Glocky, Crash&Burn is here, u gotta pimp this B****

[ThaMaskedGamer]

I think i'm going to get this game instead of NFSU2, it just seems more interesting, plus, like you've said, I trust the online code from the guys who made MGP2, moreso than EA.

But the ? is, will anyone else buy it?

Heck at $20 its a bargain though. I should be crashing and burning tonight.

You still in?

BTW saw your Halo2 least favs. What's wrong with the Brutes man? And I didn't know Michelle R. was in this game, wtf? Now, I definitely gotta play it again.

[Glockstar]

Crash-n-Burn?

http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/article/564/564898/crash-n-burn-20041109030518972.jpg

Oh yeah, you know it!

In fact, after work tonite I went to go pick up my copy.
Which I knew was an act of futility even before I started the trip. Just like every other game from Great Britain it wasn't in yet! All the stores show a street date of 11/17, but yet again, none of their shipments had arrived. :( :mad:

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Look - er, listen - for M-Rod just before "the bridge"; and on the Regret mission/level (where she fights admirably, but... really has no chance). I think she comes around once, or maybe even twice, more but I can't remember the specifics.

Last night I recognized the voicework of one of the male marines. Though I don't know the actors name. It's the guy from Men In Black 2, the video store owner (who asks, 'And what's up with anal probes?'). I'm pretty sure it's him.

-

As far as the Brutes...
I just don't like them. Okay, I'm sure a lot of my dislike for them comes from my disdain for Tartarus, but... well... I like the Elites. You know? (That's it. I have no gameplay issues with them. Just ethical ones. ;)

[Darwin]

Last night I recognized the voicework of one of the male marines. Though I don't know the actors name. It's the guy from Men In Black 2, the video store owner (who asks, 'And what's up with anal probes?'). I'm pretty sure it's him.

That is the work of comedian David Cross:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0189144/

It is definitely his voice. And I also recognized his voice from San Andreas, even before I read this site. In San Andreas, he plays an electonics geek, and his missions are extremely difficult to complete.

To read a list of voice actors for the game Halo 2:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0412799/

IMO, the best voice acting in Halo 2 was done by the man playing the arbiter, Keith David. He also did a role in Dead Presidents as the club owner with the plastic leg.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0202966/

Ha ... the women who does the voice of Cortana also does the voice of Princess Peach in many GC games. That'll turn your System Wars board topsey turvey:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1071768/

[ThaMaskedGamer]

That is the work of comedian David Cross:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0189144/

It is definitely his voice. And I also recognized his voice from San Andreas, even before I read this site. In San Andreas, he plays an electonics geek, and his missions are extremely difficult to complete.

To read a list of voice actors for the game Halo 2:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0412799/

IMO, the best voice acting in Halo 2 was done by the man playing the arbiter, Keith David. He also did a role in Dead Presidents as the club owner with the plastic leg.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0202966/

Ha ... the women who does the voice of Cortana also does the voice of Princess Peach in many GC games. That'll turn your System Wars board topsey turvey:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1071768/



Wow I knew Keith David was the Arbiter, he was also in the The Thing with Kurt Russel, and the voice of BMW. I didn't pick up on M.Rod, damn I feel like I let her down. M-Rod, i'm not worthy...forgive a brotha.

Anyway, you guys are gonna laugh, but check out my thread on NFSU2..my god the game is a horrid pile of steaming horse shyat!

[Glockstar]

:mad:

Any guesses as to what I'm mad about?
Yeah; you only get one guess.

:mad:

-

That is the work of comedian David Cross:

It is definitely his voice. And I also recognized his voice from San Andreas, even before I read this site. In San Andreas, he plays an electonics geek, and his missions are extremely difficult to complete.

Hah! Am I good, or what!?!

Hmmm, sounds like you've got "the gift" as well.

Thanks for the link tho'. I didn't know IMDb did videogames too. (That is a great site, isn't it?)
As an F.Y.I., they also list the cast in the instruction manual. :o

But there's one credit therein that bugs me... and I realize that in saying this I might give back all of my recognizzle if I'm wrong... but... I know I'm not...

That is not Michael Wincott (Dead Man, Alien Resurrection, The Crow) doing the voice of Truth! Michael Wincott is a Canuck, not an Englishman. And what's more, his voice is really raspy. Furthermore, I didn't hear MW's voice in H2, at all! The voice of the Prophet of Truth, that's John Hurt (Alien, Contact, Hellboy)!!! I know it.

