Review: Burnout 3 - Takedown

Though it was released back in September of 2004, I've only had the chance to play the racing/action title Burnout 3: Takedown post-Christmas. Marked by imaginative gameplay and extreme speeds, Burnout 3 is an amazing example of what's possible when developers look outside the traditional confines of a genre. While games involving cars may be the furthest thing from the minds of some readers, if you were ever a four-year-old who made "psshhhh-kapoooo!" noises with your Hot Wheels, you are probably going to dig this game. Read on for my take on this Criterion Games title.

• Title: Burnout 3: Takedown
• Developer: Criterion Games
• Publisher: Electronic Arts
• System: Xbox
• Reviewer: Zonk
• Score: 9/10

Let me say something straight off: I don't play racing games. I don't play sports titles in general. My enjoyment of Burnout 3: Takedown stems from the fact that it is only a racing game in the loosest sense of the term. What Criterion has done with this title is to make racing incidental to the purpose of the game. The purpose of Burnout 3 is twofold: Go Fast and Hit Stuff.

Burnout's premise is that in racing "Risk = Reward", a catch phrase the radio-style announcer repeats often. The reward in this case is Boost, the game's consumable go-fast juice that increases your rate of travel from merely jaw dropping to truly ludicrous speeds. You obtain Boost by taking risks such as driving on the wrong side of the road, initiating near-misses with other vehicles, catching air, and skidding around corners. The primary way that you obtain Boost, and the way you increase the capacity of the Boost-meter, is through Takedowns.

Takedowns are awarded when you take out another vehicle in a race. This can be accomplished in numerous ways, from grinding another car into a wall to tail-gating him into crashing (called a "Psyche Out"). These Takedowns fill and expand your Boost meter, allowing you to go faster and more effectively crash other vehicles. This leads to an amusing cycle of destruction that makes even a simple race through the Italian wine country into a Mad-Maxian experience. When you are taken out (or kiss that oncoming pillar) you're penalized some Boost, but the game rewards you for impressive flips and slides. Holding the Boost button post-crash allows you to view your explosive re-entry in Impact Time, a bullet-time-like slow-mo. Impact Time can even net you more Takedowns, called Aftertouches, as you direct your flaming heap into fellow racers. A Tony Hawk style breakdown of your crash ("Into Truck + Triple Somersault + 350' Sidewall Slide") can also net you some boost to refill your meter once you're done crashing.

The key is that Takedowns and being taken out, rather than things to be avoided, are the core of the game. Great looking damage is applied to the (non-licensed) vehicle models, with shattering windshields and flying debris the norm for any given race. Unlike some racing games where a vehicle can be thrown off of a cliff without suffering a scratch at the speeds you move in Burnout 3 you can twitch wrong and blow apart your vehicle on a fencepost. The sense of movement and danger is conveyed through excellent graphics and extremely responsive controls.

The overall mood of the game is accentuated by the music selection. Like many sports games they've done lately EA has opted to include a selection of name-brand music with their title, allowing you to race to bands such as The Ramones, Jimmy Eat World, and Ash.

Beyond the basic building blocks of the game, Criterion provides you with a panoply of cars, tracks, and things to run into. Events are spread out over three areas: the US, Europe, and the Far East. Within these areas are several themed courses which allow you to experience high speeds in places such as the California coast, downtown Chicago, downtown Rome, and a busy Hong Kong street-maze.

I say events because straightforward races are just one of the activities you can find yourself completing in Burnout 3. Road Rage pits you against other cars in a challenge to take out as many opponents as you can in an allotted time. Timed laps force you to traverse a course under a certain time to prove yourself worthy the gold, silver, or bronze. And then, most deliciously, there is Crash Mode.

Crash Mode is the stand out event type in the game as well as being the most straightforward. You start at the beginning of a course, rev up to speed, and throw your vehicle into traffic. Your goal is to cause as much destruction as possible and rack up as much damage as you can in dollar amount form. Spinning coin icons add to your totals and icons representing cash amount multipliers float in challenging positions on the course. These add a strategy element into the wanton destruction of all you see before you. This is accentuated again by Impact Time, which allows you to savor the metal crunching results of your careful planning and permits you to guide your vehicle through the air.

A Hong Kong based track was host to a particularly memorable crash for me. After the countdown I sped out of the start, laying down rubber behind me. Looking ahead I saw the Boost icon coming up quickly. In Crash Mode there are icons that instantly fill your Boost Bar and as I sped through it my speedometer leapt from 115 up into the 160+ range. Other racing games say you're going that fast, but the presentation of Burnout 3 really reinforces the awesome speeds at which your vehicle goes. Boosting hard I aimed directly at the small ramp they'd thoughtfully provided just before the busy intersection I was heading towards. I launched off of the ramp and Impact Time took over, allowing me to see the huge tanker truck plowing through the intersection at high speed. The small coupe I was driving entered the tank of the truck just behind the cab from above in a fiery conflagration that shook the room. Impact Time quit and the now burning and blackened coupe flew upside down through the air into a pillar, taking out a pair of the tiny TukTuk cars so common in this area. As my coupe landed the camera pulls back to reveal the devastation in the intersection, where the tanker explosion has ripped open the frames of several small cars and caused a few others to slide over into the oncoming lane. Another truck, this one with a long trailer laden with boxes, slams hard into the wreckage and adds flying cargo to the confusing pile. At that point the camera swings back to my already burning wreck and informs me that if I hit the B button I'll be able to use the Crashbreaker. After a certain number of wrecks are accumulated in a Crash Mode session, you're allowed to effectively detonate your vehicle to add more burning metal to the experience. This explosion also allows a second go at Impact Time and can be the key to hitting out of the way points icons. Always willing to destroy things, I hit B and with an explosive *wham* my vehicle goes from a burning cinder to a rapidly expanding vapor cloud. The largest chunk is the one I have control of and I guide it through the air with my control stick directly into a score multiplier icon, netting me a huge amount of cash.

Moments like these accumulate more lasting rewards as the game plies you with an endless string of medals, trophies, new cars, and (most amusingly) headlines in the newspaper. You can specifically go for these rewards but I found during the course of play that cool things(tm) would just organically happen, netting me accolades as a byproduct to my fun.

Beyond this rich tapestry of single player speed hedonism, the game is fully Xbox Live compatible. Though there aren't hundreds of games available like you'd find with Halo 2 there are still plenty of Burnout 3 players to be found on the service. Online games come in many different flavors, from straight matches to series of races, time trials, crash contests, and battle races where one team tries to take out the other team before they reach the finish line. The Xbox Live service does the game full justice with very little lag and extremely tight response.

The only complaint that I can offer up is that the game is extremely to the point. There isn't a create your own racer mode or any building features for the vehicles you're offered. It's a small thing, though, as Burnout does what it does very very well. I highly recommend this game to speed lovers, Hot Wheels aficionados, and anyone who has found themselves on a go-kart track saying "Maybe I'll give him just a tap."

Screenshots are from EA's official Burnout 3 site, ©2005 Electronic Arts Inc.

Comments

But...

[Realistic_Dragon]

...doesnt the takedown happen after it's been posted to the P2P networks? Isn't this a bit preemptive actually putting it in the title? Do you get one free lawsuit with every copy?

Great, simple controls...

[bucket74]

...are one of the best features of this game.

Re:Great, simple controls...

[stupidfoo]

The online play is pretty damn good too. As is the offline multiplayer play. I online wish more of the online game types were available online (the one where one team chases another would be pretty damn sweet offline). I've stayed up until 4:00am playing this game with friends.

For those who played the original Burnout and didn't like it: this one is a lot better. I bought the original, played it once, and haven't played it since. This one I've played a ton of.

And if you have a PS2 and Xbox, get the Xbox version. Much nicer graphics :)

Re:Great, simple controls...

[TheBunk]

And if you have a PS2 and Xbox, get the Xbox version. Much nicer graphics :)

Not to mention the ability to have custom soundtracks. That alone, to me, makes the game worth it.

Re:Great, simple controls...

[Mattcelt]

And if you have a PS2 and Xbox, get the Xbox version. Much nicer graphics :)

I haven't seen the xbox version, but the PS2 version in progressive scan mode is pretty damn nice, too...

I hear that the xbox live online experience is much better than the PS2 one. I can't imagine it's worse - random disconnects, timeouts, server-side connection problems, and listening to other players voices that sound like they are underwater... EA seems to have major problems running game servers. But when it works, man is it fun!

Here are some thoughts regarding Burnout 3 that I wrote a while ago, but aren't 100% finished. Sorry for the length:

===
Burnout 3 Beefs
===
by Mattcelt1 (currently ranked 98 out of 30,000 on PS2)

Here are the things I have found to be helps or hindrances when playing Burnout 3: Takedown. Before I begin, I should say that this game is incredible. It is a major enhancement over Burnout 2, but interestingly they've changed enough that BO2 is still fun to play for its own sake. In Burnout 3, the graphics are incredible, the playability is way up there, and the game is just difficult enough to make you nuts. For the first time ever, I actually hit my controller hard enough in frustration to break the vibrating unit inside. Not my finest hour. But I'll be the first to say that I should be frustrated by my own screw-ups, not because the game isn't working the way it should!

