Burnout CRASH! more Burnout than other Burnouts

Responding to the slight backlash some fans have had towards top-down downloadable game Burnout CRASH!, Criterion’s Richard Franke explained that Burnout CRASH! is “more Burnout than other Burnout titles”, and doesn’t believe the game could hurt the brand.

Criterion has said that ‘Burnout CRASH! was always our intention’, but many people were expecting a more traditional Crash experience.

Asked by VideoGamer.com if CRASH! could hurt the future of the brand if it went down badly with fans, Franke replied: “Well, no. We are Burnout. Criterion. We love Burnout. We decide what Burnout is, nobody else does.”

“In some ways, this is more Burnout than other Burnout titles. Only because it represents us as a team so well, because we are very irreverent – and Burnout always came from that sense of complete, free-for-all mad destruction and fun gameplay, and that’s exactly what this is. We’re bringing a different flavour to it.”

Franke also explained how he was pleased with how CRASH! has gone from a development perspective, and is happy to experiment again in the future.

“We’ll always be thinking about Burnout and we’ll always be thinking about doing something new with it,” Franke explained.

“Obviously we’re very busy with [Burnout CRASH!] at the moment, but I can’t say that we wouldn’t want to do it again, because it’s been very successful. I think, at least so far – it’s not been released yet – we feel that it’s been successful as a development for us. So it’s certainly not been ruled out. It’s one of those experiments that actually works. I can’t say we would never do another spin-off like it, but there’s nothing in the pipeline.”

So Criterion is happy to try something similar in the future?

“Oh yeah, we’re always experimenting.”

Burnout CRASH! is due for release this August, for Xbox LIVE Arcade and PSN. Check out what we thought of the game in our Burnout CRASH! hands-on preview.