Burnout 3: Takedown

The Good
There is no other arcade racing game which quite captures the unadulterated thrill of driving cars at over 200 miles per hour in congested roads like Burnout 3: Takedown, a game that is as fresh today as when it was first released in 2004.

Burnout 3 is the result of Criterion Games' first collaboration with EA (Electronic Arts) Games, two giants in the gaming industry. A lot of money was invested in this project. Criterion ceased a year's worth of development on a reboot of the popular NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) skateboarding series 'Skate or Die' to focus on this title, while the collaboration actually came to fruition thanks to Bruce McMillan from EA Canada, who worked hard to ensure a good working relationship between the two companies.

First of all, the Burnout series was no stranger to innovation. The Original Burnout (2001) was described as "The game that leaves GT (Gran Turismo) 3 standing" by PSM (Playstation Magazine) 2, a significant commendation to be sure. Burnout 2: Point of Impact (2002) was described as the "Jack Daniels" of arcade racing games by Gamespot, and GT3 as the less-appealing "Dom Perignon". In short, both of Burnout 3's predecessors introduced the trademark high-speed racing and spectacular car crashes to the series. However, it is Burnout 3 which put all of these aspects together with an unparalleled degree of polish, while introducing new features as well

For example, Burnout 3 features the largest diversity of tracks in the series on three continents, the USA, Europe and Asia, between which there are 10 circuit tracks, 4 point-to-point tracks and 4 marathon tracks. Whether you are drifting through the historic alleyways of Winter City (Europe), glimpsing the giant golden Buddha statue in Island Paradise (Asia) or avoiding traffic in the Kings of the Road (USA), Burnout 3 keeps you on the edge of your car seat from one continent to another.

Burnout 3 is also the first game in the series to feature 'Takedowns'. In Road Rage or Race events, you can boost shunt your opponent into oncoming traffic or other obstacles to gain more boost. It is very rewarding to successfully takedown a rival car, and is one of the highlights of Burnout 3. In addition, there are the so-called 'Signature Takedowns' when you crash your opponent into a specific obstacle. If you manage to get a takedown over the cliffs in Silver Lake, for example, you will get the Signature Takedown 'Gone Fishin''. The tradmark 'Aftertouch Takedowns' were also introduced in Burnout 3. If you crash yourself, you can steer your wreck in slow-motion to try and crash into your unfortunate rivals. In Burnout 3, even as a wreck you can cause insane amounts of damage.

Another feature introduced in Burnout 3 are the Crash Events, which motivate the player to smash their vehicle into traffic in the most reckless way possible to rack up Crash dollars in 100 different Crash Junctions. Some of these are pretty challenging, and will have the player use the 'crashbreaker' (when a certain amount of cars have been destroyed, the player can detonate their car one more time) to its full potential. But, most importantly, they Crash Events are very fun, and offer a good alternative to the other Events.

What makes Burnout 3 so much fun, however, is that it makes no pretenses when it comes to rules and realism the way other racing games do. In fact, the game mechanic's rewards a$%hole drivers. You get boost for driving on the wrong side of the road, you get rewarded for almost crashing into another vehicle, for crashing other vehicles and for crashing into other vehicles. Burnout 3 is every driver's fantasy, and that is what makes it such a success as a videogame, with one of the best soundtrack in a videogame to boot.

The Bad
Burnout 3 is a near flawless game, but there are some aspects which have frustrated me personally all the same. Some of the special events are much more difficult than anything else in the game, such as those involving the US circuit racer. Trying to get gold in the infamous World GP using this racer was a nightmare I soon abandoned, for example. And while the overall graphic of the game were exceptional for the time, some of the oncoming traffic is barely noticeable at times, which makes you wish this game was designed with 720P/1080P resolution in mind. Though crashing is almost an inevitability when you are driving at 200 mph on the wrong side of the road...

The Bottom Line
Its degree of polish is what makes Burnout 3 the undisputed king of arcade racing games.

The Good
You're just driving up the road in your supercharged sports car at 150 MPH. You come up to the final corner before the end of the race and start to turn. Suddenly, your opponent comes up behind you from nowhere, charging at you at a speed of 200 MPH with boost. He then shunts you at the side with incredible force into the oncoming traffic. Your reaction to this is strong, and you steer immediately as hard as you can as to not lose out on winning that gold medal. You see a car coming towards you. Your heart is pounding at an unbearable rate... you need to outwit your opponent. You avoid the oncoming traffic by an inch and shunt your opponent into the busy traffic, only for him to be trashed by a huge oil tanker. You race down the straight to the finish line, relaxed and sweaty.

Speedy and insane are the very words that describe the above. Times this by 10 and you'll get Burnout 3... the most insane game on the planet!

There are just so many things I love about this game. The graphics are beautiful (nice blurry effect when driving at speed!), the speed is mind-blowingly fast and the gameplay is just awesome!

The idea of the game is to unlock all the cars, awards and other things in the game by competing in Burnout World Tour mode. You get three continents (USA, Europe and Asia), all which have their own tracks and events. There are 6 types of events:

• Race - The rules are simple... first place wins (also in many forms of tournaments)!
• Eliminator - Same as Race, but last place gets eliminated every lap.
• Crash - Cause as much damage as you possible can by crashing into busy traffic!
• Battle - Destroy your opponent to win their car!
• Duel - Just you and a computer player, not as easy as it sounds!
• Time Attack - Do one lap and beat the clock!

The scoring system is very impressive. At the end of the race (no matter what type), your total score is calculated. Scores are worked out in prize money and burnout points. Money is rewarded in many ways, whilst burnout points are rewarded depending on how insane you were in that race. Get to a certain score in either of them, and you'll win a new car! Excellent!

The racing in Burnout 3 is very unique. You're not going to win the race if you don't have boost power, and the only way to get boost is by being insane! You get boost by driving on the wrong side of the road, drifting around corners etc. The best way to get boost however, is to take out your opponent by slamming them into walls and oncoming traffic. You'll double your boost-meter and fill it up!

Another unique feature is impact time. When you crash you can hold down R1 to make everything go in slow motion, and steer your wreck! You can then take out your opponents that way, or you can reach other places that other racers can't reach! Cool or what?

As for audio? The music soundtrack in this game is rock hard! The music listing contains tracks from the likes of Jimmy Eat World, Franz Ferdinand etc. The list is just so big! The sounds of the engines, smash-ups and car-screechings are very cool! Throughout the game you'll be listening to 'Crash FM', the ultimate sound in the Burnout world with 'Striker' as the DJ. Despite not being as complete as the radio in Grand Theft Auto 3 or the later games (there's no adverts or phone-ins!) it is very funny to listen to, especially as the things you hear can be a good laugh at times!

The Bad
The game is slower in multiplayer split-screen mode as it runs at 25 frames per second (the single-player mode runs at 50). Apart from that, there is nothing else wrong with this magnificent title.

The Bottom Line
This game is simply a wannabe-insane driver's dream! An absolute classic, and one of the finest games around!