Recommended for those who thought Revenge was too easy and that Takedown was just right.
The chain boost is great fun. It does dominate the game a little too much at times however. Chain boosting is not only a requirement for beating the Burnout Challenges but most other events as well. In other burnouts if you were no good at one type of event this would not necessarily effect your ability to do well at another but in this burnout you will have to combine all your skills in each event. This adds to the challenge although it also makes the variety of events feel a little less variable.
The new Maniac mode is alright but a little weak. I don't feel that it adds or subtracts from the game at all. In this mode you basically drive as dangerously as possible and earn as money point as you can by well.. doing anything that can earn you points. This means basically getting as many near-misses, drifts and burnouts as you can. This mode does not quite get the adrenaline in me pumping. It has no clear reason for being since essentially you are just doing the same thing you would be doing in a race but without the competition. I'd rank this mode as filler.
Near misses are very easy to obtain in this one which is probably meant to give the player sufficient oppurtunities to earn boost. I often felt unrewarded for near misses in the previous games so my first instinct is to appreciate this. They made it so much easier though that I still don't feel rewarded for it since the near misses are happening almost constantly and often they are actually hard to avoid. If you are on a narrow road then every car you pass will be a near miss. All in all this is a good thing that fits right into place since you'll be getting most of your boost from this. .
I don't know if it's just me or if there is no way to view a cars stats in the selection screen. I don't understand why the stats wouldn't be available since cars do vary in weight and speed. This is a downgrade that I find very difficult to understand. One has to wonder if they just completely forgot it and if they didn't forget it.. what on earth were they thinkng? They get major minus points from me for this.
Another thing I noticed and I don't know if this is just me.. it seems much easier to see traffic in front of me and turn-offs etc than in the previous two games. I mention this because the gamespot article mentions that it is sometimes too hard to see oncomming traffic and although that may be somewhat true(and probably always will be due to the intense speeds of burnout) I feel this has actually improved with decreased blur. Anyhow it is all part of the challenge of going fast.
Newcommers will definitely be taken away by this game and will get more than their moneys worth. For somebody who already has Takedown or Revenge I would recommend purchasing it second hand or borrowing it from a friend.