The first Burnout, founding arcade racing-crashing game. Collisions are the heart of gameplay, immediate fun. Less rich than its sequels but the series DNA is already there. A classic to revisit in the context of the franchise's evolution.
Your verdict
Category
Racing1 player7+
Description
Racing game built on risk-taking: driving the wrong way, grazing vehicles, and flat-out speeding all fill the Boost gauge. Published by Acclaim, released in 2002 in the United States and Europe. Features circuit races, a head-to-head mode, and spectacular crashes across urban and rural environments, with meticulously crafted collision physics.
Criterion's founding act, Burnout imposes high-speed arcade racing and the thrill of the near-miss, laying the groundwork for a cult adrenaline series. Become fairly rare on Xbox, its interest lies in this origin status of an influential line rather than wide distribution. A piece valued by fans of brisk racing wanting the beginning.
Is Burnout still worth playing in 2026?
Released in 2001, the first Burnout laid the groundwork for an entire school of arcade racing. The sense of speed was already startling, the live traffic crashes set a new bar for the genre and the boost mechanic, earned by flirting with disaster, made road reading a thrilling exercise. The roster of cars and tracks is thin compared to later entries, the handling is stiffer and the visuals have aged with their share of rough edges. Recommended today mostly to arcade racing fans who want to see where the series came from and to dedicated Criterion collectors.
