Burnout 3: Takedown

"Keep Rollin, Rollin, Rollin"

Burnout 3: Takedown is not your typical racing game like Need for Speed, Gran Turismo or even NASCAR. In the Burnout games dirty racing is the way to go and apply it to the next level in Burnout 3 Takedown. Are there any rules to the game? What rules….there are no rules to follow in this game it's all flat out racing and taking care of the competition by doing whatever's necessary to come out victorious by race end. You may ask what's different from this game from the previous game Burnout 2: Point of Impact, to be honest I'm not sure I haven't had the chance to play much of that game to say the least. If anything this game was really addicting when I purchased the game and was the only game I played at least a good month or two. While some people that play games like Gran Turismo may be turned off by this game while some of us others play games like this for the fun and adrenaline of the fast paced action.

What is it about Burnout 3 that makes the game addicting? One of the things that I find the game to be fun is being able to perform takedowns on your opponents causing them to wreck into walls, traffic. road dividers, etc. whatever your heart desires. A good feature that I like about this game is the “Road Rage” events where you have to get as many takedowns as possible before you total your car or the timer runs out. Is there anything else about this game that makes it worth trying out, I would have to say yes and that's the “Crash Mode” of Burnout 3 where you have to create a lot of carnage anywhere from hundreds of thousands of dollars to millions of dollars in damage. Now there's just more to Burnout 3 than just Road Rage and Crash Mode there's a new “World Tour” which you go to 3 continents to do racing, road rage, even crashing to unlock new cars, tracks. If you think that just doing the World Tour is what you need to do to unlock cars you have Signature Takedowns, Crash Headlines, and Takedown Achievements to go about unlocking some of the cars in the game.

The appearance of the game to me is more than I can say than compared to some of the other racing games that I've played over the years. This game looked to be like a next generation racing game than if you were playing a racing game on the PlayStation2 or X-Box. The visuals of the game is one of the first things that caught my eye but another thing that I was hoping would be good was the gameplay of the game turns out that I was pleased with the gameplay of the Burnout 3. The gameplay is a fast paced racing game with almost all the tweaks that you would expect out of a great arcade style game in the racing genre. If you're used to gameplay of that of Gran Turismo or Need for Speed Underground 2 this one isn't like those games expect much different.

The courses featured in the game are quite challenging and if you're not familiar with the Burnout games they'll provide a challenge then when you get the faster cars it will be more of a challenge to the player. Each of the classes featured in the game seems to be somewhat the same yet relevantly different from one another as you play throughout the game. The AI of Burnout 3 no matter how far you may seem behind it's possible to be able to overcome that time and be able to get a decent finish in the race if you're doing a Grand Prix which consists of 3 or more races. Think of it in this way; that if you're in the lead and you have a couple opponents wanting to pass you. Make them crash so you can get the pleasure to whipping them into the wall or whatever to steal the win away from them instead of them stealing the win away from you.

As for the soundtrack of Burnout 3, I would think of songs like “Tear It Up” by Andrew WK, “Pour Some Sugar on Me” by Def Leppard or “Demon Speeding” by Rob Zombie. Instead of songs like those there's songs by Jimmy Eat World, Finger Eleven, who aren't that bad of bands but I really can't see most of the songs featured in this game that would suit a racing title of any kind. If it were up to me I would try to have a better soundtrack then whoever was in charge of that department.

Now the overview of Burnout 3, in my eyes is a great racing title that shouldn't be over missed by anyone that is trying to expand their racing experience with other racing games on the market. If you haven't tried this game I suggest that you at least give it a try and if it's a game you like I say go out and buy it.

Graphics: 10
Sound: 9
Gameplay: 9
Difficulty: 9
Soundtrack: 6
Replay Value: 8
Overall: 9

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/07/07