Burnout 3 Hands-On

The Burnout series has always been about two things: going as fast as you possibly can and crashing cars into things in a grand fashion. Burnout 3 isn't finished yet, but at the moment, it looks like it's doing both of those things better than its predecessor.

The biggest boost to Burnout 3's list of features is that the game will be playable online. Up to six players will be able to play together on either the PlayStation or Xbox. Online modes will move across most of the game's modes, letting you get into simple races with other players or even play the game's expanded crash mode, which will let players team up to try to create larger multicar pileups than ever before.

To make the more competitive racing of Burnout 3 a little more rewarding, crashing has been worked into the race mode. A perfectly viable tactic is to attempt to push your opponents into oncoming traffic, guardrails, or other painful obstacles. Doing so successfully will, in single-player, let you see a slow-motion replay of your opponent stacking. Additionally, you'll earn a longer boost meter by tripping up the opposition, letting you blast even further ahead of the pack. Boost is earned in much the same way as it has been in the past. Driving dangerously is the key to filling your meter, so heading into oncoming traffic, catching air, and narrowly missing other cars will keep you moving at top speed. Speaking of cars, the game is currently scheduled to contain more than 70 different cars. As has been the custom, Burnout 3 doesn't appear to contain licensed cars, but considering the way car manufacturers impose awful limitations on licensees that prevent games from showing extreme damage, this is certainly for the best.

Crash physics have always been a large part of Burnout's appeal, and the way cars fly apart in the third game is really sharp. Parts of the cars simply fly off in a mess of shrapnel when you wreck, and you can press a button at any time to drop into slow motion. Some specific crashes cause bonus text to pop onto the screen. For example, if you corkscrew through the air after a crash, the game will refer to it as "flipmode." There are a handful of instances such as this that pop up during normal play, though it sounds like the development team is still figuring out what some of the phrases and bonuses will be.

Burnout 3 is looking pretty solid so far, and its list of features sounds equally impressive. Driving fans will most certainly want to keep an eye on this one, which is scheduled to hit the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in September.