At EA's summer showcase event in Redwood City held yesterday, the publisher showed off Burnout Crash - a top-down, Kinect-enabled, arcade-style take on the "Crash" mode employed in the first four console iterations of Criterion's franchise and sorely missed in Burnout Paradise. After getting to try out the game's many modes and control options, we've found facets of the game that rekindled our love of creating car carnage while other elements have stalled the engine driving our desire. With the game set to release this fall, here's hoping Criterion can fine-tune the working parts and buff out the blemishes during the final weeks of development.

HIGH GEAR: A solid base to speed into
Even though our chat with the developers revealed that this game was made from the ground up (meaning that Burnout's traditional engine isn't at play here), it's fairly obvious that Burnout Crash still has the pedigree of the critically-adored franchise. First and foremost, Burnout is still in the capable hands of Criterion Games, who have steered the previous five console-based games (as well as Need for Speed: Hot Pursiut) towards near-perfection. The crashing and after-touch explosions feel very similar to Burnouts past, which is a definite plus in our book.

OVERDRIVE: A better view of the car-nage
The Micro-Machines-style top-down view may not provide the same visual level of twisted-steel carnage present in previous Burnouts, but given this game's narrow focus on a single mode, the alternate viewpoint could work out better from a gameplay perspective. Sure, previous takes on Crash mode allowed for some epic-looking pileups, but the ability to see traffic coming in all directions should make for more creative ways to destroy automobiles. With new twists to Crash mode (like stopping the flow of traffic instead of destroying cars), the new view seems to be optimal.

STALLING: Too much non-driving content
We're sure that many a Burnout fan felt their heart crash into their bowels when Burnout Crash's creative director called the arcade-style driving game "a crazy mix of pinball and game shows." Unfortunately, the two racing-foreign influences threaten to overshadow the series' driving strength. The normally crazy crash physics are a bit too insane, and even though it leads to longer events, it detracts from the somewhat realistic base set in Crash's predecessors. Even worse is the random elements like the "Pizza of Fortune" wheel that's spun mid-level to add bizarre power-ups like snow storms. Previous Burnouts were about using a car to destroy as many other automobiles as possible. Adding these new elements feels very antithetical.

OVERHEATING: Underwhelming Kinect-compatibility
It's becoming trite to rag on Kinect-compatible games at this point, but the current state of Burnout Crash's motion-controlled mode still bears mention. Even if Kinect Joy Ride didn't handle the controller-free racing experience all that well, the standard racing perspective does seem to be the best fit for the peripheral. The top-down view employed in Burnout Crash doesn't really mesh all that well with miming a steering wheel (though we welcome the on-screen representation of the wheel), and the post-crash antics - which include jumping to explode and stepping in different directions to employ aftertouch - are even worse. Granted, we'll hold off on passing final judgment until we've spent more than a few races with the Kinect, but this early estimate isn't looking very good.