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Low-profile racing games as good as the Burnout series are a rare find in the video game industry nowadays. While Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec and Need For Speed Underground dominated the genre, Burnout and Burnout 2: Point of Impact had made little impact, becoming cult hits, but not even close to incredibly popular. Now that Burnout 3: Takedown--which is definitely the best entry in the series, by far--is out in stores, a huge amount of the videogaming community has grown to love Burnout 3.
The gameplay in a normal race still works a lot like in Burnout 2: Point of Impact. Once again, you have a boost meter which can be filled up by performing certain tricks and can be used to increase your speed dramatically. Like Burnout 2, you can drive on the oncoming lane (AKA the wrong lane), drift during a turn, and perform a Near Miss (pass by "neutral" vehicles--those who aren't competing against you--very close to them but not touching that vehicle). But there are several new ways to fill up your boost meter. One method--which will make your boost meter bigger and fill it up completely at the same time--is the titular Takedown, which is when you force one of your opponents to crash, whether you force them into a wall, a car, a bus, or anything! There's also tailgating (driving right behind your opponent), avoiding a pile-up ("Just Escaped!"), and many, many other ways. The game will even reward you when you crash: when your ride does give in, you can go into "Impact Time," which dramatically slows down time and lets you steer your wrecked vehicle freely, hopefully hitting an opponent for an "Aftertouch Takedown." Also, the boost meter in Burnout 2 could only be used when you filled it up all the way. Well, in Burnout 3, you can use your boost whenever you want, just as long as your meter isn't empty.
The Crash mode, which was introduced in Burnout 2, can easily be considered the game's guilty pleasure. The object, you say? To cause as much damage--which is measured in money--as possible. The game features--that's right--100 crash junctions for you to crash into. But, unlike Burnout 2, these junctions have a ton of bonuses that you can fly right into, including multipliers and cash bonuses, which add to or multiply your overall score. There are also icons that make your car explode when you touch them, and the Heartbreaker, which negates your multipliers and cuts your score in half, instead. Also, a new feature added to Crash is the Crashbreaker. This can be used at will when a certain amount of vehicles have become involved in the little pile-up you started, and lets you detonate your car and, therefore, send it flying. The Crash mode also features Impact Time, so you can steer your burning wreck into the way of other vehicles and get them to join the party.
The game features several different modes. Of course, there's the good, old-fashioned race, but then there's a new mode called Road Rage, which gives you a certain amount of time to perform as many takedowns on your opponents as possible. There are also quite a few variations of the Crash mode, including Double Impact and Party Crash. All of these modes were done very well in Burnout 3. They also give the game a uniqueness that we've never seen in any other racing series to date.
If Burnout 3 has a whole bunch of modes to play, then it must have a pretty large selection of vehicles...right? You bet. Burnout 3 features more than 65 vehicles, and although most of them are just the same vehicles with different looks, some of the vehicles are pretty neat: you can unlock vehicles such as a fire truck, a mail delivery truck, and a longnose cab (picture an 18-wheeler without the cargo attached to it). And these vehicles, although they can only be used in Crash mode, make it even more fun to crash them into junctions and blow up, even if you've already played the same junction a million times. These 65+ vehicles are all separated into series: Compact, Muscle, Coupe, Sports, Super, Special, and Heavyweights. Each of these vehicles, despite their significant differences in acceleration, top speeds, and weight, are all worth unlocking and trying out.
Speaking of unlocking stuff, there's the Burnout 3 World Tour, which is where you'll have to unlock all of the race tracks, the Road Rage tracks, the crash junctions, and most of the vehicles. It features 174 events that let you race in the USA, Europe, and "the Far East," which is pretty much southeast Asia. It also features some types of races that are only playable on the World Tour, such as Eliminator, Burning Lap, and special events. The World Tour also features little rewards, indicating that you made a "Signature Takedown" when taking out an opponent during certain circumstances, as well as getting yourself on the front page of the local newspaper for a really high score in a certain crash junction. Although, yes, it will take you a while to beat all of these events, even if you end up playing the game all day for an entire weekend like I did, that just adds to the game's awesome replay value.
Most games claim that you drive at up to, say, 180 miles per hour. Some futuristic racing games even allow you to go as fast as the speed of sound. But I have never played a game that actually made you feel like you were going as fast as your speedometer says you are. Burnout 3 is a racing game that finally achieves that. If you're going at 160 mph in your muscle car, it really does feel like you're going 160 mph. And you'll either love or hate the neutral vehicles: sometimes, you may believe that they get in your way. And other times, you may praise them for helping you fill up your boost meter. The Crash mode can also get you to use your noodle, as you need to get a lot of the bonuses--especially the multipliers--while crashing into as many vehicles as you can if you want a top-notch score. The bonuses really add to the overall strategy and challenge of the Crash mode, and make it even more fun this time around.
The PS2 version of the game uses the X and Square buttons to accelerate and brake, respectively. While this combination works, it is nowhere near as natural as the Xbox version, which uses the triggers for the purposes of accelerating, braking, and reversing. You can also easily change your view between third-person and first-person on the fly, allowing you to switch between keeping your eyes on the road and keeping your eyes on your adversaries. There's also a button you can hold to see who's behind you. The analog sticks are also slightly less responsive, but thankfully not enough to make a big difference.
You can spend a lot of time unlocking everything in single-player, as mentioned above, but Burnout 3’s lasting appeal is incredible thanks to excellent split-screen and online multiplayer modes. With a friend, offline, you can play in a regular Race or Crash mode, but also Time Attack and Road Rage. The game is very enjoyable playing split-screen, but there is a noticeable decrease in the sense of speed, although slowdown doesn’t happen.
Burnout 3 is the first game in the series to go online and works very well. The game allows you to play with five other players in Race and Road Rage modes. Crash mode ups to ante to eight players. All in all, the game handles online very well with very little slowdown and most of the time it is someone’s laggy connection as opposed to a problem with the game. Trash talking is important in a game like this and thankfully voice chat is supported. The PS2 version has never had problems with online and as such we experienced no problems connecting to either Live or EA’s servers.
The game looks perfect in every way, particularly for a PS2 game as anti-aliasing is only found sparingly. The game has never unintentionally slowed down, even with all of these beautiful-looking cars and very well-done environments on the screen simultaneously. All of the models look great, and the excellent skins only make the game look more astonishing. And it even does the special effects just right, what with the blurring that occurs when you use your boost and your car speeds up to its limits. The PS2 version looks extremely similar to the Xbox, you’d be hard pressed to find differences when racing at god knows how many miles per hour. It is certainly one of the best looking games for Sony’s console.
Featuring more than 20 tracks, the music in the game is abundant in the game. Race while listening to such groups as The Ramones, Jimmy Eat World, and Atreyu. And, as usual, if you don't like the game's soundtrack, then you can always throw in your own tunes. A DJ--voiced by a real DJ from a radio station based in Los Angeles--guides you through the World Tour. And although he can get repetitive and annoying, he can be silenced in the game's options.
The one thing that the game's audio does lack in, however, is the sound effects. The sound effects are comprised of a few simple sounds, as you can hear you, the driver, shifting gears, and you can hear the motor revving up, etc., etc. Fortunately, the lack of variety in sound effects is pretty much the only real setback in the game.
The Burnout series has finally received the recognition it deserves with the series' latest entry. A strong candidate for the coveted Game of the Year award, Burnout 3: Takedown is one of the best arcade racing games to come out in years.
-- PS2 graphics, control and general multiplayer and impressions by Adam Nunez -- Troy Matautia, PGNx Media
---- Oct 1, 2004
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