Published: 26 Aug 2024
Burnout 3: Takedown
- Developed by: Criterion Games
- Published by: Electronic Arts
- Released on: 2004
- Genres: Arcade Racing
- Rating: 5/5
- Originally written: ~30th December 2023
An incredible arcade racer, a game made entirely of pure distilled racing fun. I remember having an absolute blast as a young-un with my PS2, and I had an absolute blast revisiting it many years later via emulation. The sense of speed makes every other racer seem pedestrian, and the boost/takedown system pair incredibly well to both incentivize absurdly reckless driving and turns crashing into an art form. The soundtrack pairs incredibly too to create pure adrenaline fun.
Secondary shoutout to the ‘puzzles’ that are also featured that more extensively use the crash and aftertouch system - set scenarios where you’re tasked with causing as much damage as possible by driving into traffic. I don’t see this mentioned often but to me, this was as enjoyable as the mainline racing itself, purely because the crash system is just so good.