Keep in mind that despite my rants here, this is still one of the most fun games I have ever played, and that these problems I have do not keep me from racking up many, many hours of enjoyable play. What's more, the interesting thing is that in nearly all the instances, the things I recommend are interface changes, mostly cosmetic. That should speak volumes about the game itself - it's built on a solid core, and I have no complaints about the physics or the controls. Most of what I'm going to complain about is nitpicking; once these things are addressed, this game will be as close to perfect as possible. So now it's time to see what I'm on about.

The Camera:
By far the major offender in this game is the camerawork. I'm going to say this very loudly so that any passers-by from Criterion will hear it reverberating through the streets: HIRE A CINEMATOGRAPHER!!!! Seriously, put a cinematographer on your development staff and listen to what s/he has to say about the camera. The addition of 'aftertouch' in crash situations was a stroke of genius, and I love it. But a consequence of this great idea is that camera positioning, control, aiming, and zoom have suddenly become major factors in successful gameplay, where camera views were incidental at best in Burnout 2. Where they were once incidental windows into the action, the cameras are now integral to successful gameplay, and the lack of control makes them, frustratingly, a hindrance instead of a help.

There is something in film circles known as "crossing the line", the prohibition of which is the first rule taught to any cameraman. If there's a girl on the right and a boy on the left, you never, never, ever cut to another angle where their positions are switched (i.e., the girl is on the left and the boy on the right). It's the biggest sin you can commit in cinema. Yet Burnout 3 does it all the time. You're racing, you crash. You start to aftertouch, pressing left to try to take down the car you know is following you. Then all of a sudden, the camera swings wide in a 180-degree arc, and you find yourself moving away from the other guy, without ever lifting your finger off the stick! This is too frustrating for words.

The second time this rears its ugly head is during crash competitions. Most of the time I play single-player crash, I plan my crashes so that I get the 4x multiplier (or one of the other power-ups) during aftertouch. But with the camera jumping around from place to place, and even coming to rest on some far-off vehicle that's rocking back and forth on its

Re:Great, simple controls...

[Anonymous Coward]

While it was a good review, I'd like some comparo to FlatOut. IMHO it also has very good controls and is -- above all -- tons of wrecking fun, *despite* the realistic physics. Sure so is BreakOut 3 too :)

Re:Great, simple controls...

[kzinti]

I suppose in a way Prince of Persia:Sands of Time ruined me.

I loved that game, but I had the same complaint about switching camera angles as you make about Burnout3: sometimes I'm running along and then - usually when passing through a doorway - the camera angle will suddenly switch 180 degrees and I lose control of my character. Or, worse, I twitch the control stick and suddenly he reverses direction. Frustrating at the best of times, but downright infuriating when it happens during a melee.

By the way, I'm now playing my way through the PoP sequel, The Warrior Within. Not as good a game, although I am enjoying it immensely.

Re:Great, simple controls...

[Anonymous Coward]

No, the best thing about this game is how ridiculously easy it is to win things. Winning the whole game is fucking hard, but its damn near impossible to have a race and not win a new track, car or prize. Thats what makes it so damn addictive.

I bought an XBOX just for this game, and it fucking rocks. I've never played a racing game as fast as this, the faster cars like the F1's are right at the threshold of being just too fast to handle. My mind just goes blank playing this, i think it just takes so much damn brainpower to work everything out quick enough that everything else shuts down...has to be experienced!

Re:Great, simple controls...

[neonstz]

Heh, I've actually bought a couple of cds after listening to songs in Burnout 3.

Re:Great, simple controls...

[Ralph Wiggam]

EA has been moving to simplify and standardize controls across all thier games.

People like me didn't like learning 10 button combos to do the special moves, so EA started making all special moves just moving the right stick (on PS2). The controls overall for SSX:Tricky and Def Jam Fight For NY are really similar considering one is a snowboarding game and one is a fighting game.

I've been impressed by the number of really quality titles EA has released in the past two years. Dividing into three divisions and focusing each on one facet of the game industry (simulation sports, non-simulation sports, and non-sports licenses) has worked really well.

-B

Re:Great, simple controls...

[mbourgon]

I've got this cool thing hooked up to my system called a "stereo". The TV plays sounds, the stereo plays "music". This is not that tough.

Obflamebait - the above, I guess.

Re:Great, simple controls...

[bigman2003]

I'm guessing you don't have an Xbox, and are just making excuses as to why you wouldn't want one.

I have a stereo too. But my stereo doesn't mix my game sounds with the music. (I *could* do this, if I really wanted to, but by the time I mix two sources, getting the balancing correct would be a pain)

When I hit 'pause' my music won't pause at the same time if it was on my stereo.

Burnout starts a song at the beginning of a race, which is nice - I could do this with my stereo too...but that would require me to dick with the remote.

Yes, you could be playing on a poor man's Xbox (PS2 with your stereo) and you still won't have it nearly as good.

Re:Great, simple controls...

[bigman2003]

I assumed that the camera angle during slow-mo was on purpose. If the camera angle were predictable, it would make it too easy.

When I am trying to get an after-touch takedown, it would be great if the camera were always from the front...but that might only last a few seconds, and I need to remember what is going on when the angle switches, and I need to make the correction in my head to say 'well, I was going right, but now I need to change that to back'.

I thought it made it more challenging, and more fun.

Re:Great, simple controls...

[jdonnis]

And if you have a PS2 and Xbox, get the Xbox version. Much nicer graphics :)

Yeah, but the PS2 runs at 60 frames, the Xbox only at 30.
The speedfeel is MUCH better on the PS2

Re:Great, simple controls...

[TheBunk]

I guess it all depends on what style of music you listen to. Used to be that I'd only listen to music while I was driving, so a lot of those songs made the transfer over into the game. They've got a lot of good tracks on the EA list, it's just that I prefer to drive to the likes of Chevelle, AFI, and Taking Back Sunday than what the default is.

All a matter of personal taste really.

Re:Great, simple controls...

[mbourgon]

I'm guessing you don't have an Xbox
Actually, I do. Playing Mercenaries on it currently, though it doesn't really hold a candle to KOTOR2.

And I guess that I listen to music differently. I don't want my music to stop when I hit pause - I like hearing my music, and cutting it off mid-song gets old.

Re:Great, simple controls...

[brianosaurus]

The xbox music import is definitely a killer feature that I wish other consoles would do.

That said, the in-game soundtrack does eventually get old, and my PS2 doesn't have the option to load music, so I can't use my songs will all of my games.

So far my really lame solution has been to play music on my laptop (and its crappy built-in speakers) while I play with the game soundtrack turned off. I really wish my receiver could mix inputs.

It would be kind of cool if the consoles had a line-in jack to hook up another source. Then I could use whatever music player I prefer, but still have some control of the music (volume, at least) from within the game.

Also available on PS2

[ragoutoutou76]

... Playing if for a few months, great game, low morality, big fun ...

Never a better race game...

[v1sor]

...was ever made. Get Burnout 2, get used to that, play Burnout 3 and have a bloody good time of it. My friend purchased a PS2 purely for this game!!! LOL

Re:Never a better race game...

[erasmus_]

While I completely agree that Burnout 3 is an excellent racing game (I'm absolutely hooked and am having a blast), I don't understand why your friend would go and buy an inferior console just for this game, when it looks and plays better on Xbox. I mean, I understand having a PS2 for some exclusive games, like GTA or MGS (although both are coming to Xbox eventually), but if it's a cross-platform title, why waste money on getting the version of the game with worse graphics and no Live play?

I also don't understand why getting Burnout 2 is a prerequisite, according to you. I've never played any previous games in the series, and got into this one quite easily.

Re:Never a better race game...

[v1sor]

Couple of points for you. 1. The comparison between graphics will always be subjective. I've seen the game running on the Xbox, and I can't tell the difference. 2. You can play online with the PS2 version. Just because it's not Xbox "Live", doesn't mean that it doesn't play online. 3. There are tricks that you learn in BO2 that aren't shown/taught you in BO3. Some of these can give you a distinct advantage in some parts of the game. I won't get into a "My console..." slanging match - life's too short. Hope this clarifies a few things. :)

Those Old Cars...

[ackthpt]

NNNYELM! ERRRRRR! Fshowm! vvvrrrroooom! EEEEEE! Nyowwwwmm, neeeeee, errrrrr, yelm!

Translation: Focusing on driving excellence and solutions to further enhance home entertainment.

nnnyeeeeooowwwwmmmmm ffsssshhhhhtttt eeeeerrrrk!

Low quality article!

