Burnout 2: Point of Impact

The second installment of Criterion's Burnout series of street racing games, building on the high-octane racing while including a new puzzle mode where players stage spectacular car crashes.

PlayStation 2

GameCube

Xbox

Overview

Burnout 2: Point of Impact is a street racing game developed by Criterion Games and published by Acclaim for the PlayStation 2 in North America on October 3, 2002, with a European release on October 11, 2002 and a Japanese release by Sammy on April 1, 2004.

The sequel to the 2001 game Burnout, Point of Impact expands on the high-octane arcade gameplay with a new assortment of tracks and cars, updated gameplay and UI, and two new game modes: Crash (a puzzle mode where players attempt to cause the most damage in a single pre-planned "Crash Zone") and Pursuit (a one-on-one multiplayer mode where one player attempts to ram their police cruiser into the opponent's vehicle to take them out).

The game later received a release for the GameCube in North America on April 9, 2003 and the Xbox in North America on May 1, 2003, with European releases for both systems on May 9, 2003. The Xbox version, sometimes known as the "Developer's Cut", includes 15 new Crash Mode tracks, 21 new custom car liveries, and an Xbox Live online leaderboard. The Xbox version was later made backwards-compatible with the Xbox 360.

Gameplay

Burnout 2: Point of Impact is an arcade racing game. All the cars are fictional, though some share similarities with real-life vehicles. The tracks portray the United States of America, but have fictional track names, except for Interstate 88, although in real-life there are two versions of Interstate 88. The races are usually circuit races where the player is pitted against several AI opponents. These races are usually set on tracks with heavy traffic. Any collisions with traffic forces the player to re-spawn nearby and triggers an in-game cinematic where the vehicles involved are damaged.

Boosting

An important feature of the gameplay is boosting. Similar to in the Project Gotham Racing series, the player is awarded for driving with style. Drifts, jumps, driving towards oncoming traffic and driving close to traffic fills up the boost meter. When the boost meter is full, the player can hold down the boost button to achieve greater speeds. By continuously boosting and driving with style, a "Burnout" occurs, where the player is awarded new boost as the boostmeter is emptied. If the boost is filled completely by such a burnout, the player can keep boosting. This is referred to as "Burnout Chaining". If the player stops boosting before the meter is emptied, the player will have to fill it up to use it again. This method of boost was replaced by a more user-friendly boost in Burnout 3: Takedown and Burnout Revenge, but returned as the method used by Race-class vehicles in Burnout Paradise.

Game Modes

Offensive Driving 101

An introductory tutorial mode showing several key gameplay mechanics, namely how to fill and properly use the Boost Meter.

showing the player how to use the Boost meter. By getting at least a Bronze in all lessons, new game modes are unlocked. By getting a Gold, a bonus car is unlocked.

Championship

Here, the player races through a series of Grand Prix-style events. Additional courses and game modes are unlocked as the player progresses. Winning is done by holding the highest number of points by the end of the championship. In the Custom championship, the cars are modified versions of the ones used in the standard championship.

In addition, players can unlock special races to win more advanced vehicles:

Face Off races return from the previous game and are simple one-on-one races.

Pursuit races are new to the series, with the player controlling the Cop Car vehicle and is tasked with taking out the opposing car (by ramming into it ten times) before the car reaches the escape point.

Single Race

A simple, single race against three CPU opponents (or two CPU opponents in the multiplayer version) on any unlocked track.

Time Attack

Single-player mode where players race alone, against the clock, on any unlocked track.

Crash

New to the series. Set in special pre-staged areas (or "Crash Zones"), players must use their vehicle to perform a spectacular crash in a dense-traffic area (usually an intersection), with points racked up in the amount of money in damages to other cars (with a score multiplier based on the amount of vehicles damaged). This mode includes a puzzle element, as players must figure out the correct position and time to determine the best possible outcome. Players earn medals based on their score, which is used to unlock new Crash Zones (15 in total, 30 in the Xbox version).

This mode can also be played in multiplayer, in which up to four players alternate play in an attempt to get the highest score in the same Crash Zone. It uses a tournament structure, with three Crash Zones.

Pursuit

New to the series and unlockable by clearing all Pursuit races in Championship Mode. Similar to Pursuit races, Pursuit Mode has one player (with police sirens) tasked with taking out the other player by ramming into them multiple times before the other player reaches the escape point.

This mode can be played in multiplayer, and the pursuing player can choose any unlocked vehicle. The amount of damage required to take down the opposing player is based on the vehicles chosen.

Vehicles

Base Cars

Each of these cars has an unlockable "Custom" version.

Compact
SUV
Coupe
Pickup
Sport
Roadster
Muscle

Unlockable Cars

Driver's Ed
Hot Rod
Cop Car
Oval Racer
Classic
Japanese Muscle
Gangster
Supercar

Tracks

Only three tracks are available from the start: Airport Terminal 3, 88 Interchange, and Palm Bay Heights. The rest are unlocked by completing Grand Prix events in Championship Mode.

Airport Terminal 3