E-Mail This Article to a Friend Adrenaline rush Burnout 3 smokes the competition BY MITCH KRPATA
	Burnout 3: Takedown Published by Electronic Arts. Developed by Criterion Games. For PlayStation 2 and Xbox.

Now this is what I'm talking about. In my review of NASCAR 2005, a game that offered all the excitement of old folks taking their morning stroll around the mall, I said there were other options available for those of us who demand more from a racing game. Although I didn't realize it at the time, the title I was talking about was the stellar Burnout 3: Takedown.

Burnout 3 springs from a simple assumption: driving is fun, but crashing is more fun. From this premise, Criterion Games has devised a staggering number of gameplay modes all centered around the idea that vehicular carnage is the only path to victory in this crazy world.

At the game's outset, a narrator informs you that "risk equals reward." In other words, the more lunatic your driving, the more points you earn. This means making a conscious effort to tailgate, drive into oncoming traffic, get air, and power-slide around turns. Even more importantly, risky driving fills up your boost meter, which you can then use to propel your car to insane speeds.

The sense of speed Burnout 3 offers is unparalleled. Hitting the boost initiates a vertiginous fisheye effect, which was likely ripped off directly from The Fast and the Furious. Buildings and traffic streak past so quickly, it's a small miracle that gauging spatial relationships in the game world is such a breeze. Almost every turn, no matter how obtuse, is signaled from afar by blazing neon signs, and oncoming traffic is similarly visible thanks to daytime running lights. It's a triumph of Burnout 3's game design that no matter how fast you're driving, you're never unfairly surprised by what comes next – and if you crash, you know it's no one's fault but your own.

Even when you do crash – and, believe me, you will crash – Criterion Games has done something I've never seen any other developer do with a racing game: they've made collisions an integral part of the gaming experience. Upon crashing, you have the option to enter "crash time," in which you view your car in slow motion and can actually steer the direction of the burning wreckage. The idea is to maneuver your flaming heap into the path of other racers, thereby forcing them to wreck. It's called an "aftertouch takedown."

Ah, the takedown. That's the game's term for busting up another car, and it is truly the linchpin of the experience. Taking down another racer fills your boost meter to the limit, and also treats you to a cool Matrix-style shot of the poor sap's ride spinning through the air, bouncing off building facades and, if you're lucky, sailing over a guardrail into a canyon. You may not be able to help yourself from blurting out, "Boo-ya!" after a particularly nifty takedown.

I mentioned earlier the sheer variety of game types. For example, you can simply race five other cars through bustling city streets and hope to place first, but you're not likely to vanquish your competitors unless you're diligent about ramming them into walls, trees, and oncoming traffic. There are also "crash events," in which you have one chance to wreck your vehicle in the most catastrophic way possible (usually, jumps are involved). Your score is measured by the amount of damage you've done, in dollars. My favorite way to play was in the "road rage" events. These are timed circuits in which the goal is to take down as many cars as possible. You don't win, per se, but get a medal depending on how many takedowns you accomplish within the time limit.

In fact, you get medals for just about everything you do in Burnout 3, and each one unlocks a corresponding amount of treats. A bronze medal will typically unlock a new race event; gold medals unlock new cars and several more new events. But the game also keeps a running tally of your driving skill points, crash event damage amounts, and takedowns, each of which will periodically unlock more cars and events. Without even realizing you've done anything noteworthy, you'll be offered a buffet of new things to try out. It just never ends.

Of course, this being a product of Electronic Arts, Burnout 3 has a soundtrack consisting of middling-to-lousy potential "It" bands (though to its credit, the songs almost work in this game. Unlike in, say, Madden 2005. The first time I heard the opening chord to Franz Ferdinand's "Take Me Out" when I was on the play selection screen, I raised one eyebrow so high it still hasn't come down.). For the most part, they're fast driving songs heavy on the guitar and the screaming. We'll file this under "acceptable."

What's unacceptable is the conceit that you're hearing these songs on your car radio thanks to a station called Crash FM. The DJ calls himself Striker, and I feel comfortable saying he's the most annoying on-air personality since Gilbert Gottfried hosted USA's Up All Night. Striker frequently interrupts songs to say something extreme, which would be laughable even if his voice didn't crack sometimes. He also has about three canned phrases to start off each race event, and they get irritating after you've heard about half of the first one. Fortunately, there is an option to turn the DJ off; make sure you do so before you ever hear him utter a syllable. Trust me on this one.

With Striker gagged, Burnout 3: Takedown is one of the finer games I've been privileged to play this year. As a fast-paced, arcade-style racer, it's pure joy. As a deep, rewarding gameplay experience that demands you come back again and again, it's a triumph of design. And as a way to confine to a safe arena your animalistic tendency towards road rage, it's a necessity. Don't miss this one.

Score: 9.0 (out of 10)