[VAXGeek]

I know this is going to get modded down, but it has to be said. I'm all for more articles, but this isn't a very good review. I hope the rest of the year doesn't lead to more of these "reviews". The only thing worse is the April Fools "jokes" on this site. By the way, this game came out ages ago and you can find reviews all over the place.

Say, has anyone ever tried Gatorade? Slashdot should do a review!

Maybe we could hear about the latest X-BOX titles too.

Boycott RIAA/Sony/etc, but make sure to buy their latest game!

Re:Low quality article!

[uncleFester]

this may not be news For Nerds, but after a crap day at the orifice it defintely can be Stuff That Matters. .. and being lucky enough to get a slim ps2 for christmas, this was one of the first games i bought after playing my brother's burnout2.

Crash Mode: For Budding Insurance Adjusters!

-'fester

Re:Low quality article!

[zero_offset]

this was one of the first games i bought

Which means, of course, that you also didn't need to read the review.

I tend to ignore the "Slashdot sucks" comments (because it seems obvious and redundant) but this time around, I'd say the shouting is justified.

sigh

[the_Bionic_lemming]

MMORPG's and Burnout and FPS's??? That's all we're left with?

Darn it - I want a new x-com or MOO or MOO2 (and not that abortion MOO3 either)

first psshhhh-kapoooost

[soundproofing.noise]

you should be wurking not playing games!!!

Seriously now..

[Pahalial]

Am I the only one who thinks that a 4-month old game doesn't warrant a front page review? Maybe in the Games subsection, but honestly now.

That's weird...

[Shadow Wrought]

I've been driving like that for years and I'd never even heard of "Boost."

Re:That's weird...

[Idarubicin]

I'd never even heard of "Boost."

It's also known as Liquid Schwartz.

Re:That's weird...

[Shadow Wrought]

It's also known as Liquid Schwartz

Now that I gots plenty of!

Re:who is Zonk?

[Man in Spandex]

He is Zonk the great one.

Burnout 3 ruined my sex life

[moonboi]

Cant go to sleep before 1AM most nights, my old ladie is asleep by 11am so it makes sex impossible, the speed and feeling you get from this game is impressive... it consume me... help !

Re:Burnout 3 ruined my sex life

[stupidfoo]

Cant go to sleep before 1AM most nights, my old ladie is asleep by 11am

Damn! 11AM? that would make it tough :)

Re:Burnout 3 ruined my sex life

[Anonymous Coward]

She doesn't go to sleep until 11 AM?
So what are you doing between 1 and 11????

Re:Burnout 3 ruined my sex life

[zeylisse]

Hmm... never heard about *.jpg being asleep.
I mean, come on, this is /. after all.

Re:Burnout 3 ruined my sex life

[Average_Joe_Sixpack]

Cant go to sleep before 1AM most nights, my old ladie is asleep by 11am so it makes sex impossible

Same thing happens to my right hand after playing a good FPS.

Re:Burnout 3 ruined my sex life

[Afrosheen]

Come on now, who are you kidding here? Anyone that calls themselves 'boi' is obviously in the sparkly part of the sexual spectrum, i.e. light in the loafers.

Re:Burnout 3 ruined my sex life

[Anonymous Coward]

I can't help to laugh everytime i see "boi" written somewhere. Being a native speaker of portuguese, I find it simply hillarious -- in portuguese "boi" means "ox", and it can be used (though rarely) as a mild insult.

I used to laugh my socks off with that pseudo-musical-punk-poseur-crappola Avril Lavigne vomited out, "Skater boi". It's priceless.

Re:Good God.....

[Dr Reducto]

I for one, welcome our new overtime, slave-driving overlords, Electronic Arts.

Fun

[fimbulvetr]

The game is a TON of fun, I loved it.
Admittedly, it gets a little hard at times, I wish there were ways I could just skip a certain point (or points) and progress and come back them later. It's all a checkpoint system, where if I beat certain maps then others are unlocked.

Especially cool is the way the graphics blur when you hit turbo. The soundtrack gets old, the announcer is boring and very irratating. I still haven't figured out how to get the custom soundtracks working...perhaps someone could enlighten me.

This game will almost certainly have you hooked for weeks or more.

Re:Fun

[xv4n]

Especially cool is the way the graphics blur when you hit turbo.

Indeed, that looks cool. But I think the bluring is a side effect to speed up scene rendering.

Re:Fun

[phritz]

The only problem with this game is the layer of marketing that they slopped all over it. The annoncer and all of the music tracks are there to make the game feel like a big frat party. Most of the music is seriously insulting to your intelligence (interesting fact: 'We are the lazy generation' was written by a single brain cell, shared among three band members) and the announcer is a jackass, but not in the good DDR jackass sort of way. Of course, once you've turned off the music and the announcer, it's an awesome game. It just feels like EAs marketing department decided they needed yet another game to appeal to frat boys, and decided to layer some bullshit on some random game.

Re:Fun

[TheBunk]

Custom Soundtracks:

Put an audio CD into your xbox, and go into the audio menu, copy all of the tracks to it's own album. It'll copy them over, rinse and repeat with as many cds as you want. Once you have all of your music on the xbox hard drive, you can create a new album, and copy over all of the appropriate driving songs into it. Label that album burnout3 or something appropriate.

Once in the game, go into your profile section, then to settings, there should be an option that says EA TRACKS. You can change the sound track of the game from the one that they give, to any of your albums, including your custom burnout3 one.

Re:Fun

[RpiMatty]

What you have to do is go to the Crash-Nav menu system.
you might have to back out one more time, not 100% sure, but i dont think so.
i think it is hit Y for driver details.
then at the bottom there is audio or settings.
if you pick this you will see the soundtracks listed.
pressing X cycles thru your playlists. no way to go back, just forward one at a time.
when you find one you want, back out of this and go back to the crash nav.

that was posted by memory, when i get home if i remember i could turn the game on.
its kind of a pain, becuse you have to exit out of any race you are in.
its not the easiest to use interface, but it works.
after a couple days i was getting sick of the stock music, didnt realize i had been playing it that much./
you can also turn the announcer off where the sound and music volumes are.

Re:Fun

[Anonymous Coward]

Sweet! Thanks man!

Re:Fun

[Anonymous Coward]

"Especially cool is the way the graphics blur when you hit turbo. The soundtrack gets old, the announcer is boring and very irratating. I still haven't figured out how to get the custom soundtracks working...perhaps someone could enlighten me."

What you have to do is not bother. I wasted a bit of time messing with this. I found that a new song was selected every time you hit something (go into bullet time), change menus, otherwise interrupt the audio track. This effect is fine with a bunch of songs that suck and you don't care about, but when you are jazzed to listen to your own music then its a PITA. Just turn off the music and the announcer, and turn on your stereo.

I recommend VanHalen "Running With the Devil"

Re:Fun

[fimbulvetr]

I recommend VanHalen "Running With the Devil"

I was thinking more along the lines of "Offspring: Bad Habit"

Re:Fun

[HyperHyper]

Great game.. Been playing it since release and I still play it. The announcer is annoying (when compared to what they did on SSX3) but after you turn him off and remove some of the annoying songs, it's 100% fun.

I have not had one person yet say they did not like this game. My 44 year old brother in law who has the attitude of a 60 year old played the game once (after much prodding) and that's all he talked about for 2-3 days during x-mas.

Overall, a great looking/sounding and fun game.

Re:Fun

[themurph17]

For the love of god, please NOOOOOO. I JUST got the Offspring's song from Crazy Taxi (1 & 2) out of my head. The doctors say I'll be OK, but to avoid Offspring songs for a while.

Re:Fun

[CJ Hooknose]

fimbulvetr wrote: [custom soundtracks for Burnout 3] I was thinking more along the lines of "Offspring: Bad Habit"

"Bad Habit" is pretty cliché now, eh? There are other good "drive fast, F the world" songs out there. A very incomplete list:

White Zombie, "Black Sunshine", "Electric Head Pt. 1"
Rob Zombie, "Demon Speeding", "Two-Lane Blacktop"
Monster Magnet, "Negasonic Teenage Warhead", "Theme from Masterburner"
The Doors, "L.A. Woman"

...Burnout 3 sounds like an interesting game, too bad I probably won't be able to afford the game or a system to play it on since the company I theoretically work for owes me ~4 months of back pay and may be engaged in tax fraud.

Re:Fun

[fimbulvetr]

I personally don't see it as a cliche, or at least a pronounced as many other cliches.
I do however, agree with your choices of alternatives (The zombie ones at least).

At any rate, I was at a company that went under too, but I was in the first round of layoffs-I got a 1 months severence check...I thought I was unlucky.
My best friend (And manager at the time) waited around another 5 months, and didn't get a single check. Now I see myself as the lucky one:)

Re:Fun

[MikeBabcock]

You *can* skip sections. There's an entire single-player mode where you do random races of various types using any car from your inventory against a variety of co-racers.

