Burnout Revenge

A year after Takedown, Criterion came back with a rule change that split the fanbase: traffic travelling your way is no longer an obstacle. Slam into it and it becomes a projectile. Traffic Checking turned the busiest lanes from a hazard into ammunition, and Burnout Revenge is faster and louder for it. Whether it improves on its predecessor is still argued over — what is not in doubt is that it is a superb arcade racer, and it holds up nicely on PCSX2, AetherSX2, and ArmsX2.

Gameplay

The fundamentals carry over. Boost comes from driving dangerously — drifting, near-misses, wrong-way runs — and Takedowns remain the most profitable way to earn it. What changes is the traffic. Same-direction vehicles can now be shunted into rivals, which means a crowded highway is somewhere to fight rather than somewhere to thread through carefully.

Revenge mode gives the game its name: when a rival wrecks you, they are flagged, and hunting that specific car down pays out extra. Road Rage returns with wreck quotas, and Crash mode is rebuilt around a launch-and-aim system with a Crashbreaker detonation you trigger mid-pile-up to spread the damage. World Tour ties it together across cities, industrial districts, and coastal roads, with events unlocking as your rank climbs.

Cars are grouped by how they want to be driven — some are built to survive contact, others to outrun it — and picking the right one for an event matters more here than it did before.

Playing Experience

Revenge is a busier, more aggressive game than Takedown, and the screen reflects that: more traffic, more debris, more happening at once. That works in its favour when you are threading a boost chain through a packed motorway, and slightly against it when a crash you did not see coming ends a strong run. Emulated on PCSX2, AetherSX2, or ArmsX2, the extra clarity genuinely helps you read those crowded lanes, and performance stays stable through the heaviest pile-ups. Sessions have a habit of stretching well past what you planned.

Burnout Revenge PS2 Review Video

Conclusion

Burnout Revenge is the series at its most maximal — the point where Criterion stopped worrying about restraint and let the crashes take over. Purists still prefer Takedown’s cleaner rules, but Revenge is the more spectacular game, and its Crash mode is the best the series ever produced.

To play it today you will need the PS2 BIOS alongside your emulator. Grab one here, then follow whichever setup guide matches your platform.