Just think. incredibly enough, some gamers, somewhere will not have been exposed to Burnout Revenge on its previous release. Players whose first and only console was a 360 (are there really such beings!?) have waited for around four months to get involved, and can now get their mitts on the brute. What have they been missing? Blimey, where to start? Manna from heaven for those not sated by the Electronic Arts-ified Burnout Takedown from 2004, Revenge restates the case for BO's claim as the most insanely quick racing series. Truth told, in the initial gameplay, there's not a great deal of difference between Takedown and Revenge; even as far as an hour into the single-player game, the uptempo sounds of popular beat combos Yellowcard, Bloc Party and Dead 60s are the sole pointer as to the game's release date, what with EA being all up to date and hip to all the best new driving music. Ahem. Oh, the Revenge motif that keeps cropping up too - that's a giveaway. So, after an hour, we've made a hi-definition dent in more than a few shiny cars, and only a 3% impression in the game as a whole. We're no maths geniuses, but we reckon that could mean around 35-40 hours of solo gameplay, depending on how well you progress and whether you're satisfied with a merely 'good' performance and a bronze medal in any given event. Race events are plentiful: Race is as simple as it gets, as you take down rivals in a no-holds barred rampage to the finishing line; Traffic Attack invites you to beat time targets as you race through busy thoroughfares; Burning Lap is a beat the clock event; Road Rage gives you a time limit and a remit to take out as many rivals as possible; Eliminator is a last-man-standing event; Preview is a quick test drive of some ridiculously fast vehicles against the clock; and GP Race is a multi-race battle, the fastest of the lot. Through Xbox Live, the 'brand-new-for-360' Live Revenge feature tracks your rivals and calls out those that need some serious payback. Build up relationships with gamers that you take out, or take you down, and then let Live Revenge recall them and tell you how they are literally rubbing you up the wrong way. Burnout Revenge is about long memories and short tempers, especially on 360. Crash events are preceded by a fly-by crash-camera sequence from which you can plan a trail of destruction to score the maximum of points, and are an interesting diversion from the main game at best. The second iteration of Burnout (Point of Impact) still features - in our opinion - the ultimate version of the Crash event. Still, there's hours of fun to be had in both solo and multi-player modes. There's a World Tour campaign to take on, with its own Crash and Race events. It's all a bit too reminiscent of Burnout Takedown to be an absolutely essential purchase for those who still have the 2004 game in their possession, but to the few gamers who have resisted the franchise so far - not to mention those weirdos who have a 360 and nothing else - Burnout Revenge should fly off the grid.