You should also be unlocking events faster than you can complete them, meaning that there is more than one option of a next event to complete at any one time in the world tour mode.

Re:Fun

[fimbulvetr]

Yeah, I know, I just didn't mention that part. It seems that when I'm in a rut, I just can't win anything, and at this point, I'm in a rut:)

Re:Fun

[Anonymous Coward]

anyone know where to transfer mp3's on to a modded xbox?

This game is the sheeeyot

[The_reformant]

This game is fantastic. Since I got it my profile tells me I have wasted 165 hours of it and only got through 75% of the game.

The best part is the party crash mode where up to 8 people can pass a controller around and try to create the biggest pileups possible.

Re:This game is the sheeeyot

[crunk]

The party crash is cool. My friend got over 2 million points on one crash. I haven't been able to top that yet.

Re:This game is the sheeeyot

[cowscows]

The best part is that my gf likes it. She's definitely a gamer, but she's not much into games like Halo that require you to take the time to learn what every button does before you can play it effectively.

Burnout 3 has a good learning curve if you want to really improve your game, but at the same time, someone who's never even held an xbox controller before can jump right in and have a good time.

The worst part is that since it's all we play when she's over, when she's not here I play other games, and that's allowed her to be better at burnout than I am. I hate losing.

Re:This game is the sheeeyot

[bigman2003]

Okay, my big question on the party crash thing...

Why do we have to PASS the controller?

When I play this with 4 people, we should each be able to use our own controllers- so we don't have to pass anything.

Passing is for:
Gas
Potatoes
Joints

Not controllers!

Oh well, great game.

Re:This game is the sheeeyot

[The_reformant]

Yeah but the beauty of it is you have the joint one place ahead of the controller..that way you pass the joint just as you receive the controller.....we normally just leave the munchies on the table though :)

News for nerds Stuff that Matters

[DrugCheese]

No offense to anyone, but I don't think game reviews should be one of the 24 daily stories posted on slashdot.

Great Live Game

[NetJunkie]

This game is really fun. To me this is what console gaming is all about. Fast, great looking arcade action. Add in the great infrastructure of Live with a bunch of good players and you can't beat it.

Too bad the masses of Live have probably moved on. You'll find with many of the online console games that when two or three newer Live games hit people move to them. So, if you get an older (6 months) Live game you may have trouble getting bigger games going.

Noises

[jargoone]

who made "psshhhh-kapoooo!" noises with your Hot Wheels

I played with Hot Wheels when I was a kid, and made lots of noises, but "psshhhh-kapoooo!" was not one of them. What the hell is that supposed to represent, anyway?

Re:Noises

[medep]

turbo charger release when gears are being changed

Re:Noises

[jargoone]

When you were 4, you knew what a turbo charger was, and what a blowoff valve sounded like? Impressive.

Re:Noises

[AceCaseOR]

No, that's rrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrr. Psssssh-Kapooo is the sound you make when there's a really big colission.

It's almost sad that I know this.

Re:Noises

[AceCaseOR]

You didn't? Sheesh. All the cool kids new all about the inner workings of a car when they were 4.

Re:Noises

[operagost]

Explosive diarrhea after visiting the "Taco Bell" drive-thru window.

Re:Noises

[HTH NE1]

"psshhhh-kapoooo!" is an adjective describing a set of noises, not any one particular noise.

It's in the same dictionary that you'd find jozxyqk.

Re:Noises

[Axis of Weasel]

"Psssssh-Kapooo is the sound you make when there's a really big colission"

ohhh!! you mean shh-prccchhrrr

i get it now...

Re:Noises

[mebollocks]

I don't understand. psshhhh-kapoooo! is a perfectly cromulent sound effect?

Re:Noises

[Anonymous Coward]

The cat dictionary?

Re:Noises

[medep]

thankyou :)

Re:Noises

[Anonymous Coward]

Sounds to me like when your car is stopped, you're standing peeing in a tree near the road and suddenly your car explodes.

Definitely

[Lord_Dweomer]

Awesome game. After the last disappointment in the series, I was dubious, but they must've had the shit kicked out of them with the clue stick because they've turned out a fabulous game.

Also, what I enjoy about it is that it makes a good party game as well. Short moments of excitement, ability to take a break any time you want, and a good rhythm for handing off (after ever crash for example) make this a much needed addition to the PS2's party game lineup. Of course, its also fun to play by yourself, or while drunk or stoned, or all four..err.....three.

EA-published title

[fahrvergnugen]

I really enjoyed the first two Burnout titles, but I'm sorry to say that while I'm sure that Burnout 3 is a fine title, it is also an EA-published title, and I won't be buying it for this reason.

All those people who decry the inhuman working conditions at EA, it's time to put your money where your mouth is. Stop rewarding their deplorable labor practices with your dollars.

Re:EA-published title

[prockcore]

All those people who decry the inhuman working conditions at EA, it's time to put your money where your mouth is.

But EA didn't develop this game, Critereon did. EA just published it, which doesn't involve any inhuman working conditions.

Re:EA-published title

[WWWWolf]

(insert machine breath sound) The power to exploit one's human resources is insignificant compared to the power of Aquiting Franchises and Producing Crap.

(Meanwhile in another place: "I felt a great disturbance in the Force... as if millions of Origin, Bullfrog and Westwood fans had screamed in unison...")

Re:EA-published title

[Skraut]

I totally agree. My wife likes to surprise me with games, and last night I went though an Electronic Botique with her and pointed out what games were made by EA, and that I made it clear I didn't want any of them.

Having developed games, in what seems like a former life, for the Dreamcast I still haven't forgiven them for their boycot of the system, and their recent actions against Sega. Not that Sega is a holy company in their own right, but working closely with them for those years I felt they truely cared about about the games themselves, not just how to make the most money off of them.

"EA Games: Control Everything"

Re:EA-published title

[Skraut]

But if it makes too much money, EA will buy Critereon, fire the staff, replace it with slave labor and ship the same game for the next 10 years.

Re:EA-published title

[Anonymous Coward]

I am sure you own a cheap dvd player, or some piece of clothing that was made by 12 yo sweatshop workers in thailand.

But if boycotting EA makes ya feel better...

You big bad renegade you.

Re:EA-published title

[TrueJim]

EA was Disney/Microsoft/Coors/SCO/Dominos-evil LONG before this. Am I the only person who remembers the way EA copy protection would cause the read-heads on Commodore 64 floppy disks to go out of alignment? What kind of sick bastards implement a DRM that causes HARDWARE damage???

Re:EA-published title

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm going to buy three copies, because those fucking whiners can go get another job.

You want to be paid 30% more than others in your carreer? You wind up working 30% harder. That's life.

We have a position open for an ex-EA employee if they want it. About 20 hours a week, it'll pay about 18 grand a year.

Boo hoo. The US has some of the most labor-favoring laws in the world. And it's sending the workforce overseas. Suck it up.

Re:EA-published title

[aziraphale]

EA already bought Criterion, last year. The reason being, Criterion make a bit of software called RenderWare, that is used by a whole host of games developers as a base library for building their products. EA bought them in order to bring RenderWare into their operation, although RenderWare is still licensed to non-EA-published developers. So far as I'm aware, there's been no layoffs, and the staff are happy with their EA compensation packages.

Re:EA-published title

[scythian]

Well, gee, maybe Akklaim would have published it, if those bastards hadn't gone belly up and dropped their share price to $0.006

Re:EA-published title

[whitelabrat]

I disagree, respectfully. EA is reacting to a situation where there are lots of people who want to work for them. It's just like the television industry here in the states. So as a result, if someone doesn't like their crummy paycheck and long hours, there are plenty of warm bodies who can't wait for the opportunity to take their place. Supply and demand baby, it's the American Way. If you want job stability do someone nobody else does and nobody wants to do.

Re:EA-published title

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes EA has been evil for a while, but this is the first Burnout game to be published by them.

Re:EA-published title

[spoonyfork]

All those people who decry the inhuman working conditions at EA, it's time to put your money where your mouth is. Stop rewarding their deplorable labor practices with your dollars.

It isn't as if EA employees have no other choice than work there. EA isn't anything like where the 8 year olds in South East Bumfuckistan that made the clothes you wear. If EA so bad of a place to work then the employees might want to think about working somewhere else. A boycott of some won't quite cut it.

Re:EA-published title

[Ced_Ex]

If you want job stability do someone nobody else does and nobody wants to do.

"someone"?? You mean sleep my way to job stability?

I can do that!

Re:EA-published title

[halivar]

Stop rewarding their deplorable labor practices with your dollars.

What if I don't care? They made the decision to make more money than an easy-going job like mine provided. That's the trade-off: if you want the money, you have to work harder.

That said, if they aren't making any money, they need to move out east where I live.

Re:EA-published title

[ultitool]

What kind of sick bastards make Hardware that is prone to failure by the Software it runs?

