Previewing the Carnage

Burnout® 3: Takedown™ is a high-octane cross between an arcade-style street racer and a demolition derby. It offers 70 cars to choose from and 10 tracks across three continents. Not surprisingly, the cars are all fast, but you earn special turbo boosts by doing things they frown on in driver’s ed, such as driving on the wrong side of the road, weaving in an out of traffic, and drifting around turns.

The more chances you take, the more your boost meter fills, and the more turbo speed you have. In this game, pure speed combined with high-risk maneuvering is the key to success.

Off to the races.

Lead-footed wild driving is only part of the gameplay, however. A big draw for the Burnout series has always been its spectacular crashes—sparks flying, metal twisting and tearing, and high-performance automobiles cartwheeling end-over-end down the highway. In Burnout 3, each nudge, bump, and outright crash earns you bonus points as well as some of the most intense crash animations ever made.

Maximum Carnage

Smashing other cars or causing them to crash earns you a lot more points, and this is how the game blends crashing and driving for maximum carnage and maximum fun. Some game modes don’t even require you to finish a race to earn a medal and move on—as long as you smash enough opponents, you’ll have all the points you need.

Remember that the A.I. drivers are just as crazy as you are, and will try to sideswipe, tailgate, and otherwise muscle you in to wreck-form so that they can see the checkered flag first.

Dodge wrecks on the highway.

Burnout, the first game in the series, featured impressive crash animations. The second game, Burnout 2: Point of Impact—Director’s Cut, added a compelling crash mode (the more damage you did in traffic, the higher your score). Burnout 3 takes the game’s crash mechanics to new heights by integrating them into all aspects of play.

Crash and Burn

For example, during normal races, you earn huge bonuses for smashing your opponent’s cars (just remember that they have long memories and might hold a grudge against you for the rest of the race). Road Rage mode requires you to get all your foes before they get you, and the newly expanded Crash mode includes over 100 challenging junctions and intersections for you to test your appetite for destruction.

The game looks and feels faster than ever, thanks to the upgraded physics, textures, and blur-effects (which kick in when you boost). The wrecks themselves have never been sweeter, with showers of sparks, flying parts, and big, big air after the most spectacular wipeouts.

Multiplayer Action

While these new features alone are impressive enough, what really sets Burnout 3 apart is the inclusion of online play via Xbox LIVE®. Most online gamers enjoy getting personal with other gamers, so the game’s multiplayer modes are designed to encourage as much contact between vehicles as possible.

Up to six racers can compete in online events, which include positive and negative power-ups, cooperative play, team racing (one team tries to win while the other team tries to wreck them before they do). There’s also the new Crash Breaker event, where once you reach the score threshold, your car becomes a rolling bomb that you can detonate to make your crashes even more effective.

Fight for every inch.

Burnout 3 is a major leap forward for this popular franchise. In addition to the new game modes and XboxLive, it also features customizable soundtracks, online-exclusive unlockable cars, pre-race overviews of the tracks (that call out potential hot spots and crash junctions), and a long list of crash-specific keywords to let you know exactly what just happened.

You don’t need to be a gearhead or even a good driver to succeed—all you need are nerves of steel, the need for speed, and a little road rage to keep things interesting. Buckle up for safety!

Article by Wendell Scott