Burnout Legends presents a different take on the racing genre with strategic destruction of opponents, other vehicles on the road, and the driving environment. To advance in the game and unlock tracks and new cars, one of the top three medals must be won in each event. Race, crash, and head-to-head are the basic modes of play, but even those are broken down into different types of challenges. Racing circuits offer a combination of road rage (take out as many opponents as possible), burning (time trial), face-off (race against an opponent), and pursuit (drive as a cop and take down the target vehicle). Crash events use your vehicle to cause the most financial damage possible to meet the goals.

The cars take damage, the crashes are spectacular, and the environments are fun to look at. The smoke, sparks, and other effects make the experience even more entertaining. Framerates are smooth except during the most complicated crashes. That said, overall the graphics and models do not offer the detail and polish of other titles, and other than the effects the game looks as though it came directly off an original PlayStation.

The audio effects are great, offering just the right blend to the graphics. The included music tracks are eclectic and high quality, but there are only a handful of songs that grow tiresome after a few hours of play. Fortunately the background music can be muted before insanity sets in.

The later stages can become very frustrating — instead of being a test of gaming skill, they become more a matter of memorizing patterns for completion. Loading times are more noticeable and annoying as the more difficult levels are replayed and memorized, but overall Burnout Legends is a good racing game with great entertainment value.