Re:EA-published title

[snuf23]

Don't you knock the wonder that is the Commodore 1541 disk drive! It had its own cpu and you could hack the drive to do all kinds of nasty things with the drive heads.
I had a program that actually PLAYED MUSIC using the drive heads! It played a nice little rendition of "Daisy" while presumably whacking yhour drive heads out of alignment.

Re:EA-published title

[TPIRman]

My wife likes to surprise me with games, and last night I went though an Electronic Botique with her and pointed out what games were made by EA, and that I made it clear I didn't want any of them.

Your wife must be awed by your gratitude.

Re:EA-published title

[karnal]

You don't get out and see the forest for the trees much, do you?

Re:EA-published title

[Anonymous Coward]

Why do you think I bought two copies?

I must have paid for like 10 people's salaries!

Go me!

Re:EA-published title

[Anonymous Coward]

THREE reasons not to buy:

1. EA's deplorable labor practices
2. XBox?!?
3. Speed.

I mean, TWO out of THREE reasons not to buy.

Re:EA-published title

[Anonymous Coward]

Its this kind of comment that makes me glad I'm not American.

Re:EA-published title

[Big Sean O]

"last night I went though an Electronic Botique with her"

And you're still married? This happened to me and my wife exactly once. I was going to a neighboring town expressly to go game shopping. Wife wanted to tag along and combine trips, so I told her she could, but she couldn't complain.

She lasted 4 minutes and then excused herself to the Borders Bookstore next door. I'm surprised she lasted that long.

We've had an uneasy truce over PS2 ever since. Fortunately, she sleeps in on weekends and I wake up at 5 AM.

Re:EA-published title

[DeadScreenSky]

Don't worry about it much as Burnout 2 is a much better game anyway. Better music, better courses, better gameplay (both racing and crash mode), better challenge (as in having challenge, period). The glitchy online play and slighty better graphics is really all you are missing.

(And I don't purchase EA games either. My experience is through playing my brother's game. If you desperately need to try it to see what a fall from excellence it really is, renting it won't give EA any money...)

Aren't gaming sites for this?

[mauddib~]

Hmmm, if I would be interested in the latest games, I would go to my selected gaming site. But this is far below the intended content of Slashdot imvho.

Re:Aren't gaming sites for this?

[Anonymous Coward]

./ is trying to broaden its appeal. Just because it never had reviews before, doesn't mean that it isn't the intended content. Also this editor is more reliable than your selected gaming site, because she doesn't take bribes from the game publishers.

Name

[pete-classic]

You'd think a game with a name like "Burnout" would have more pot-smoking-friendly game-play.

-Peter

Re:Name

[Anonymous Coward]

oh, it does.

Re:Name

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh believe me, it does! :0)-~

Re:Name

[Anonymous Coward]

What isn't pot-friendly about Burnout3?

Re:Name

[pete-classic]

I thought that it would be hard to smoke pot and muster the aggression this game seems requires.

Just goes to show what I know.

-Peter

HotWheels?

[AntEater]

"a four year old who made "psshhhh-kapoooo!" noises with your Hot Wheels..."

HotWheels? Bah! Everyone knows that MatchBox cars were better. I guess I wouldn't like this game.

NFSU2

[RealityMogul]

Crashing for points sounds and looks cool. I saw them have a couple people play against each other on G4 (yes I'm ashamed I watched it). It would be fun for a little bit like the "push the man down the stairs" game for the PC, but would eventually get boring. Personally I'm really into Need For Speed Underground 2 right now. I think its the ability to customize your car with something new after every couple races. Plus its fun applying those enhancements to the other cars they have in there and. Just trying to see what little thing you'll get access to motivates you to want to complete the races. I'm still into it after two weeks of playing it - which is rare for me.

Re:NFSU2

[BagOBones]

The thing with crash mode is that its a puzzle game. You must hit a target damage total and some of the tracks are setup to miss lead you as too what the best direction is.

Re:NFSU2

[mangu]

What I hated about both the Need For Speed Underground games is the way they put traffic in the races. It stops being a game based on skill and becomes a simple lottery. Since there's no damage, the quickest way around most curves is crashing against the outside wall. Just keep trying until you get to those curves without oncoming traffic and you win every time.

Re:NFSU2

[Anonymous Coward]

I own Burnout3 on xbox. I have not played NFSU 1 or 2. I like driving games a lot.

I understand from reviews that NFSU 1/2 suffer from pretty bad opponent "rubberbanding" (hence, I have not bought it). Modding your car(s) is definitely cool, but I think Burnout3 is too visceral for that kind of action.

Burnout3 is much like a racing game. But it does differ in many aspects.
crash mode is more of a ... puzzle game.
multiplayer road rage (and to a lesser degree, multi-plr race mode) is more like a fighting game, but with cars.

single player mode is fairly easy until the very end, but the game is long and fun enough to be a good $/entertainment hr.

Re:NFSU2

[Anonymous Coward]

Sorry but NFSU2 is a piece of shit of a game. Yes I have it. Yes I finished it. BORING. You spend more time playing barbie with your car doing all these stupid customizations which are totally USELESS than you do ACTUALLY RACING. The city is stupid. Always night time = stupid. The EA Trax are GOD awful, expecially after hearing it for the 1000th time. The voice acting is pathetic. The Advertising in game is all over the place. Common how much did EA make from Cingular or Best Buy? Who cares about playing with subs or tv's in the trunk of the car? It doesn't provide any new music or make the tunes any more bassy. If you want to play a real race game play GT3 or the upcomming GT4 in March. I own Burnout 3 as well, and it is a good game, but in the long run you will get tired of it.

Re:NFSU2

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, putting all those stickers on my car in that game makes it handle so much better!

..the fuck?

[SiW]

I'm a gamer, and even I think this is ridiculous as a frontpage /. story. I think there are a couple of games that *might* squeeze into acceptability for the majority of readers, such as the KoTOR games, but Burnout?! It's an awesome game that just about anyone can get into - but it's just not /. material.

Also, it's published by EA. /. is the sort of place where people boycott companies like EA.

Re:..the fuck?

[east coast]

I think there are a couple of games that *might* squeeze into acceptability for the majority of readers, such as the KoTOR games, but Burnout?!

And what makes KotoR so much more news worthy? I'm not saying it's bad, I haven't played it. I'm just wondering why you think it's worthy of a review but not Burnout or whatever other title.

Re:..the fuck?

[AceCaseOR]

It's a RPG and it's Star Wars. Real Geeks don't play Racing Games.

Re:..the fuck?

[Anonymous Coward]

Real geeks don't let other geeks tell them what real geeks do.

Re:Front Page News?

[mausmalone]

And the sad part is that, even if the review is a good one, the game's been out for like 5 months now. I've been playing it for 3. I've submitted much more interesting stories that never ever made it to the games page, much less the front page. "First emulator to play commercial x-box games? Fuck that story, we've got an old game to review!"

Re:Sigh

[koa]

If I hear the phrase "We are the lazy generation" one more friggin time I'm gonna .. well, I don't know what I am gonna do.. It wont be pretty.

This game brings people together!!!

[slungsolow]

The first time I played this game was over thanksgiving week. My cousin made a point of getting me to play this game on the PS2. He did me a great favor by bringing this game to my attention.

Immediately after returning home from my trip, I ran to target and bought the game. My girlfriend was playing it within minutes and has been hooked since. Its really the greatest driving game ever made. The sense of speed is awesome, the scale of some of the wrecks is just amazing and the replay value is outstanding. Nice graphics and smooth controls made this the "must have game" of late 2004. I am happy to have played it, and I am even happier to have shared it.

soundtrack

[lemonj]

The soundtrack and ultra cool dj for this game makes me want to crash a real car. However, if you play with the volume down and make your own sound effects, its a lot of fun to play.

Gothan racing

[mzwaterski]

Gotham racing has been out forever on Xbox no less. It has the same basic premise. Power slides, air time, clean sections all provide extra points. Some "missions" require that you reach a certain point level rather than pass cars or beat a certain time.

Re:Gothan racing

[bbuR_bbuB]

PGR is an entirely different game than BO3. Yes, I suppose the basic premise is teh same as you are driving a vehicle. The similarities basically end there. Burnout is more of a twitch/fast reflexes game, and PGR is more into finesse (get them kudos!) and driving skill. Right up until the end of BO3, I felt that Project Gotham was way harder... Some of those courses with the cones were brutal, especially with some of the cars they forced you to use...

Re:Gothan racing

[bhtooefr]

Yeah, but clean runs aren't what you want in this game ;-)

Re:Front Page News?

[truffle pig]

I'm sooooo sorry that we couldn't bring you another story about SCO or Patent and Trademark Law today.

