Burnout 3: Takedown Review

Platform: PS2, Xbox, and Xbox 360 (Review based on PS2 version)

There are racing games like Gran Turismo and there are demolition derbies like Twisted Metal. What happens when you combine those two? You get Burnout. This game is all about speed and what you use that speed to annihilate. Hell, it’s even more about speed than Need for Speed, which is actually somewhat slow. Regardless, perhaps I should get onto the plot. Oh, wait. There is no plot. This is a fucking racing game. Here’s your plot: vroom vroom, start your bloody engine. It may seem like I’m ragging on Burnout for this, but I’m not. There are fewer things I hate more in games than an inappropriately-placed story. I’ve never cared for all the “racing for street cred” or “racing to pay off your mafia debt” plotlines that seem to be all the rage lately, and I doubt I ever will. Luckily, you don’t have to deal with any of that in this game.

Burnout 3’s gameplay comes down to two important modes: racing and crashing. The racing mode, for the most part, also involves crashing. I know what you’re thinking. “Wow, that’s a lot of smashing. I guess racing must not be that important”. In most cases, you’d be right. A lot of the stage goals revolve around demolishing a certain number of opponents or avoiding being smashed, but one particular mode actually requires you to pass the finish line first. This is where Burnout’s worst flaws appear. I find it quite ironic that a racing game’s worst characteristic is its racing. The tracks appear to be designed for maximizing the carnage that occurs during races, but they aren’t exactly conducive to the racing itself.

Before I go on, I should mention that Burnout places a lot of emphasis on boosting. You have a boost gauge that charges whenever you drive towards oncoming traffic, drift, or do anything else that would normally get you hunted-down, dragged out of your car, and tased by the cops. Unfortunately, whenever you boost, the edges of your screen become rather blurry and fuck up your line of sight. In the crash modes, this isn’t much of a problem. However, when your goal is to cross the god damn finish line, you’re in for a world of hurt. “Alright, so just win the old fashioned way, right?” Wrong. You may start spazzing out when the action gets hard to see, but the computer won’t. Either you’ll get left behind to enjoy the scenery, the rubber band AI will finish you off, or a tiny pixel of your car will clip a passing bus and send you flying for an eternity in slow motion while your opponents fly by.

Alright, so fuck the racing, how about the crash mode? Now this is where the fun is. The basic idea here is to get your car to top speed before flying into the middle of a crowded intersection and creating pandemonium. Things get even better once your car explodes. If this concept stopped here and remained a test of chaining as many crashes together as possible, it would have been perfect. However, they throw in all sorts of multipliers that could easily make up for neglecting the carnage at hand. In fact, some stages can’t be cleared without the help of these bonuses. This defeats the purpose of the damn mode! The goal should be annihilation, not collecting trinkets. This is all still fun, mind you, but what the hell?

Burnout 3 is certainly worth a shot, but it lacks a strong foundation. A racing game that’s inept at racing can only accomplish so much. It definitely has style considering its dynamic soundtrack and slow-mo crashes, but the numerous holes found in its substance detract heavily from the experience.

Rating: 3/5