I work in film production, and, generally,  my life is very, very complicated.  When I sit down with a videogame, I want something, which unlike my real life, is simple and easy to understand, accompanied by a hair-rasing adrenaline rush.  Burnout 2 delivers in spades!
No it's not "reality based", but hey, I have a real car for that.  What it is though, is internally consistent, so its fantasy physics quickly become believable.
I also love the linear stucture.  Too many games now are "open ended".  To me that means lacking in structure, lacking in tightness.  Burnout 2 has only one difficulty level in its chamionship mode, and really only one way to get through said mode, but with perfectly ramping difficulty, and a wonderfully well thought-out variety of courses and challenges.
Also great is the fact that the A.I. is NOT elastic, and will keep moving ahead if you screw up. Who likes eleastic A.I.?  Why was it even invented?
The graphics are not cutting edge, but they're pretty good (better than Midnight Club at any rate) and have a sense of fun and humour to them.  I hated the bland, greyish boxes they called "a realistic city" in Project Gotham.  The places in Burnout 2 may not exist in real life, but they FEEL much more like real places you beleive COULD exist than the various cubes supposedly representing the buildings of NYC, London and San Fran in Project Gotham. Again, if you want to drive in a real city, why not go do so in real life?  Video games are about fantasy and escape no?  Besides, no real city would have such perfect driving routes, as real cities were not optimized for use as video game racer backdrops.
Burnout 2 also throws way more polygons at you than Project Gotham did.  Who cares about perfect reflections?  Your eye can't really tell (studies in 3D graphics have proven this).  Here, the X box processor is focussed on tons of traffic and complicated environments with huge draw distances.  THAT, your eye will perceive, and adds greatly to the sense of realism and the speed rush.
Basically, if you want to have fun with your X Box, get Burnout 2.
I work in film production, and, generally,  my life is very, very complicated. When I sit down with a videogame, I want something, which unlike my real life, is simple and easy to understand, accompanied by a hair-rasing adrenaline rush. Burnout 2 delivers in spades! No it's not "reality based", but hey, I have a real car for that. What it is though, is internally consistent, so its fantasy physics quickly become believable. I also love the linear stucture. Too many games now are "open ended". To me that means lacking in structure, lacking in tightness. Burnout 2 has only one difficulty level in its chamionship mode, and really only one way to get through said mode, but with perfectly ramping difficulty, and a wonderfully well thought-out variety of courses and challenges. Also great is the fact that the A. I. is NOT elastic, and will keep moving ahead if you screw up. Who likes eleastic A. I.? Why was it even invented? The graphics are not cutting edge, but they're pretty good (better than Midnight Club at any rate) and have a sense of fun and humour to them. I hated the bland, greyish boxes they called "a realistic city" in Project Gotham. The places in Burnout 2 may not exist in real life, but they FEEL much more like real places you beleive COULD exist than the various cubes supposedly representing the buildings of NYC, London and San Fran in Project Gotham. Again, if you want to drive in a real city, why not go do so in real life? Video games are about fantasy and escape no? Besides, no real city would have such perfect driving routes, as real cities were not optimized for use as video game racer backdrops. Burnout 2 also throws way more polygons at you than Project Gotham did. Who cares about perfect reflections? Your eye can't really tell (studies in 3D graphics have proven this). Here, the X box processor is focussed on tons of traffic and complicated environments with huge draw distances. THAT, your eye will perceive, and adds greatly to the sense of realism and the speed rush. Basically, if you want to have fun with your X Box, get Burnout 2.