It is a story about what some people consider an innovative game. How is this any different than a one of the countless storys on here about someone building something out of lego mindstorms or some other percieved "toy"

If you don't care about it don't read the story

Pure brainless fun

[mr. methane]

My thumbs and forefingers were so sore from this game that I needed to take tylenol. It is just amazingly addictive. The multiplayer part is very well done, and there's *zero* learning curve.

Re:Pure brainless fun

[CyberKnet]

I think that you must have a different definition of zero than I do.

The reason I take note of this is because I have no idea how to control Burnout 3. In order to play, surely I would have to either be told or deduce the correct buttons. Sure, I might get the right button the first time, but that's not the result of having no learning curve. It's the result of sheer dumb luck.

I take zero to mean 0, nothing, absolutely none; the way you've used it, it means "very little", "almost none" or "barely any". It's almost as if you used the wrong word, but I have a hard time believing anyone would exaggerate on such an oustanding tome of information such as the site you posted to.

Curiously Odd.

For PS2 also

[shadowsurfr1]

I don't know why so many reviews I've read say it's for the Xbox and not the PS2. It's equally as great on the PS2 and the online play is free no less. What the hell?

It's a great game none the less.

Re:For PS2 also

[hellken]

You are wrong. PSOnline is not free. Also, the XBOX has far superior graphics than the PS2. Not to mention the HD, so no need for memory cards. I can rip my music to the Xbox and listen to it instead of the games music. Shall I go on? I don't see why everyone is so hung up on PS2 when Xbox is far superior. So what if it is made by MS? It is the better console.

-Hellken

Re:For PS2 also

[kidgenius]

Actually, yes, online play with a PS2 is absolutely free. Ok, you need to buy a network adapter, but that is a one time fee of $35 instead of a yearly fee of $50.

Re:For PS2 also

[Anonymous Coward]

But also the Xbox version is much better online because you can talk the entire time during the race (the PS2 only allows short bursts) and since its a centralized friends list network... you can be playing Burnout 3 and your friend can be playing Halo 2 and you can invite him to your game and vise versa. The PS2 cannot compete with that.

Re:For PS2 also

[dbug78]

while $4/month isn't free, it also isn't a bad deal for playing all the games you want on a dedicated high-performance network.

xbconnect and xlink kai will probably support it eventually, enabling xbox owners to play for free too.

again, that's not quite as nice as free right out of the box, but the point is that if you want to play online it's really no big deal either way.

A bit late but deserves a mention

[spoodie]

Looks like Gran Turismo, plays like Mario Kart on lots and lots of amphetamines.

Re:Sigh

[grub]

If I hear the phrase "We are the lazy generation" one more friggin time I'm gonna .. well, I don't know what I am gonna do..

Too lazy to think about what you're going to do? :)

Whats the difference between burnout 1,2,3?

[aardwolf204]

Has anyone played all 3 burnout games? I saw Burnout 2 at a LAN party on a 15 foot projection and was totally drawn to it. I recently got a gamecube and just realized that burnout 3 isnt on that platform yet. I can pick up a copy of 1 or 2 for cheap so I'm wondering if there is any major differences, or is it simply better graphics and more maps?

I'll probably go out and pickup a copy of burnout 2 today. Thanks.

Re:Whats the difference between burnout 1,2,3?

[ecliptik]

There are a couple differences between Burnout 2 and 3. The main one that stuck out for me was the use of the "boost", as you have to fill up your bar entirely before you can even use it. Burnout 3 on the otherhand allows you to use it at anytime, no matter how full the bar is.

The addition of impact time after a crash makes the game play drastically different. 3's Crash Mode in general, making you plan out your routes based on the numerous powerups and crash-breakers, giving you more control over how you'll cause mayhem. With 2 you just launch your car and watch everything unfold, 3 is a lot more interactive in this respect.

Finally, there won't be a Burnout 3 released for the Gamecube. I did some heavy research into this a couple months ago after I first played it for the X-box, and was disappointed to learn EA does not have any plans on releasing it for the cube.

Re:Whats the difference between burnout 1,2,3?

[RpiMatty]

I own 1 and 3.
They both have an incredible sense of speed to the game.
The first time you use boost its crazy. your car rockets to 150+ and you start to get tunnel vision.
its on of the few games that creates a physical reaction in me (heart rate increasing, breathing change, adreniline rush).

Burnout 1 was more about using boost but being careful, hit something a bit to hard and you crash and lose boost.
Burnout 3 is all about crashing and mayhem. It lets you slam into competiors much more than 1 did. Also it seems a bit more forgiving if you hit a wall.

I think burnout 1 was harder, but im no where near done with 3.
There are about 4 or 5 types of races in 3 with only 1 in 1. And the circuits in 3 have been made easier to pass.
In burnout 1 you had 4 tries to place in 3 races in a row (a circuit), with the last race being insane.
in 3 you get unlimited tries for the circuit, so if you fail the last one, you can keep retring without having to do the first 2 over and over.

Not sure what to tell you about 2, it would have to be an improvement over 1, but not as good as 3.
go buy and xbox and get 3

Re:Whats the difference between burnout 1,2,3?

[Anonymous Coward]

1 & 2 are mereley 'OK'. Nothing real memorable about either though.

Burnout 3 completely redefines the series, and raises the bar for arcade racing games as a genre.

Re:Whats the difference between burnout 1,2,3?

[aardwolf204]

bummer, all the sudden i feel like a mac user disapointed that my game wont be ported to my platform. too bad xboxes are still ~$180, though i might be able to justify it as an HTPC

Re:Whats the difference between burnout 1,2,3?

[radish]

Burnout 3 is great, no doubt, and IMHO the best in the series. But 2 is fantastic as well. Until 3 is out for the GC, get 2, you'll be very happy. When 3 does come out, you'll want that too :)

Re:Whats the difference between burnout 1,2,3?

[Anonymous Coward]

I like two better than three because it has a replay after the races. It's really fun to race with a friend and then sit back laughing at all our crashes.

Re:Whats the difference between burnout 1,2,3?

[Anonymous Coward]

get a modded xbox, install a spare 200gb drive - install slayers evox.

voila, instant home entertaiment

Re:Whats the difference between burnout 1,2,3?

[Headcase88]

Burnout 3 is not likely to come to the GC.

Bad move from EA. Just remember what happened to Acclaim when they decided to pull out Gamecube support ;)

(And yes, that's the reason they went bankrupt. It had nothing to do with the garbage games, stupid marketing campaigns, etc.)

Re:Good God.....

[spoodie]

The Gods are kind and generous, they supply us with work to fill the gaps in our otherwise meaningless existences.

But Wait

[SuperDJ]

Oh, ho ho. But when you realize just how completely amazing and awesome this game is, you won't mind interrupting your regular Slashdot broadcast with a break containing a review of one of the greatest (non-rpg) games ever!! =P

Burnout 3 Music on two player mode?

[engine matrix]

I am a huge fan of Burnout 2, but my copy of Burnout 3 for the xbox will not play music during two player race mode.

Does anyone else have this problem? I have googled it to death with no results. It's hard to believe that no one has mentioned it if it's not an isolated problem.

Also, Burnout 3 lacks the arcade style stats and scores after each race. That's a bummer.

Re:Burnout 3 Music on two player mode?

[v1sor]

Now we know why this hit the front page of /. ;)

Re:Burnout 3 Music on two player mode?

[PaganRitual]

i previously had this problem, and it was caused by a certain song being corrupted and the game refusing to play any music after that point. it's started doing it again lately, and maybe you have the same problem that i do. go into your album setup in the dashboard and check out the song numbering. my numbering now goes from 1 to about 150, then starts numbering again from about 105 onwards, so a heap of tracks have the same track number. i don't know if something is broken or if i have to delete the soundtrack and start again, but it's a real pain in the arse.

It's fun... but...

[NitroWolf]

I just found this game a few days ago, and have been playing it quite a bit. It's great fun, and doesn't require a lot of time consuming linear movement through the "storyline" (such as it is).

It's definitely worth the money. However, the sound tracks get old after the first 10 hours of play or so... they need a lot more music. The music is good, don't get me wrong, but hearing only the first 1/3 of each song before it's changed to something else gets tiring, and also wears out the playlist that much faster, because you only hear part of the song, then the next song, then the next, and eventually it all starts to repeat.

You start to savor the moments when one of the songs you like comes on during a race, so you can actually hear the whole thing. If you could choose which songs were playing during the race, or better yet, use your own music, that would be killer.

Definitely a good game though.

Re:It's fun... but...

[lmsig]

FYI, on the XBox version of the game it does support custom soundtracks so you can import your own music.

I had some problems with it reading a CD-R of music I burned, but it worked with pressed CDs just fine. Anyone else have issues like this with the XBox drive?

Re:It's fun... but...

[ldspartan]

The various xbox drives specifically don't like CD-Rs much. There's a lot of data out there on this behavior if you google for it.

--
lds

Re:It's fun... but...

[Anonymous Coward]

"It's definitely worth the money. However, the sound tracks get old after the first 10 hours of play or so..."