Okay, there's two: The Ron Perlman (Hellboy, The Fisher King, Enemy at the Gates) credit is another one that baffles me. I see now that he's done a lot of videogame voicework, but I swear, Halo2 is not one he should be getting credit for. WHO THE HECK IS LORD HOOD ANYWAY?!?

-

Wow I knew Keith David was the Arbiter, he was also in the The Thing with Kurt Russel, and the voice of BMW.

What the... another one who's got "it"?!? Hrmph.

Yeah, I got Keith David right way too. I even knew his name. His role in The Thing was probably his best, and most definitive, work, but for those who (for some dumb reason) haven't seen John Carpenter's The Thing, they might recognize ole Keith from another one of John Carpenters movies, They Live (where he plays Rowdy Roddy Pipers wrestling partner); or if not that one, then they're sure to remember him from There's Something About Mary (wherein he plays the role of Mary's dad.)

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Ahh. Thanks for the diversion there guys.
You got me to forget about the Crash-n-Burn thing. For a little while.

[Glockstar]

I'm out.

:mad:

This is really ticking me off.

So I said, 'eff it', and I picked up NFSU2 instead.

Just joshin!

I'm seriously miffed here, but I am not picking up U2. In fact, I changed my mind about renting it too. EA left out "Custom Soundtracks?!? WHY?!? That is really stupid. Yep, I'll be passing on U2 entirely.

-

Actually, CnB has become a questionable title for me as well. :o
TMG, you might want to hold off on getting this one.

Unfortunately for Eidos and Climax, there's been nothing for me to do but read the reviews of Crash-n-Burn while I wait for the game to hit the stores - which it should have been in days ago!

Like I said before, I don't put a whole of stock into reviews anymore - especially review scores - but I do read them when I'm looking for answers to specific questions I have or for certain words. (Or when I've got nothing better to do.)

And this is where CnB has fallen into trouble.

There was a really eyebrow-raising statement made in GI's review (which came out over a week ago): "The cars handle solidly, but don't really provide much in terms of feel. You're pretty much either in a powerslide or not - similar to the "on/off" feel of Auto Modelista."

Oh no he didn't.
Oh *bleep*, yes he did! He just made a comparison to Auto Modelista! No worse words could be written about a racing game...

The thing is, is that I know the developers - and I know they wouldn't do that. Right?
Also, the review has to be taken with a grain of salt, because they've got just the one article for both the XBox and PS2 version. So who knows... maybe they've only played the PS2 game - maybe the XBox version doesn't play the same.

But... I just got done reading the IGN review.
And they liked the game even less than GI. In fact, they scored it a 5.5. I only mention this because seeing IGN score a game less than an 8.0 is a pretty rare thing!

And then there's the harsh words:

Look, no amount of accidental or intentional collisions will save a title that plays terribly, nor will any kind of advanced neon light, rim, bra, or skirt make a poor game anything more than a poor game. Crash 'N' Burn sadly lacks that basic competitive thrill that comes from a quality racing title and it lacks it in a big way. This is Crash 'N' Burn's most glaring shortcoming and because of it, the game becomes unexciting and shallow.

Before a title can become Burnout, there must be some thought placed into the area of speed. Before it can be Hot Pursuit 2, there must be some advancement in the area of track design. Before it can be Sega Rally, it must first be fluid. Before it can crumple like FlatOut, it must be exciting. And, before it can be good, it must be well presented. Forgetting to accomplish any or all of this results in Crash 'N' Burn, a good extended idea that completely fails to deliver the basics.

...

Now that we're focused squarely on the crashing, it becomes important to note that it's simply uninteresting. Plainly, Crash 'N' Burn is neither fast nor vicious and it doesn't have a believable or purposefully outlandish physics system. Most of the time cars either fly without weight or jerk and twitch when nudged, crunched, or ground into. Everything just feels like a box.

... The ever more pressing requirement to avoid some junk in the road seems like it could develop into a pretty exciting gameplay mechanic, but the AI, simplistic track designs, and squirrelly controls make even this most compelling aspect of Crash 'N' Burn pretty lame.

