I got both
Burnout Revenge for PS2 and
Burnout Legends for PSP today.
I've invested more time into
Burnout Revenge so far, mostly with the offline mode, but I did jump online for a few games also. BR seems to be a little more challenging than its predecessors. From what I've seen so far, the new track designs practically
beg you to learn the shortcuts. They're "learnable" in that
San Francisco Rush kind of way, where the locations are sometimes rather obvious (many of them are marked with blue flashing lights), though you probably won't get to access them the first time you notice them since you're already whizzing past them at 160 MPH on the main road by the time you have to react. But, the second or third time around, you might want to venture off the safe path and take some risks.
There was one track in BR that I just kept felt compelled to replay repeatedly for about 20 minutes, until I finally got the gold medal and the five-star "Awesome" rating. It's like Kurt Angle and Rob Van Dam put together!
As far as
Burnout Legends goes, it took a bit more time for me to get into it, probably because I had to readjust for the B3-style play mechanics (no traffic checking). That, and the analog nub doesn't seem
quite as precise as the analog stick on a Dual Shock 2 (probably because it doesn't have as much "throw"). Once you get to grips with the analog nub, you'll find it's a reasonable facsimile of the B3 engine, and you'll be pulling off Takedown Rampages while weaving between traffic with the precision of a surgeon.
Both games are strongly recommended for anyone who likes racing games, or just video games in general.
