Burnout races onto the shelves just a couple of weeks after the UK launch of the PSP and I'm thinking this must be a good thing. This must be really, really good, if it misses the launch date by a mere two weeks. It must be so unbelievably good that they weren't allowed to release it on launch date because it wouldn't give anything else a chance. Cue Family Fortunes sound effect and a big red cross flashing in front of your eyes, because unfortunately this just isn't all it should be.

Here's a brief Burnout lesson to bring you up to date on the history. The original game came out on PS2 not far into the console's lifespan. It was fantastic, the game that everybody had been crying out for; hailed as the new Outrun, it looked amazing, had perfect arcade handling, was blisteringly fast and had a couple of nice innovations up its sleeve. Firstly, you filled up your boost bar by driving like a maniac (near misses with cars, driving into oncoming traffic, drifting around corners, etc.) and secondly whenever you crashed it replayed instantly in slow motion to show you a cash value for the destruction you'd caused.

Then Burnout 2 came along, it was infinitely better (still my favourite in the series) and the crash for cash option was added, where you simply had to cause as much destruction as possible. You could team up with a few mates and compete for the best scores by passing the control pad around. It was perfect post-pub fodder and even the girlfriends enjoyed playing it (how rare is that?) The rest of the game was tweaked, the handling got better, the racing was more forgiving and a cop chase mode was also included.

Then we had Burnout 3: Takedown, which had some excellent additions, such as when you crashed, you could steer your vehicle in slow motion to try and take out passing opponents or other traffic. The racing became an out an out brawl, the boost bar increased in size with the more carnage you caused and taking down your opponents (accompanied with a marvellous slow motion shot of them flying off the track in a tangled mess of metal) became a key part of the gameplay. Unfortunately, the whole thing stank of EA; the menus were all radically fiddled with and it had a cheesy American inoffensive commercial garbage soundtrack tagged on. They'd also scattered multipliers around the crash courses, which meant the girls didn't want to play it anymore, as it was less about crashing and more about guiding your car in the air.

That brings us to Burnout Legends, which is a mixture of some of the best (and worst) elements of all three games, the takedown skills of the third, the crash function of the second and unfortunately the graphics of the first. Probably about three months prior to its release, when it hadn't been play tested properly and was still a bit glitchy. In addition, they've retained the awful interface and soundtrack from Burnout 3.

The graphics are the first major disappointment, as Burnout games in the past have been nothing short of amazing graphically; smooth, fast and incredibly detailed, but Legends just looks a bit unfinished. Imagine playing a PC game where you've had to turn down a lot of the settings because your memory's not up to scratch - you have to lower the textures and the water detail etc. It's glitchy too, as the bonus points on the crash courses jiggle and wobble around, while the camera never seems to quite know where the action is. It doesn't even give you the cut scene you used to be treated to that scanned across each area of your crash, slowly showing you how much you'd earned for each collision and what you'd missed. The PSP must be making these calculations to give you the score, so surely it can't be so difficult to show them to you.

In a race there's a little less to complain about, as the action moves at an amazingly fast pace and there's no hint of slowdown, but the game's main draw is also its main drawback; it's so fast that you just can't see what's coming properly. Airport terminals 1 & 2 (tracks I really enjoyed before) become a chore, as it's difficult to know exactly where you're going at high speeds.

There're plenty of other different races available, Eliminator (where after each lap the trailing car explodes), Road Rage (destroy as many opponent cars as possible), Face Off (a head to head with your opponent's car as a prize) and Pursuit (cop chase, like Chase HQ). The only problem with having all these extra modes is that an actual race comes along only once in a blue moon, as you're always busy having to do other things.

The rewards are excellent though and perfectly paced, as there's what seems to be a never-ending list of cars, events and crashes to unlock. As well as this, some of the cars you get are unique to you, as there are around twenty cars in the code of which you'll only ever unlock five. To get your hands on the others, you have to challenge somebody with another PSP who's got them unlocked and win against them in a race. I think that's a really excellent touch. A really poor touch though is that you can't do a crash multiplayer on a single PSP - you have to link up. Crazy!

The only thing that saves Burnout Legends is that it is a Burnout title, so the handling, fast-paced arcade racing action, quirkiness of the crash elements and masses of stuff to unlock make it worth the money - but only just. As an avid Burnout fan, I can't help but feel a little cheated; this game feels unfinished and rushed. Hopefully this is just a blip and I truly hope these problems will be rectified for the next title, because at the moment it would seem as if EA didn't just ruin the menus and sound tracks when they took over as publisher; they seem to have taken its integrity as well.

Reviewed by Mark Hayhurst for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).