The Impact Time screen when crashing.
Aftertouch being used to great effect via the left car.
Aftertouch is a feature included in the Burnout 3, Legends, Revenge and Dominator titles, and allows the player to move their car during a crash if Impact Time is activated. Despite its versatility, however, it was not featured in Burnout Paradise. Aftertouch refers to the ability to move the car during a crash, whilst Impact Time is the slow motion effect, and are used in conjunction for their own Takedown type, the aptly named Aftertouch Takedown. Aftertouch returns in Burnout CRASH! as a main feature to cause more destruction on a junction.
Description[]
Aftertouch is a feature that makes crashes in Burnout strategic rather than cinematic as in Burnout 1 and 2. It works on a momentum principle, so it is impossible to abruptly change the direction of your car in the opposite direction it's going in. However it is useful for extending crash air time, and in Crash events it can be used on ramps to extend jump distances and shoot the car into strategic crash areas. For instance, in the Burnout 3 Crash Junction Twister, the player can Aftertouch off of one of the twister ramps and move the vehicle into the path of a Big Rig (or an Oil Tanker).
Aftertouch can only be used when the player activates Impact Time with R1 (PS2)/A (Xbox), which slows down time and has the camera focusing on the player. During this, Aftertouch is done by moving the Left Stick in the direction the player wishes to move the car. Lighter cars are more readily affected by Aftertouch while Heavier cars take a while to get going. In the image at the top of the article, you can see a smoke cloud behind the Aftertouch car on the left, which represents the path of the car, and you can see a curve caused by the use of Aftertouch to affect the direction of the car into the path of the car on the right. Hitting a rival like the car on the left is about to do is called an Aftertouch Takedown.
Aftertouch can be combined with Crashbreakers to cause even more damage to vehicles in the vicinity and launch the car with its own aerial momentum. This can be handy at the end of a Race event, where Aftertouch can move the car over the finish line, while in Crash it can allow the player to crash into other vehicles and add more damage. In Burnout Revenge, Aftertouch needs to be used against the wind to prevent the players car from blowing off-course, however heavier cars are less affected. If a Crash or Race is played with two or more people at the same time, the slow-motion of Impact Time is disabled, but players will still need to hold R1/A in order to be able to use Aftertouch.
While Aftertouch is certainly a very useful feature, it was removed from Burnout Paradise completely. The logic behind this likely stems from the fact that the player can choose to go wherever he or she desires in the expansive, almost maze-like city, so there is no immediate guarantee that there'll be an opponent to Aftertouch into when they crash. In addition, online gameplay would mean a lack of slow-motion for a majority of the gametime, meaning that Aftertouch would be less noticeable.
Notes[]
- In Burnout Paradise an "Aftertouch" can be done if your wrecked car is moving on the ground with the wheels in place, by steering in the way of an opponent (assuming you have a clear view), which can possibly wreck him. This does not count as an Aftertouch Takedown, as Aftertouch was completely removed from the game.
- In Burnout Legends, pressing Aftertouch does not force the camera to face behind you for a takedown, but instead stays where it was. This can be a problem as most times you don't know where the opponents are coming from.