It's perfectly normal to be racing smoothly when, five laps into it, you'll be adversely and unexpectedly impaired by some damn piece of rubble that shouldn't be flipping the way it is. The AI, being idiotic, doesn't even bother thinking about avoiding your soon to be wrecking car or preserving its own life; it just plows straight on and pushes itself, your car, and the chunk of debris that hit you into some awkward corner that's a pain to get out of. Once you come to the realization that this formula is repeated throughout the entire poorly laid out championship mode (that requires repeated "quitting" to even come to grips with), you'll want to crash into and burn something.

When a player inevitably grows tired of solo racing, he or she can jump across the Internet and get to the real business with a bunch of other suckers who bought into the illusion. In fairness, online Crash 'N' Burn does offer a few interesting modes, including Bomb-Tag, but the basic principle of stumbling about plain tracks waiting for someone to get effed by twitchy controls or some unpredictable fire is still what it's all about.

Throughout all of this solo and online play, Crash 'N' Burn manages to deliver consistently unimpressive audio and visuals. It does run at a high, smooth framerate, but also cranks out a steady stream of squared environments and bland cars that feature generic pings and dings we can all appreciate while rocking out to what feels like a total of five Courtney Love songs on some kind of endless damnation cycle.

Closing Comments
- Crashing? Stiff, slow, unimpressive, and often results in unpredictable chain reactions.
- Speed? Faster than Eve of Destruction, but slower than Burnout, which happens to make Crash 'N' Burn look like a midget prancing behind a space shuttle.
- Graphics? Steady framerate that's the result of rudimentary visuals and lacking effects.
- Gameplay? Contend with the equivalent of RC cars until the track gets so littered with trash you have no choice but to crash and burn. Joy!
- Multiplayer? Yes, but then you will still be playing the same game, only now in an environment where things can get much more unpleasant.
- Cool CG that totally and completely misrepresents the actual experience? Oh hell yeah!

http://xbox.ign.com/articles/567/567515p1.html

Ouch!

I mean, OUCH!

And as if things couldn't get any worse, it sounds like they've left off Custom Soundtracks too.

That "cool CG" that they mention at the end... I wonder if they're talking about the trailer that I saw. It was awesome! Totally awesome! But... is that all we get?

Like I said, better wait Phaze. It sounds like I better rent this game first.

[Glockstar]

Crash'n'Burn is in my possesion!

Here are my first impressions:

First off, this is is a good game! Do not listen to the reviews!

Particularly, do not listen to what GI and IGN said! Their reviews are just about idiotic. "Auto Modelista"?!? "Twitchy, boxy, squirrelly"?!? BS!

It was IGNs review that really had me doubting CnB, but it turns out that their review is one of the worst I've read, as far as being legitimate and accurate. I knew something was amiss though - it turns out the reviewer, Ivan Sulic, is a member of their PS2 team! Didn't I say that?!? Didn't I?!? Well, for shame IGN!

It's the GI review that really bugs me though - even though the reviewer didn't really say anything too bad about the game. Just that it reminded him of Auto Modelista! :eek: Hey, Matt, you bastich, you non-racing mf'er, you should not say such things! But now, having played the game myself, and having figured out the reason for the mis-diagnosis by IGN, I've concluded that Matt here had to have been playing the PS2 version as well. Still, what really bugs me is that Matt is not one of GameInformers racing experts! GI screwed up on their assignments, or something. The game should have been reviewed by Kato and Lisa. (Whom I've agreed with before on their reviews of other racing games; namely RSC2.) Kato did give a "Second Opinion" review and score, but it's only, like, three sentences long. :rolleyes: (He basically says that CnB doesn't have legs, and that Burnout3 is better - scoring it a 7.0.)

I guess I could see where some shlub might think that the cars are "twitchy/squirrelly/boxxy", but only if they were a total newb - or just ignorant. (Or if they were playing the PS2 version :p ) Sure, there is some of "that" present - but it's the cars! It's the tracks! It's the debris! Okay, the little compact car that you start out with may be a little "boxy"; and the pickup that you start out with might handle a little "squirrelly" - but the characteristic is not generic - they both handle differently (which is a good thing!) - and the handling can be improved.

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The OXM and GameSpot also have their reviews in, and going by their scores it looks like they didn't think much of it either. But, they really don't have anything too bad to say about the game. And neither made any disparaging remarks about the controls! Also, it looks like the GS reviewer played at least a little bit of the XBox version. Though I've already spotted a couple of inaccuracies in his write-up.

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And so, with that out of the way...

