Generation 2: Crash-mode

Burnout 2: Point of Impact

The second game was released on the 1th of May 2003 in the US, and on the 9th of May 2003 in Europe, unleashing the second generation of Burnout upon the world. Burnout 2: Point of Impact had several new gameplay features over the original game and is still by many regarded as the best single-player Burnout game in the series.

Gameplay changes compared to Generation 1

• Medals introduced to the series – bronze, silver and gold are now achievable for each event
• Offensive Driving 101 – a training course teaching the player how to drive offensively in the game to earn boost
• Championship mode now split into two seasons: Standard Championship and Custom Series Championship
• Standard Championship consists of 4 Grand Prix events including three point to point races
• Custom Series Championship is unlocked by completing Standard Championship and consists of an additional 4 Grand Prix events
• Grand Prix events are now point-based, with points carrying over from each race in the Grand Prix event – first place in a race awards 3 points, second place awards 2 points and third place awards 1 point, at the end of the event, medals are awarded based on accumulated Grand Prix points during the event
• Credits are removed from Grand Prix events
• Pursuit mode introduced to the series (one player drives a police car with the objective to chase down a target car either driven by the AI or a human opponent and crash the target car off the road)
• Crash mode introduced to the series (smash your car into a traffic set-up (called a “crash junction”) to achieve as much “insurance damage” as you can, medals awarded for reaching pre-set damage goals for each junction)
• Multiplayer crash mode introduced (up to four players compete against each other turnwise on the same console in series of three crash junctions to accumulate the greatest amount of “Insurance damage”)
• Burnout chaining is formally  introduced to the series. A burnout chain means that you perform a series of burnouts in a row to increase your Race-score. Drive offensively while burning to fill up your burn meter for the next burnout in the chain
• Burnout chain (the number of burnouts in a row) added as a criteria for increasing Race-score
• First Xbox Live integration in the series – Online scoreboards introduced

Next page: Generation 3: Takedown