| | Operation Sports:Burnout 3: Takedown: The Spectacle of Speed
Since the inception of home videogame consoles, developers have brought driving and racing games to the table in the hopes of capturing the thrills and excitement of high-speed motor sports. While Electronic Arts' Burnout® 3: Takedown™ wouldn't remotely be confused with any sort of driving simulator (or a substitute for driver's education courses!), it definitely delivers the heart-pounding excitement promised—in spades. Takedown is fast, furious, and fun. In fact, it's probably the greatest thrill ride on Xbox®.
Definitely don't try this at home.
It's almost impossible not to like Burnout 3. The graphics, especially at top speeds, are jaw-dropping, and you can expect more than a few "oohs" and "aahs" the first time you slide the game into your Xbox for your friends to experience. The feeling of speed is palpable, and expect to get white knuckles holding on to the controller for dear life.
Burnout 3 is simple to pick up and play, and brings the uncomplicated fun and excitement of classic driving games into the 21st century at warp velocity.
That's not to say that Burnout 3 is all flash and dash with no substance—far from it. Five multiplayer modes make it a brilliant party game, while the Burnout 3 World Tour is an engrossing and exhilarating single-player experience. Since everybody knows that driving to your own beat is even more fun, Electronic Arts wisely included the Xbox Custom Soundtrack abilities. If you want to drive at breakneck speeds to either Linkin Park or the folksy warbling of Simon & Garfunkel—hey, it's your game. If all that weren't enough, there's the cherry on top: Burnout 3 is Xbox LIVE®-enabled, so you can face off against anyone in the world! 
Poor driving skills? Score!
Obviously, in Burnout 3, you can expect to race—a lot. However, the way you race isn't exactly what you'd expect on the Autobahn. Risky driving fills your car's turbo boost meter, and the riskier you drive, the faster that meter fills … and thus the faster you keep driving. What's "risky"? Well, you name it. Passing cars by mere inches at 100 miles an hour, driving into oncoming traffic, or sending your car into a long, rubber-melting "power-slide" all qualify, as does wrecking your competitors in a "Takedown."
You read that right. Smashing your opponents into walls, oncoming traffic, and each other is not only rewarded, but necessary to win. Keep in mind that your opponents also think the same way, and they'll try to take you out with extreme prejudice. Burnout 3's style of racing isn't exactly Emily Post, but what it lacks in etiquette, it more than makes up for in visceral, over-the-top fun.
If racing alone isn't enough to get your blood pumping, then the incredible Crash mode certainly will. Remember when you were a child, and you took your Hot Wheels® cars to your friend's house and smashed them up all afternoon long? Well, you've grown up, and so have your games—but wrecking fancy cars is still as much fun as ever. In Crash mode you get a birds-eye view of your surroundings so you can plan your carnage-inducing route through traffic. The more damage you cause, the higher you score. Hit as many cars as you can, as hard as you can. If you cause an intersection-clogging pileup, you're in business. "Pick-ups" are littered throughout each crash course, and driving (or soaring!) over them can grant you more cash, multiply your totals, or even take half of it away! "Aftertouch" gives you the ability to slow time and nudge your car slightly in any direction in order to do even more damage, and the "Crashbreaker" causes your car to explode, flinging vehicles everywhere and racking up even more points for you. It's wild, crazy, amazing to look at, and addictive. Try it just once, and you'll be hooked. 
Umm … better call your insurance agent.
There are few games on the market that are as refined, polished, and smooth as Burnout 3: Takedown. It's a cutting-edge game with an old-school twist. It's simply pure, unadulterated, outrageous, thrill-a-minute fun, and it's a "must-have" for any serious Xbox gamer's collection. Article by Shawn Drotar, Managing Editor, OperationSports.com |
