Burnout 3: Takedown

Graphics

Graphically, Burnout 3 is very impressive. The sense of speed in the game is phenomenal and the graphics are clear enough that even though you are going 200mph you still have plenty of time to look up the road and react to what is coming up. The environments you race in are very detailed and look great. One complaint I have is that the cars aren’t really super detailed and a lot of cars in the same class (coupe, muscle, sports, etc.) look very similar to one another. The cars look good, but they look too similar for my tastes.

Sound

The sound is also pretty good, but there are a couple of complaints here as well. The engine noises and crashes sound pretty much perfect, but the music and announcer are pretty poor. The soundtrack consists of radio friendly pop rock bands that don’t really mesh well with the action onscreen. Luckily you can use custom soundtracks, so this isn’t much or a problem. More serious is the annoying announcer/DJ that chimes in from time to time with stupid unfunny comments. Thankfully, you can turn him off in the menu.

Bottom Line

Overall, Burnout 3 is an amazing racing game that can appeal to just about everyone. That isn’t something you can say about most racing games, so that alone should tell you that Burnout 3 is something special. The game is extremely fast, yet still very easy to get into and very fun to play. Crashing is a thrill, but the races are also great fun. Online play is a blast and the single player game will keep you busy for weeks. Burnout 3 is highly recommended for at least a rental and more likely a purchase.