'Burnout Crash' Has A Cartoony Look, Giant Lobsters - Science Fiction and Fantasy Games

'Burnout Crash' Has A Cartoony Look, Giant Lobsters
May 6, 2011
Matt Clark
MTV

Tell me if this sounds like a "Burnout" game to you: driving vehicles through an intersection at high speeds, attempting to ram whoever gets in your way. The more spectacular the crash, the more points you'll rack up. Sounds like "Burnout," right? Well, what if I added cartoony graphics and giant UFOs? According to an ESRB posting, that's exactly what you're getting with the yet-to-be-officially-announced "Burnout Crash."

"This is an action game in which players earn points for creating traffic pileups. From a top-down perspective, players initiate crashes by driving 'cartoony' vehicles (e.g., cars, trucks, vans, buses) into busy intersections," the ESRB description reads.

Getting past the cartoony visuals, this is obviously a very different "Burnout" game. Instead of racing along, the camera behind your realistically detailed car, "Crash" is apparently a top-down racing game. Actually, it doesn't even sound like it's a racing game at all. Based on the description, this has all the makings of a downloadable title. I can imagine the game as an arcade-style, score-based game where you're just trying to best your buddy's (via online leaderboard, I assume) high score.

That's not to say that you're only going to be plowing through the same intersection over and over again. The description also describes what may be a couple other modes in "Burnout Crash," including a police chase scenario and the intervention of some other, more supernatural, foes.

"In some levels, players are instructed to crash into police cars (e.g., 'Crash them before they bust you!'); in other sequences," the description continues, "oversized airplanes, tornadoes, lobster monsters, and UFOs slide across the screen, destroying any vehicles in their path."

Lobster monsters? Really? I guess it's pretty obvious this is going to be a completely different "Burnout." That's isn't necessarily a bad thing, the franchise has always had its tongue firmly in cheek, and "Burnout Paradise's" Showtime Mode was one of my favorite aspects to the game. "Crash" may end up as a fun little destruction-derby arcade title.