 |
Burnout 3: Takedown All I can say is Ow! Because Burnout 3: Takedown is so visceral it almost hurts to look at. And it definitely hurts to play. If the previous two iterations left you feeling drained through addiction, then you'd better book yourself into the institution now. Because every individual shard of windshield glass that you'll shatter in anger and by accident in this third instalment is a beautiful beautiful thing.
If you're not familiar with the series, then it's not too late to skulk up to the starting grid. Extremely accessible yet exponentially deep as it unfurls beneath your determined accelerator foot, the difficulty curve follows a most natural arc. As will your shiny crumpled car as you fail to negotiate yet another central reservation.
One of the most exciting things about Burnout 3 is that you don't need to be a huge fan of driving games per se to get sucked into it almost immediately. This is helped by a well-designed set of menus, which may seem like a moot point at first, but there are simply too many arcade style games that get this wrong. Overall, the point is that every pixel of tarmac and interface is imbued with quality in this game. You can complain about there being too many videogame sequels all you like, but a lazy expansion with new cars and tracks this is not.
So what's different? Well, as before you are still rewarded for dangerous road usage. Driving on the wrong side of the road, narrowly missing traffic and drifting will all earn you boost power as before. Crucially, whereas in version 2 you had to charge up your boost bar fully before you could use it, this time you can let rip as soon as you've managed to trigger it. You also get boost for shunting rivals, and most excitingly, when you perform a takedown.
Ah, takedowns. How you'll fall in love with them. Basically, a takedown occurs when you manage to eject a rival from the track in one way or another. At the moment of impact, you're treated to a blissful few seconds of slow motion as the splintering wreck tumbles helplessly through the air. Then you're thrust back into real-time with a hefty chunk of boost added to your bar, and the next race position in your sights.
But it's not all about strutting round the smouldering tarmac like you da man. Oh no. What really lifts the one player experience here is the sheer aggressiveness of the rival CPU cars. You can't ever assume you've left someone for dust, because the chances are they'll be back to avenge a takedown before the lap is out. Frenetic is one way of understating it. What it means is that each encounter with an individual rival can take on an unusual level of significance. Cars that have taken you out are highlighted in red instead of yellow, helping you focus your efforts to return the favour. Most satisfying of all are aftertouch takedowns, which work as follows. When you crash, you can hold down the A button (X on PS2), to slow down time. Rather than being another matrix-influenced gimmick, the point is that you can now control the direction of your vehicle as it crashes. So what do you head for? Yup, the next rival who's trying desperately to swerve around you. Double, triple, and even more aftertouch takedowns are possible in one go, depending on the breaks, and the feeling is one of the sweetest a game can administer.
The amount of courses and modes available is simply staggering, as is the way that everything branches out once you're a few events in. The one player mode is pitched as a world tour, and starting in the USA, you'll also take in Europe and the Far East. Rather than being a random set of courses that take in a few stereotypical sights along the way, the tracks on each continent all link up into one immaculate whole. It might be going a bit far to say it's as well realised and coherent unto itself as the castle in Ico, but there really is a great amount of pleasure to be derived from learning how each course joins with another that you once thought was separate.
In each territory you've got three lap races, three race grand prix events, face offs (where you race against one singularly determined opponent) and eliminators (where the car in last place is eliminated each lap). After seven hours of play you'll still be unlocking new races and events with each medal you earn, and it's so so hard to stop and write a review, believe me. Online play is also supported, and allows for eight players to race.
But there's one additional aspect of the game that demands to be noticed, and that's crash mode. Although it appeared as a separate mode in Burnout 2, it's been lovingly integrated into the main world tour here. Essentially, the aim is to cause as much carnage as possible at busy junctions, and it's the most fun you've never had in a physics lesson. As you shoot off ramps into motor homes and tankers, you can use aftertouch in slow motion to fling yourself elegantly towards the next biggest truck, or cash multipliers and bonuses. Once you've damaged enough vehicles, you get a 'crashbreaker', which blows up your car and lets you career into further targets. After the whole chaotic scene has come to a flaming halt, the camera tracks over the devastation, totting up the cash you've earned, which will unlock steadily heftier vehicles for you to deploy on later crash levels, such as fire trucks and coaches. A welcome extension of this mode is the two player co-operative version, where you speed towards a teeming junction in unison.
If there's one flaw in Burnout 3, it's the 'xtreeeme!' American commentary that bookends events in the world tour. And while the rock soundtrack suits the feel of the game at first, there simply aren't enough tunes to back up the hours of gameplay. If ever there was a good reason to rip off the multiple radio station idea of Vice City, this was it. Indeed the Xbox version of that game also let you burn your own soundtrack, another option that could have taken this game to perfect heights.
As it is, you'll probably find yourself turning the music and commentary down after a while, and sticking your own driving tunes of choice on in the background. Also of concern is the fact that billboards in the game are plastered with forthcoming EA titles (who recently acquired development studio Criterion), but that's for another debate. In the end, there are three things you'll never tire of. Number one, the impeccable balance between risk and reward, two, those irrepressible speeds, and three, those luscious graphics. In the zone might be a hackneyed phrase to conclude with, but it's exactly how you'll feel when darting through traffic in Burnout 3. Look closely and you'll see realism rapidly disappearing in the rear view.
|