Let me say that: Crash'n'Burn is pretty much exactly what I was looking for - it meets almost all of my expectations!

With that said, however, I will also say that the game does have it's faults and it's shortcomings. They are tempered by the fact that the game is only $19.99 brand spanking new tho'. Well, some of them are. In truth, it would actually be easier and less time consuming for me to talk about what is right with the game than what is wrong with it.

Most of the knocks on the game have to do with it's presentation though. A little bit of which spills over into actual gameplay (for example, the crashes are rather unspectacular).

XBox Live play is, overall, very nice, but they missed on a couple of hard to ignore things with regards to game settings. Still, you name me an XBox Live game that's been released over the past year-and-a-half that's nailed every bit of XBL perfectly. The big concern, I'm sure, is with lag... but I really haven't played enough of the game online to know about it. Yes, I saw a bit. But given the circumstances - of what was going on onscreen at the time(s) - it was pretty understandable - yea, even predictable. Thus, easily forgivable and easy to get over and move past/forget about, imo. No need to ask, 'Hey did you guys notice any lag there?', because you know you'd get 9 guys answering, 'Duh!'. And if the other 7 A.I. drivers could answer, I'm sure they'd say the same!

Ah heck, since I mentioned it...
One of the big problems that I see with the online play is that there are always 16 cars in every event - regardless of how many human players have joined in. So you know what that means (6 human players - 10 AI cars; etc, etc.).

So where's the good stuff - what are the positive things?

Well briefly:
* The A.I. - Oh yeah. I'm... pretty much blown away by it at this point. Well, by the single-player competition anyways. (My A.I. teammates and I didn't seem to be on the right page tho'. Then again, I'm not sure if my real-life teammates and I were either. :p ) The A.I. will swerve to avoid you, put you into the wall, and take each other out just as well as you... all in the perfect context! I cannot believe (some of) the professional reviewers are dogging this games A.I.! Are they not playing the same game as I?!? Do they not know that you get points and bonuses for taking the competion out?!? And that that rule applies to every type of racing event?!? "Pros" my eye. I swear, I sometimes think that these guys are no more of a gamer than I am. And worse yet, that they aren't really playing the game that they're reviewing.

Here's how good the A.I. is: There was this time where I got taken into the wall in the middle of a turn by an A.I. opponent... but, I knew that he was actually trying to avoid me! We kind of went into the turn side-by-side, with me coming around on the "high-side" - which put him right on line to go over an oil-slick (that had actually proven to be quite problematic for me on several occasions) - and though he slowed appropriately (I know he did, I saw it!) there was nothing he could do, and he hit the slick and slid up and into me - obviously out of control. I'm just as much at fault for that wreck as he was.

Oh yeah, did I mention that I haven't seen any signs of any rubberbanding!

* XBox Live - Lots of online game modes - I count 9. (4 every-man-for -himself types, and 5 team games.) Though I've only played two so far (Team Kamikaze and Assasination) all look like fun.

* Tracks - The tracks look terribly simplistic on paper, but they are far from it - There are ramps, bridge pillars, and gradient mounds of dirt that aren't shown on the maps, but they're there - and they definitely kick the excitement up a notch. I'm also pretty happy with the number of tracks. I'd say there are over 36 (legitimately) different tracks.

* Car-PG! - Race and gain experience and money. With experience you gain new levels (up to level 20). When a new level is obtained, you can upgrade your car (kinda like how it's done in the MotoGP2) - in one of three areas: engine, gears, tires. (Guess those "pros" who thought the cars were "squirrelly" never bothered to upgrade their tires, huh?) With money you can buy body parts for your car. Rims, spoilers, hoods, etc., etc. Though not as aesthetically pleasing as NFS:Underground, there are probably just many customization combinations that you can make to the look of your car (just no underglow or window tint). I tell you, there is no way you will ever see two cars look alike on XBL - there have to be (well over) three million combinations! (Shoot, there's probably that many in just colors alone.)

* The trailer!!! - Yes, it's here, on the game! It's the opening cinematic! And it's worth the price of the rental alone! :D

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There's a lot more to be said, but I know that this post has gone on way too long as it is. Ask, and I will answer.

Let me close by saying that I'm glad I bought this game!
I still plan on buying Burnout 3, but the beauty thing here is that I really think that there is room for both games in my library! I wouldn't have thunk that a week ago.