"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.