EGAD! You let that suck DJ blather at you for 10 hours? Turn off the DJ right away! The music is not good. It is corporate music-o-matic crap. I tried to set up the xbox to play custom playlists, but as you said, listening to the first 30 sec of all these songs was super lame.

The only way to play is to turn off both DJ and music (leave the sfx on tho!) and listen to your stereo.

Re:It's fun... but...

[Anti_zeitgeist]

hit up www.xbox-linux.org for more info on what types of cd-r's your specific xbox can read.

Re:Also available on PS2

[kneecarrot]

Morality? Considering that 9 out of every 10 games available right now involves shooting people, I'd say that a game with some cars crashing and some speeding is pretty damn tame. Especially since death is never depicted... cars just magically re-start after a crash.

How to get a Free Mini Mac

[Anonymous Coward]

Step 1: Click Here to Register for a Free Mini Mac
Register using your email address - this will take only a few minutes.
Answer "NO" to all survey questions so you don't have to deal with junk
mail. They will email you a confirmation email, which you must confirm.

Step 2: Sign up for one of the offers - most of the offers are free trials
you can cancel AFTER you get the credit for it. I think the best right now
is the Video Professor trial, since you get immediate credit for them. Just
return the CD and you will even get your Shipping fee ($6) returned. There
are also easy offers from Blockbuster, and others.

Step 3: Refer ten of your friends to the URL they give you.

Step 4: Check your mailbox and your free Mac Mini is on its way!

Click Here to Register for a Free Mini Mac

Re:How to get a Free Mini Mac

[sidepocket]

wtf?

Not Even Close to Good

[visionsofmcskill]

I have all three burnout games, and am a big fan of the series.

However, i see burnout 3 as a perfect exmaple of what happens when an awesome idea gets subverted by a marketing team gone wrong, and a loss of focus on actual GAME PLAY.

While the many new game modes are fun and worthwhile, this game makes four egregious errors that are so bad as to cause me not to play it as much as its prior two iterations.

1 load, load, load, load.
The single greatest fault of the game is the continual loading... unlike the prior two this third burnout likes loading everywhere, with an interface that requires more menus and pointless confirmation screens than a instalation of windows, expecialy nice is how a song loads up to show you the race results, gets about 10 seconds into the song, before loading a nother song for the menu screen. This is greatly affected by the very very short race times, in combination with the even shorter times for the other modes.... which means, a lot of loading, a lot of intermissions.

2 music for teenagers
While the previous two games have excelent sound tracks derived directly from a more ubiquotous racing sorta trancy background sound with special boost music for each track (boosting gets the heartbeat and running out of time gets a modified music track)... this new version comes prepackaged with the most irritating marketting music package ever, can you say PUNK ROCK. cause theres a ton of the cheesiest, mill factory bands pumping through this game, complete with your own .... PUNK ROCK jukebox.... i hope you like circa 2003 punk rock people, cause thats all your gonna get. I can somewhat respect the idea of making a whole theme out of the game, but in all honesty.... its terrible, at first it was cool... i like punk, but then after about... oh twenty minutes, its gets real lame, and you start to feel like the game was designed for twelve year olds who wanna rebel against their parents.

3 online too short
as if the continual loading times werent bad enough, playing online is just an exercise in excrutiating pain. EVERYTHING takes forever, to be rewarded with a race that barely lasts a minute or two... now wait to find a new race to join, now wait for the players to fill in, now wait for the game to start, now race!!!, now wait.... you get the picture.
Totaly not worth the online play unless you have a serious hard-on that can withstand the long delays enough to put a short 2 minute bruising on someone.

4 racing blur
Why? gofds almighty why? who came up with the idea of making things HARDER to see, when they are already fucking hard to see on a TV's pitiful resolution?
The previous games have their own racing blur, which is hard enough to deal with, but well done enough not to screw the game entirely, but Burnout 3 doesnt just blur your vision, they fish-eye you too while moving at ridiculous speeds. I found this added "effect" to be totally and irrevocably one of the dumbest ideas to hit a racing game in a long time. Its like saying your game designers couldnt figure out how to make a game more challenging without hindering the players already impaired vision.

The underpinnings of this game were astoundingly well done, the new game modes ingenious, the overall quality would have been excelent. But some middle manager got their hands on some BS market analysis and decided to cheese the game out with punk rock, and add a "cool" fish eye effect, and someone in the interface department was sleeping at the wheel when the decision to load anything anywhere and everywhere somehow slipped through.

As a major fan of the series, id say this game is a perfect exmaple of how to ruin a great game by forgetting that if its not about the gameplay, then it aint worth shit.

--VISION

Re:Not Even Close to Good

[AceCaseOR]

2 music for teenagers

Well, if you've got the X-Box version, you can rip music to the hard drive and use custom soundtracks while playing instead of having to put up with the default soundtracks.

Re:Not Even Close to Good

[mad flyer]

Totally agrees. And they removed the control for the gearbox which render things less interesting when you're used to downshift for slowing down...

Too much pre-teen babling too from the speaker

Re:Not Even Close to Good

[Anonymous Coward]

You know you can turn the music off, right? You should try doing that, b/c the craptastic music is obviously coloring your entire preception of the game.

Yes, the music is that bad. It's easy to fix, tho. Note, you can (must!) turn off both the music and the DJ seperately.

Re:Not Even Close to Good

[Anonymous Coward]

1 load, load, load, load.

If on an xbox, try upgrading your IDE cable. Greatly decreased load times for me, but I'm also playing the game from the hard drive.

Huh.

[delmoi]

Well, you should try fucking her around 10pm. Then you'll probably be asleep by 11 as well.

Re:sigh

[Cecil]

MMORPG's and Burnout and FPS's??? That's all we're left with?

If you stick to mainstream (ie console) gaming, yes.

Darn it - I want a new x-com or MOO or MOO2 (and not that abortion MOO3 either)

Seconded. (and MOO3 left me feeling like a good friend had stabbed me in the back)

Much agreed homey!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Best the XBOX has to offer!!!

If you have not played this yet, you are missing out!

Heh

[delmoi]

Your post was more informative then the entire review.

BurnOut 2 was a great game as well

[betelgeuse68]

I haven't played BurnOut 3, but it's on my radar.

-M

Worst Submission Ever!

[Neuroelectronic]

Why can't I ever get any of my submissions posted? CmndrTaco couldn't command much else.

Zonk sucks.. This is not front page news.

[Anonymous Coward]

You are a complete idiot. You're definately on the level of Michael Sims and Jon Katz.

Where, exactly, did they find this retard?

This does not belong on the front page news.

And for all the hate /. has been spewing at EA, I find it hilarious that they're running paid "review-vertisements" for them.

Kickback??

[RobertKozak]

As others here have mentioned this article seems out of place on the front page of slashdot. When there is other much more relevant new items that can be posted, even in the games section.

EA has been getting alot of bad press for their working conditions.. I wonder if they are laying out the dough to the slashdot editors for a little grassroots discussion of their titles.

I predict this wont be the last time we see this....

Re:*yawn*

[prockcore]

The most basic information like how many cars there are, how many courses there are is left out. I'm not going to spend $50 on something that will give me 6 or 7 hours of entertainment.

There's a 170 races. About 30 or so different courses.

Anyone else

[doombob]

Anyone else no longer feel safe on the road?

Re:*yawn*

[shadowsurfr1]

6-7 hours? Within two months of playing, I had over 250 hours of accumulated playtime.

Re:This is...

[Anonymous Coward]

Then go read the register!

Troll! Humbug!

Nerd!

Great fun

[Sebby]

This is one of those games that you don't need to know difficult controls or button sequences - just push the gas button, steer, and use the nitro occasionally.

It's also fun because it's real easy, you don't have to be super-precise, and you don't end up getting killed constantly.

This version is a great improvement over #2, which was fun for the crashing part, but wasn't as interesting as #1 for the racing. #3 combines the best of both ealier versions, with much, much more racing venues and gameplay.

Definitivly a 'get-it' item, but if you're into racing games you should also look into #1 if you havent' already.

Re:Great fun

[LiquidCoooled]

and use the nitro occasionally.

occasionally? OCCASIONALLY?

My trigger finger practically has rigger mortis after playing this game for a while, my eyes are bloodshot (camera zoom/blur), and my ears have been assaulted by the awful soundtrack.

(my god, doesn't that make me sound old)

Its a nightmare, and definately not something I would have bought for myself.
BUT
Now, every other racing game looks so damned sedate and slow. Its like turning off the motorway and being forced to drive at normal speed.

Re:Great fun

[Sebby]

"and use the nitro occasionally.

occasionally? OCCASIONALLY?"

Well, yes, otherwise you just zoom past your target. And besides, it makes for a better hit as you speed up to hit them as you can line up your shot before hitting the nitro.

