DAY 116 / GAME 116
Burnout 3: Takedown
The car racing genre has a pretty wide spectrum of different kinds of games within it. All of which I love. I've put numerous hours into games like Forza and Gran Turismo and an equally large number of hours into Need For Speed, Test Drive and Split-Second. One of the more ridiculous but equally amazing over-the-top racing games I loved was Burnout 3 for the original Xbox. This game offered some of the absolute best sensations of speed in an auto racing game, loose arcade controls that allowed you to dart around traffic and insane collisions that were immortalized in fantastic slow-motion.
Burnout 3: Takedown earn it's 'takedown' title from the primary goal of the game. Burnout may be a racer, but it's also a car combat game in a sense. In two of the four modes of play the primary goal isn't to place first so much as it is to cause the most damage. In the Road Rage mode, you aggressively cross the map trying to smash into other cars with your own. When done right you cause the other car to flip, spin out or smash headfirst into oncoming traffic, destroying the car and earning you a higher score. Whoever walks away with the highest score in the time (or lap?) limit wins.
Takedowns are the kind of thing you go out of your way to accomplish even in the regular race mode. There's no much better than making your way to first place, all the while smashing opponents cars out of the race (and trying to avoid a similar fate.) Takedowns are also something that Criterion has included in every Burnout title after this one and even in a recent Need For Speed game that was released. (Most Wanted, which is very similar to Burnout: Paradise.)
Now, if you enjoy wrecking your car and creating mayhem, Burnout 3 also included a extra race mode that includes no racing at all. Instead, you are placed at different traffic intersections with the goal of biggest, most expensive accident possible. The idea is to time your entrance best in order to collide with the most traffic, causing as large a chain reaction as possible. Additional cars that enter the intersection almost never brake, so creating as big a pileup in the center as possible really helps keep it all going. It's fantastic fun and great at parties.
Takedowns aside, Burnout 3 is still a fast, beautiful racer with great controls and a decent soundtrack. I really don't remember many 6th gen console games looking this fantastic. As you increased in speed you eventually reached the point where the view around you becomes blurred and your focus is drawn to the horizon. The already very high speed of the game now appears even more than it already is. And it really is a fast game. Near the end you unlock an F1 style car that reaches top speeds that are so high that I'm always surprised if I can go for more than a few hundred meters without getting into a massive wreck. it's times like these however that really have a zen feel to them. Darting in and out of traffic, unleashing your nitro boost and blasting across the asphalt, making each move perfectly, for a short amount of time you are above it all and nothing can bring you down. Except the cement barrier you just hit. And then it all comes down, you hit the accelerator and start it all again.
My in-laws got this for me for Christmas one year and it was the best. I've plugged countless hours into this game. The arcade stylings of it all meant it was easy to pick up and play with ease. Like a few other racers before it, even after losing my savegames I've picked it up and started from the beginning all over again and blasted through the whole thing without a hint of repetition.
As much as I enjoy the newer Criterion games, I still like this one the most. There's something great and mindless about race after race of crazy action racing with hardly realistic physics and the crash cash intersection mode is hours of fun. I think I'm going to have to dig this one out again for old time's sake.
Burnout 3: Takedown
The car racing genre has a pretty wide spectrum of different kinds of games within it. All of which I love. I've put numerous hours into games like Forza and Gran Turismo and an equally large number of hours into Need For Speed, Test Drive and Split-Second. One of the more ridiculous but equally amazing over-the-top racing games I loved was Burnout 3 for the original Xbox. This game offered some of the absolute best sensations of speed in an auto racing game, loose arcade controls that allowed you to dart around traffic and insane collisions that were immortalized in fantastic slow-motion. Burnout 3: Takedown earn it's 'takedown' title from the primary goal of the game. Burnout may be a racer, but it's also a car combat game in a sense. In two of the four modes of play the primary goal isn't to place first so much as it is to cause the most damage. In the Road Rage mode, you aggressively cross the map trying to smash into other cars with your own. When done right you cause the other car to flip, spin out or smash headfirst into oncoming traffic, destroying the car and earning you a higher score. Whoever walks away with the highest score in the time (or lap?) limit wins. Takedowns are the kind of thing you go out of your way to accomplish even in the regular race mode. There's no much better than making your way to first place, all the while smashing opponents cars out of the race (and trying to avoid a similar fate.) Takedowns are also something that Criterion has included in every Burnout title after this one and even in a recent Need For Speed game that was released. (Most Wanted, which is very similar to Burnout: Paradise.) Now, if you enjoy wrecking your car and creating mayhem, Burnout 3 also included a extra race mode that includes no racing at all. Instead, you are placed at different traffic intersections with the goal of biggest, most expensive accident possible. The idea is to time your entrance best in order to collide with the most traffic, causing as large a chain reaction as possible. Additional cars that enter the intersection almost never brake, so creating as big a pileup in the center as possible really helps keep it all going. It's fantastic fun and great at parties.
Takedowns aside, Burnout 3 is still a fast, beautiful racer with great controls and a decent soundtrack. I really don't remember many 6th gen console games looking this fantastic. As you increased in speed you eventually reached the point where the view around you becomes blurred and your focus is drawn to the horizon. The already very high speed of the game now appears even more than it already is. And it really is a fast game. Near the end you unlock an F1 style car that reaches top speeds that are so high that I'm always surprised if I can go for more than a few hundred meters without getting into a massive wreck. it's times like these however that really have a zen feel to them. Darting in and out of traffic, unleashing your nitro boost and blasting across the asphalt, making each move perfectly, for a short amount of time you are above it all and nothing can bring you down. Except the cement barrier you just hit. And then it all comes down, you hit the accelerator and start it all again.As much as I enjoy the newer Criterion games, I still like this one the most. There's something great and mindless about race after race of crazy action racing with hardly realistic physics and the crash cash intersection mode is hours of fun. I think I'm going to have to dig this one out again for old time's sake.
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