Game Modes

Electronic Arts and Criterion have pulled out all the stops to make Burnout® 3: Takedown™ the most exciting and adrenaline-packed racing game ever, with wild game modes for both single players and multiplayer contests on Xbox LIVE®.

Globe trotting, Burnout-style.

Drivin' Around the World
There’s a good reason the extensive single-player game in Burnout 3: Takedown is called the World Tour. The challenge features dozens of different contests in three distinct locations: Europe, the Far East, and the USA. As you progress through the tour, you'll unlock new areas and events for each of these continents. Every event is packed with other drivers trying to run you off the road, whether you're playing against the A.I. or other humans. Even in the straightforward Race Mode, where the goal is to be in the top three across the finish line, you'll have the chance to make and avoid takedowns as the aggressive competition seeks to put you out of action.

Other standard race modes include Burning Lap (a time trial where the goal is to complete a lap in the shortest time), Lap Eliminator (last man across the finish line after each lap is cut from the race), and Grand Prix (a series of four or more races with points awarded after each race based on your finishing rank; at the end of the series, the racer with the highest overall points wins the contest). All of these game modes can be played solo or against your friends, and each has been ramped up with the insane wrong-side-of-the-road paths, heavy traffic, and manic opponents that put the Burnout series on the map.

Split-screen showdown.

Crash Parties
If you don't want any pesky racing to get in the way of wreckin' stuff, don’t worry. Burnout 3: Takedown has over one hundred crash junctions to test your mettle (and your metal) and enough game variety to make the most of them. There’s the standard Crash mode, where one person tries to chalk up as much damage as possible; Team Crush lets you take on a crash site cooperatively with a buddy via split screen or Xbox LIVE, working together to build the biggest score; Double Impact is the competitive counterpart, where you both compete on the same track at the same time and try to hog all the power-ups and oncoming traffic; and Party Crash, a hot-seat style of team play that gives each member of the group his or her chance to make some wreckage—when the sparks stop flying, the game tallies up each team's score and declares a winner.

Road Rage
The Road Rage mode is worth special mention, because it's not just a race, it's a demolition derby that rolls along at better than 100 MPH. The idea is to wreck the other cars by grinding them into walls, forcing them into oncoming trucks, and otherwise smacking them up. Your car can only stand so much punishment before it becomes undriveable, so you must balance your offense with a little defensive driving. Super-aggressive drivers may find themselves in trouble, because if you go for the kill and miss, you're likely to kiss a concrete barrier. Between this self-inflicted damage and the punishment the other drivers are dealing out, you won't last long.

Making a mess. The good kind.

It's hard to overstate how awesome these new and improved game modes are, especially online. Once you combine the high-octane competition and high-volume trash-talking found on Xbox LIVE with the organized chaos EA and Criterion built into Burnout 3: Takedown, you'll never look back.

Article by J.N. Cobb