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"Wow," is the first thing that I said when I played Burnout 3: Takedown. Having never played Burnout 1 or 2, I had no idea what to expect from this much-hyped game. Needless to say, I was blown away by how visceral this game is and how addicted to it I became.
Burnout 3 looks great. Everything from the environments, to the motion blur, to the bits of car that go flying off when you wreck add your sense of speed and danger. You'll crash a lot in this game. In fact, you'll purposely crash a lot in this game. Whenever you do, you're treated to the most amazing, and most brutal looking, crash modeling done. Parts of your car go flying everywhere, in slow motion, and you can watch the carnage unfold on the pavement around you as vans and sedans pile up from you slamming into them at 200 mph. This never EVER gets old.
Burnout 3 plays great. Don't confuse this game with a driving sim; it's not even close. Burnout is an arcade racer through and through. Powerslides, hitting walls, and unrealistically good handling are the name of the game here. However, you're ducking in and out of traffic, checking your opponents into the wall, and generally trying not to wreck the whole time. Adding physics to the mix is not an option.
Burnout 3 is more fun than should be allowed by law. The crash mode alone is the single greatest innovation to racing games. You'll fly off of ramps, aiming for a tanker truck, and watching as the damage totals reach into the millions of dollars. Takedown mode, the new addition to this game, inspired giggles from me for hours. In it, you chase down enemy cars, and take them out. Once you spot an enemy car, you'll go into straight predator mode and do everything in your power to pound, grind, and swerve them into oncoming traffic. Racing, while a bit more straightforward, also offers some challenge. Do you just try to outrace everyone, or knock them all into the wall? I go for the wall. After hours of playing Burnout 3, I never came close to getting bored with any of the modes. Failing a crash mode challenge just meant that I got to try it again.
If I had to complain about anything in this game, it would be the online system. While the online crash and takedown modes can be fun, I found that online races weren't great. This isn't the game's fault; people on Xbox Live all pick the F1 car and avoid smacking opponents around. I like to win through defense, but you can't do that when everyone's flying right by you. Also, there's no ranking system, so it's a crapshoot of who you'll run into. Some sort of matchmaking would've been nice. Honestly, this is minor to me, as I usually played the game split screen with friends in the same room. Nothing comes close to seeing the look on your friend's face when you spear him into a bus.
Burnout 3: Takedown is simply amazing in just about every respect. It's a very easy game to pick up and play. It's an impossible game to put back down.
