There are a few telling signs of a good game. One of them is that no matter how much you’ve played it in the past, it’s always a blast to play a new version. That happened to me most recently with “Sid Meier’s Pirates” when it moved from PC to Xbox. And now there’s “Burnout Revenge.”

I’ve already played “Burnout” to death on the Xbox, but that hasn’t stopped it from sucking me back in on the Xbox 360.

I’d read that Electronic Arts was making some significant changes to the game for this metamorphosis, but sadly that’s not true. There are changes, and all for the better, but nothing major like you’d hope.

But it doesn’t matter. The game was already great, and great it remains on the new system.

In case you missed it the first time around, “Burnout Revenge” is all about taking out your racing competition with “takedowns.” You do this by ramming them into walls, hurtling traffic at them or simply bashing them from behind.

Among the various modes: crash, in which you build pileups in an intersection; traffic attack, in which you ram your way through lines of traffic; road rage, in which you take out as many rivals as you can; and, of course, the standard race.

Crashbreakers let you blow yourself up if you crash, taking any nearby competition with you, and impact time lets you control where your car flies after you crash.

That’s all fine and dandy, but it’s been done. So what’s new?

Well, for one, the visuals have been upgraded. Obviously, the game looks better on the Xbox 360. They’re very nice, but not mind-boggling, probably because they were adapted from a current-generation game.

Sound has been overhauled, and it’s really noticeable. Every little impact makes a sound, creating one amazing aural explosion.

EA also took out the annoying meter at the start of crash races, which made your car blow up if you hit the button at the wrong time. Now, you just start perfectly each time and can focus on wreaking havoc. Thank you!

Gameplay on Xbox Live also has been tweaked. Racers can save their replays, then upload them to share with other players. Live Revenge mode keeps track of which players have taken out your car, so if you come across them later, you’ll remember that you want revenge.

There are also those much-desired Xbox Live achievements to unlock, many involving online play.

If you haven’t played “Burnout Revenge” and you have a 360, buy it! If you have it for another system, the changes might not be worth a new purchase. But the 360 version is superior, so maybe you can sell the old version to a friend and put the money toward the 360 version. Either way, owning this version of the game could never be considered a mistake.

Resident Evil: Deadly Silence

I’m a fan of porting old games to handheld systems, partly because it makes it easy to pick up on games I missed out on because my parents wouldn’t buy them for me and partly because sometimes you just feel nostalgic for the old days.

The latest old-game-turned-new is “Resident Evil: Deadly Silence” for the Nintendo DS. “Deadly Silence” takes the original “Resident Evil,” released 10 years ago on the first PlayStation, and puts a few current-generation spins on it.

You can play Classic mode, which is the old game with no changes. Or, more interestingly, there’s Rebirth mode, which adds more zombies and touch-screen fighting and puzzles. There are also some OK multiplayer options.

It’s fun to go back to an old game, but the original game’s flaws are still there — controls are still horribly clunky, especially with the DS’ smaller buttons, and the camera angles can be frustrating and sometimes deadly. The DS’ smaller screen also can make it difficult to see what’s going on.

The original voice acting is horrifyingly bad, but I actually found that entertaining in its cheesiness.

I do wish this version contained unlimited saves, though, if only because the DS’ battery life is limited.

The touch-screen additions are fun, but nothing really groundbreaking. Sometimes you enter what’s essentially a minigame in which you have to slash at zombies with a knife by sliding the stylus across the screen. And there are puzzles solved with the stylus, but they’re of the sort you’d expect: turning a handle or moving items around.

 “Resident Evil” still stirs up some creeps, though, even on the small screen.

I enjoyed this new version of the old classic, but it served as a brutal reminder of how much the series has evolved. I’ll take the much-easier controls and over-the-shoulder camera of “Resident Evil 4” any day.

Reach Aimee Hatfield at 473-7326 or Aimee.Hatfield@lee.net.