The greatest action racer has arrived.
The gameplay is given a massive retooling where car battling is now encouraged, as in the previous titles, you can nudge you opponents but not actually battle. Burnout 3 includes the all important takedown, which is shoving other competing cars into walls and other traffic. Why is the takedown so important, other than the bliss of knocking off an opponent? Well that can be seen in the all new burnout meter. In previous installments, you could only use your boost once your burnout meter filled up. In Burnout 3, you can use your boost whenever there's anything in the meter. This is achieved by driving "recklessly" with drifts, gaining air, driving in the opposite lane, and, of course, taking out your opponents. But to make things more interesting, once you've taken out an opponent, you burnout meter is increased and instantly filled to the max. You can increase your meter to four times its original length. But make sure you don't crash or get taken out yourself, as you lose whatever you gained from taking out an opponent. One more feature that Burnout 3 introduces is the aftertouch. Once you crash, you can press the A button and slow down time. Why do you ask? Well once you've activated aftertouch, you can guide your totaled car with the left stick into the paths of incoming cars. If you manage to make your car hit another's, then you achieve a takedown and eliminate any penalty you would normally receive for crashing. Pretty cool, eh.
Of course, with a new game in the series comes new game modes. Returning are the single races, grand prix, and duels. But added to the arsenal are the elimination; road rage; the insanely tough burning lap and preview races; and my personal favorite, crash mode. The inclusion of these new modes proves to keep the game going at a high pace, especially later on in the game. Elimination is all about not being the last one to finish for each lap; road rage is all about taking out as many opponents as you can without taking too much damage yourself; burning lap and preview races are about going around a course in the allotted time with some pretty powerful cars; and crash mode is all about creating as much damage as possible.
With new gameplay enhancements and new game modes, the creators at Criterion decide that they should make it intensely hard. The AI can be unforgiving as they can and will battle you, whether you like it or not. The traffic can be frustrating to navigate; the same can be said for the tracks. All this creates a very hard game if you want to unlock everything and gain all the gold medals. While being that hard may be a turnoff to some, the way that Burnout 3 is presented will keep you coming back in a love/hate relationship.
Talking about presentation, Burnout 3 has received a boon when the series was picked up by EA. A great soundtrack is added, along with an enthusiastic announcer who will pipe in before each race and during each race, which provides a nice distraction during some heated competitions.
Overall, Burnout 3 is a fantastic racing game that should not be missed out by fans of the genre. But what makes Burnout 3 stand above other racers is the fact that it is for everyone. The learning curve is relatively short, and the game starts out easy for newcomers to the series and gets harder at an even pace for those who are masters of the racing genre. Do not miss out on this game.