EA technology, which was used in sports games. Then everything was different, and they did an excellent job ".
Burnout 3: TakeDown released in September 2004 for PS2 and Xbox. The game became a hit of sales and lasted several months in the top ten. The project received 9 out of 10 from Edge, the publication praised the “redesigned dynamics of racing” and called the game “Star hour Criterion Games”. The third part was the starting point for future games of the series, and it was so good that EA acquired Criterion.
An hour of retaliation
IN Burnout Revenge There was a traffic control mechanics, which allows players to use civilian cars in their interests. Having directed traffic in the right direction, the gamer can clear the road, destroying other cars, as well as remove opponents from the highway. “The idea arose in attempts to study how many cars can draw the engine at the same time and what will be the density of the movement,” Alex explains. The emphasis on “Revenge Takedown” is also placed here – the destruction of the enemy car that knocked you out of the race earlier. “The original name was Burnout 4: Rush Hour. But he was rejected by some idiot from his superiors, saying that “the continuation of a successful game could not go out with a fourth or five in the name”. Later they did not like Rush Hour (“Hour of Peak”), ”Alex is indignant. – The new mechanics were full of bugs, but I had good memories of working on her with Hamish Yang, Chris Roberts and Richard Frank, who tried to fix most of them. I especially love the grades that they assign to the player. Hamish came up with them: Hot Shot, Trick Shot, Money Shot is just great ".
Burnout Revenge was released in September 2005 for PS2 and Xbox. The project again got to the top of sales, and also earned the praise of the press. The GamesMaster publication wrote that the new Traffic Attack mode is damp, because "it is enough to go slower for the victory and bring down rivals with traffic". But appreciated the game as “almost impeccable”, placing 95%. The PlayStation Magazine magazine considered that the new part had lost a feeling of dangerous driving, but praised as “extremely exciting and funny entertainment”, placing 93%.
Six months later, a version for Xbox 360 was released. “New consoles appeared, so the publisher wanted projects to go out for all platforms. So Revenge became our first high resolution game, ”says Alex. But the game did not become the experience of a new generation, since the development time was limited. To improve the version, it was necessary to do too much. “To give gamers a new experience, you had to start all over again. We pulled up the textures, corrected bugs and came up with a cool opportunity to “save and share” (Save and Share), which allows players to download the video of the best moments in Xbox Live ". The Xbox World 360 publication called the project “Demonstration version”, noting that there are few innovations compared to the versions for the last generation.
In the spring of 2007 Burnout Dominator for PS2 and PSP. Here made an attempt to combine almost all game mechanics of the series. Takedown occupy a central place, but traffic control was removed. But returned the mechanics "burnout". The new Burnout Challenge mode is built on a chain of such accelerations, and Maniac encourages players to gain high points, dangerously driving a car and without breaking. The game had good reviews, but not to the same extent as the previous parts. The EDGE magazine set the game 7 out of 10, calling it “interesting and well -thought -out”, but added that this is not a full -fledged game in the series. The publication also criticized the Crash regime, which "will disappoint and angry fans of the Burnout series". PlayStation Magazine assigned 81%to the game, complaining that “the creators are trying to squeeze two different types of racing arcades into one to please everyone”.
The next part in the series has become a real game of a new generation. Instead of closed tracks and racing from one point to another, action Burnout Paradise It takes place in Paradise City: a completely open world in which both classic events of the series and new tests are available. “In fact, the game is devoted to the study and study of the city. This is a real sandbox, ”Alex admits. – I wanted to ensure that the player did not just play, but plunged into this world. I was lucky that Fiona, Hamish, Matt, Craig and Pete agreed with this ".
A risky step
We asked the creators why the team chose this approach. “There are two reasons for,” Alex replies. -Firstly, I really like games with the open world, especially I love Mercenaries. Sandbox is a world where you enjoy, exploring it. The tasks here can be performed in various ways ". There is nothing unusual in this, since three -dimensional games with the open world have become extremely popular by that time. But the second reason is much more interesting. “Even after four games released, most developers did not get along with each other,” says Alex. – routes, as a rule, were created by one person throughout the development. And the game with the open world pushed them to cooperate and communicate that led to the best results, the best game and a cohesive team ". The change of gaming design to solve the internal problems of the studio is an interesting approach, and we have not heard about this before. However, Alex immediately supplements that the goal was not achieved. “Now I understand why this happened. The tools were inappropriate, and the workflow was not thought out, ”he admits. – We were not ready for the transition to a new generation of consoles. They just knew how to create games for PS2, porting them to PS3. Therefore, the change of generations became a headache. As a result, we have mastered new tools, but it cost a long crash. ".
