Blazing down a steaming road whilst dodging traffic, your radio thumping and pounding, you ram a rival into a metal post; they are quickly launched into the air and land feet in front of you, you barely dodge them and continue on with the race. What I have just described is basically the whole feel of Burnout, a fast-paced adrenaline joyride throughout a huge array of courses with an equally large set of cars.
Burnout 3 has perfected what makes a racing game great by creating something that anyone can immediately get into and play. The best way to describe this is with the much overly used cliche: easy to learn and hard to master. It's a great party game for anyone, even if they don't enjoy driving games. You see, Burnout isn't a conventional driving game. Conventional driving games focus mainly on simulating reality as closely as possible. Burnout dismisses this concept wholly and focuses simply on the fun part of driving games: the driving. It has a very arcade style feel to it but still has plenty of depth.
There are the standard Grand Prix, Racing, and Time modes in Takedown, but there are also two other main modes, Crash and Road Rage. Crash involves taking a nice, big truck and attempting to crash it (hence the name) to cause as much damage as possible. This is harder than it looks, but it is always satisfying to watch the damage caused. Road Rage, the other mode, focuses on the titular concept of taking down cars (what a shocker, eh?). This is truly fun, and you constantly attempt to beat your previous records. Overall, the gameplay is amazingly addictive and definitely warrants a 10 from me.
Graphics don't disappoint either, impressive lighting, shadow, and motion blur effects come into play. The whole environment simply looks amazing as well. Watching your car crash in slow-mo is amazingly satisfying because you actually see relatively accurate structural damage. In short, stuff flies off the car. Wheels, doors, everything, really. Overall, graphics definitely warrant a 10 from me.
The music in the game is perfectly suited to the game style. It is fast paced and energetic, just like the game, and adds to the adrenaline rush that you will inevitably get after playing this game. Jimmy Eat World, My Chemical Romance, and Fallout Boy, to name some fairly popular bands, all appear in the soundtrack. The sounds in the game are also very fitting, the motor revving, cars crashing, and the other aspects all sound crisp and clean, for the most part. Sound gets a 9 from me.
Overall, this game is truly the best racing game I have ever played and shall remain a true classic. I give it a 9.7/10.
