Burnout 3: Takedown

After playing this game for two weeks straight, I still can't get enough of it. Burnout 3 is truly one of the best games I've played this year. Developed by Criterion Games, Burnout 3 is a highly enjoyable arcade-type racer which will keep you coming back time after time for 'just one more race'.

There a plenty of new races in Burnout 3 when compared to the previous two games in the Burnout series, and they are perhaps what sets this game apart so much. The racing mechanism has had a complete overhaul, and it feels so smooth to control, whatever the race type. Race types include: single race which is a race against five other cars. Face-off is where you are one-on-one with your opponent, for a point A to B race. Lap Eliminator, which sounds pretty self explanatory in that the person coming last each lap is 'eliminated' from the race. Burning Lap, which is a basic time trial to try to beat the record set for that lap. And finally, one of the best races, road rage, where the entire aim of this race is to take down as many opponents as possible before your car is destroyed (or time runs out if you are doing a season mode race). In all of these race modes, you'll also be smashing into the opponents car to take them out and give you a few seconds lead, plus it will fill up your burnout meter. You'll have to avoid the general public's cars though.

Onto the crash modes now, where the aim of these are to cause as much havoc as possible. In the single player aspect of this mode, you will need to choose a crash junction to cause the chaos on, and there are 100 of them in total, then race towards the oncoming traffic or intersection. You'll want to hit as many cars, trucks, buses and campervans as possible. Doing this will rack up your crash points so that you can reach your target which at certain points, bronze, silver and gold medals will be awarded. In addition to simply smashing into the vehicles, you'll also want to move your car into pick-ups which appear on the track. There are four main pick-ups in the single player mode, those being; cash bonuses, score multipliers, instant crashbreakers, and the heartbreaker. Most of these are self explanatory, however the instant crashbreaker will cause your car to automatically explode once you get this icon. Once your car has exploded you are able to use the aftertouch feature enabling you to guide your car around slightly, so you can hit other vehicles for more points and to get more pick-ups. The heartbreaker will cut you score in half, so you really want to avoid this one at all costs. Each crash junction will also have a crashed vehicle quota, which after reaching will enable the manual crashbreaker, which is activated by pressing R2.

Multiplayer is where you will be able to prove to your friends that you can create more carnage in crash modes, and beat them in the races. In the multiplayer section of the game, you will be able to play the race and road rage race modes, in addition to the multiplayer exclusive games; team crush, double impact and crash party. Team crash is where the two players 'team up' to gain the biggest collaborative score possible. Double impact is where you must fight on the same track at the same time to see who can get the most points. An interesting addition for the pick-ups in double impact is the score-switching icon, which will swap your own score with your opponents score. Crash party is for up to 8 players, either all solo, or in teams of 2. Players take turns to cause mayhem on a certain crash junction and after the set number of rounds, all scores are added up and a winner is declared. The multiplayer modes are solid, but races seemed to be much more difficult as frame rate drops, and oncoming cars and objects become much harder to see. It's a nice addition to the game for times when you like to play with your mates; however the single player aspect is just so much better.

A major contributor which keeps the high-paced action in the races is the idea of 'risk and reward'. By taking risks, you will be supplied with boost for that extra speed kick. When I say risks, I'm talking about driving on the wrong side of the road, into oncoming traffic, having close encounters with other cars, ramming into the opponent cars and completely taking out (takedowns) the opponents. The last of those options, takedowns, will not only fill up your boost meter which is displayed on the bottom of the screen, it will also add another section to it so that you are able to boost for longer. Similarly, being taken out by the opponents will cause your boost meter to decrease in size, thus making it run out much faster. It's an understatement to say that boost plays a large role in Burnout 3, as it plays a massive part in your races. You will not be able to win races without using your boost, and therefore the need for it becomes apparent.

The A.I. in Burnout 3: Takedown is some of the most aggressive I have ever come across in a racing game. They will literally try to take you out of the race whenever they can. Ramming you, smashing into you, they'll try it all. It makes the game more interesting rather than a simple race where it is only you that takes other people out. What this does do though is that it makes you used to the aggressive opponents, so that when you either play multiplayer or online that it's not a completely different racing style. Along with the aggressive A.I. is the way that you can smash into walls on corners and not be taken out. A lot of the time you are left thinking "my car should have been taken out after I slid into the wall like that", however you soon come to realize that if this were the case the game would become very stale, quick. The ability to slide into walls and 'grind'� against the corners serves to keep the momentum of the race going, and gives you a better feeling of speed.

The story mode or 'Burnout 3 World Tour' as it is in the game is fairly well integrated into the game. While it may seem like a whole lot of races and crash junctions thrown together, you need to race these races to progress in unlocking the other tracks and continents (North America, Europe, and Far East). As you complete the required races, you will unlock not only tracks, but also new cars in a wide variety of classes, including sports cars, compact cars, and coupes to name just a few. The story mode holds together solidly, and will keep you playing despite the obvious string of races which it is.

The look of Burnout 3 is very nice overall. The first thing you notice when starting a race is how smooth everything seems and how it all fits together like a well oiled machine. The tracks all differ, and glare off some tracks will be noticed, especially with the snow-laden areas. Car models are nice, although the only customization which can be done is the option of 3 colours for each car, usually red, blue and black. It would be nice to be able to customize the cars a bit more to make them personalized and spunky. Nevertheless crashing these cars, no matter what the colour scheme they may have is impressive. Parts of cars will fall off, some will seem to be compressed so your car is a crumpled pile of metal, and wheels will go flying. When being taken out, or taking out your opponent you will notice the massive amount of sparks caused by rubbing against the wall, metal to metal. These look incredibly nice, and make you feel like you are truly grinding your car away. The sensation of speed is alive and kicking, and in full swing. While you boost the screen around you will become slightly blurry and you will go speeding past all the other cars on the road.

The only downside to the entire graphics department is the multiplayer split screen modes. As said earlier, the frame rate will drop and there is a much higher likelihood of pop-up of other cars, barriers and other objects. The game doesn't look as smooth and it can become a lot harder to play some modes due to cars seemingly appearing out of nowhere, and when that's combined with high-speed, it's not a good result.

The soundtrack in Burnout 3 is a mixed bag. There are approximately 40 songs from worldwide artists, and one song from New Zealand's own, The D4. Some of the larger artists include Jimmy Eat World, Yellowcard, New Found Glory, Finger Eleven, Franz Ferdinand and more. While this may seem quite impressive, after playing the game and putting quite a few hours into it, you can be left wondering if there is a different genre of music which you can chill to. There is also a DJ for the 'radio station', Crash FM, in the Burnout World Tour. The DJ will tell you about certain events while browsing the map for potential races, and while racing he will randomly interrupt songs to give his own 2 cents. Some players may find the DJ a bit much after a while, but it's a nice inclusion nevertheless. Enough of the bad, and onto the good; sound effects are done fairly well, with engines revving, cars smashing, horn's honking - the works. The crashes sound especially good, with the cars being crumpled, and actually sounding like they are being thrown about the terrain.

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