The whole point of the game is to cause mayhem and destruction like a stuffed suit driving an oversized SUV in rush hour.

“Burnout Revenge” PS2, Xbox $49.99

I have never caused a 37-car pile-up in my life. At least not that I know of — you never know what’s going on around you when you are searching through that iPod.

But I doubt that causing a massive pile-up would be more fun in real life than it is in the “Burnout” series.

“Burnout,” unlike most racing games, give the player rewards for being a bad driver. Well, not bad, just aggressive. No, worse still … a spiteful, hate-filled and vengeful driver. The whole point of the game is to cause mayhem and destruction like a stuffed suit driving an oversized SUV in rush hour.

Trading paint with a rival drive is a good start of a race. As said in the movie “Days of Thunder,” “That’s rubbin’ and rubbin’ is racing.”

But so is nudging, slamming, checking, landing on, taking down, crashing and blowing up in the world of “Burnout.”

There is a big variety of events in “Burnout Revenge.” A player can race rival cars and defeat them by nudging their cars into small corner bistros and off Grand Canyon-like cliffs. Taking out rival cars gets a play boost gauge filled.

Players have time laps with light and fast cars, where they use local traffic and crazy stunts to gain boost to finish the level in the fastest time (a similar part to other driving games).

There is the “cause a pile-up and stop traffic” levels. Crash Pile-up levels take a lot more skill than one would expect. Launching a player’s car off windy ramps and into rush-hour traffic takes finesse and knowing the sweet spot of a street is crucial. Aiming the car to land on and knock over a semi isn’t as easy as one would think.

Causing a unique crash in the game wins you trophies and unlocks new events. There are tons of different cars to unlock throughout the game — having other EA-produced games saves on a memory card and gets a player even more cars.

Two-player action is a blast as long as you are not the player being sent into the wall every few seconds. Slamming local street traffic into the opponents’ tailgate will always bring a smile to a player’s face.

“Burnout Revenge” is one of the best racing games in years. It brings the take-out-your-opponent style of simple games like “Mariocart” into a real race situation. It still is, after all, a racing game at its core.

But don’t tell me the most thrilling thing about racing isn’t the allure of the crash.

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