I think I played Burnout 1

[GunFodder]

I remember renting a racing game for the Gamecube where you earned boost for dangerous driving; it was probably the original Burnout. It was a good game. By default the tracks had traffic, which made the racing more interesting. The sound and graphics were good.

I remember one race in particular. A large part of the race was down a busy multilane freeway (aka turnpike). The only way you could complete each lap in the alloted time was to hold down the boost button on this freeway, and the only way to replenish your boost supply was to drive on the wrong side of the road. So you had to drive at maximum speed directly into oncoming traffic :)

it gets even the non-gamers

[dmauro]

This is one of those games like Katamari Damacy, that I can show to all my non-gamer friends and they get really, really into. Plain and simple, this is a GOOD game. This review really sums up what's great about it. Although I don't think he put enough emphasis on how good the game is at making you feel like you're going FAST. When you hit the boost, the edge of the screen gets a blur effect that is less novelty, and more essential for giving the impression of ridiculous speeds. But um, front page? Isn't this what games.slashdot is for? Especially when you're this late on your review of an EA game ;)

In Related News

[ppp]

In related news, EA has agreed to pay the automotive industry $12.5 billion for the exclusive use of automobiles in a video game format for the next 10 years.

-G
www.g.pix.com

Re:Gotha[m] racing

[mzwaterski]

cool, thanks

ps: sorry about the spelling (must learn to use preview)

My world is shattered.

[fizban]

A game developed by EA Games, running on an X-Box, reviewed on Slashdot?!?! Wha, wha, what!?!

Re:*yawn*

[AceCaseOR]

Ditto. You know, if /. is taking game reviews now, I should seriously consider writing up a review of "Def Jam: Fight for NY." (My opinion in short: Good fighting system, good controls and match types, but lack of online multi-player and custom soundtracks for the X-Box version cause problems).

Online multiplayer is awesome

[Suddenly_Dead]

This game has one of the most fun console multiplayer games that I have experienced. I don't usually like the online console games much, mostly due to their lack of depth and modding and such compared to PC games, but this is quite fun. It plays without much lag (racing games always seem to have a bit, but this is extremely mild compared to others), and taking down friends online is a blast.

The game modes are pretty fun too, like the team game where one team runs and they other tries to catch up and take them down. I've managed to find a few games with really sensible people, and we set the runners' cars on the lowest class and the rest of us on a class or two higher. Terrific fun.

A warning to burnout 2 players...

[ClioCJS]

My wife and I purchased two $80 force-feedback steering wheels. (Logitech).

These 2 wheels allowed us to race against each other in Burnout 2, which is the ONLY thing we ever did.

In Burnout 3, these 2 wheels do NOT work. Only one works. I AM LIVID.

What the fuck is EA doing? Removing hardware support from previous versions? Trying to participate in a conspiracy to get us to spend another $150 on steering wheels?

If anyone has ANY information on how to get 2 wheels working, I'd love to hear it.

Re:A warning to burnout 2 players...

[Anonymous Coward]

These 2 wheels allowed us to race against each other in Burnout 2, which is the ONLY thing we ever did.

I AM LIVID.

So if that's all you and your wife did, it's real easy to understand your anger.

Re:A warning to burnout 2 players...

[MikeBabcock]

I too highly recommend other cardio stimulating activities.

Sex comes to mind.

Non-Licensed Vehicle Models

[lowrydr310]

Great looking damage is applied to the (non-licensed) vehicle models

I always had the impression that nonlicensed vehicles would be very dull and make the game unrealistic, however the GTA series has proven me wrong. Even cars in the original 2D Top-Down Grand Theft Auto were exciting. Their names are so creative, and it's relatively easy to determine which 'real' car they're imitating.

My favorite vehicle in Vice City is the "Faggio" scooter. This closely resembles the Piaggio scooter http://www.piaggiousa.com/

Spot the comma

[jaavaaguru]

Maybe you should have spent more time learning grammar and less time making weird noises with cars:

"...may be the furthest thing from the minds of some readers if you were ever a four year old..."

The grammar totally sucks!

Re:Front Page News?

[stratjakt]

I already got sick of Burnout 3 back in November.

Seriously, G4TechTV is more "on the ball" when it comes to reviewing current games.

This is just what we've come to expect from slashdot. Glowing book "reviews", complete with amazon referral links. Interesting tech "news", plagairized by Roland Piquapille for our reading enjoyment (and his ad revenue enjoyment).

Now they shill for EA, a company many /.ers despise.

Oh, and the review itself is awful. This guy cannot write. It's just big run-on sentences describing how he crashed up the car.

Here's my zonk-review of Halo 2:

One time I crawled behind and melee killed one of my clanmates in Halo 2 and then "teabagged" him and everyone was watching, and it was really funny because they were all laughing and then I got the gun and ran and shot another guy and then i got the bomb and went to arm it and they threw a grenade in there but i jumped then i hit the guy with the grenade then i armed the bomb and we scored and it was 1 to 0 but later we lost 2-1 because my stupid teammate didn't even know where our base was so he didn't get back to help stop them from arming the bomb, but later we were playing on zanzibar and i opened the gate and they drove the warthog in and shot up all the guys and took the flag because we were playing capture the flag and then they tried to drive it in the warthog but it got exploded so then i took the flag and ran and they were shooting at me but i got around the corner before they killed me and my shield charged back up and i scored.

Halo 2 is from microsoft so buy it because they deserve our money. Also buy the special edition headset. kthx bye

Re:*yawn*

[N0decam]

Despite the crappy review, you owe it to yourself to check the game out. It's an awesome adrenaline racer.

As to how many courses - I haven't bothered to count, but there are probably a dozen true courses that you play in various configurations, taking different turns, going different directions, etc. Lots of cars, though a lot of them play similarly.

As for replay though - don't worry about being bored with it after 6-7 hours, unless you don't likea arcadey adrenaline racers with spectacular crashes. Even then, it's probably worth a rental.

Does this review belong on the front page? Nope. It barely belongs on the Games page, since the game is so old.

What about the physics?

[mangu]

The EA racing game I liked most was NFS Porsche, because it had a good physics model. It was fun to play with a force feedback wheel, only Grand Prix Legends is better. However, the later NFS series games suck when played with a wheel, they seem to be designed for gamepads only. I suppose that's a consequence of being designed for consoles.

Unfortunately, the 1967 F1 cars in GPL are so difficult to drive and one gets tired of the same tracks in NFS-PU. In a perfect world, Papyrus would open source GPL, EA would release new tracks for NFS-PU, and Microsoft would release the full specs for the Sidewinder force feedback API, so we would get Linux drivers.

Re:What about the physics?

[pgriff]

I'm guessing that in a game where you can evidently control individual pieces of flaming wreckage that 'real world physics' was one of thir priorities.

Re:What about the physics?

[Scherf]

Take a look at GTR, which is almost as awesome as Grand Prix Legends. There is a demo version to try out.
But I have to agree. An GPL'ed version of GPL (haha) would be great. The game has such a good fan community, that I think it would also do well as a mod community.

Re:What about the physics?

[wrong]

The physics have one major problem. You can slam into the other competitors all day, but if you so much as nudge a car that's considered by the game to be crashing, you crash. Relative velocity doesn't enter into it.

It also seems to be more sensitive to contacts with non-player vehicles than those with other competitors, but that effect is subtler and I couldn't swear to it.

All 3 are fairly different...

[MaestroSartori]

Burnout 1 is a fairly straight racing game with excellent crashes, and a few extra game modes. Burnout 2 has more game modes, and focuses more on driving dangerously to earn boost to win. Crash mode makes an appearance here, great fun. B2 is about halfway between 1 and 3, where Burnout 3 is all about the crashing and driving dangerously, almost making the racing itself secondary a lot of the time. In fairness, 2 is good, 3 is the best :)

Disclaimer - I worked on 1 (ports to XBox and GC) and 2 (PS2), but not 3...

Re:All 3 are fairly different...

[Anonymous Coward]

Thank you for the Gamecube port. ...Disgruntled GameCube owner wanting to play v3.

Heh

[Treeluvinhippy]

Why am I not suprised that the review for a Video Game called Burnout 3 was posted by someone who refers to themself as Zonk.

Pshweecrrrrrrash

[whitelabrat]

There is something truly magic about this game. I realized this when a bunch of us hardend paper-pushers were captivated by, "who could make the best pile-up". Mix in a litter beer... goog times for everyone.

For all those /.-games-are-news-flamebait-bitches out there... -1 Troll for you. This is news for Nerds. And this really does matter.

Oh no. Double Troll wammy for me!

Re:This is...

[Kr3m3Puff]

Anonymous Coward!!!!

Re:Front Page News?

[goldspider]

I'm sorry but putting "innovative" in the same sentence as "racing game" is a tough sell, no matter how "cool" the game may be. And this is definitely not "Stuff that matters".

xbox and ps2 only. :(

[raygundan]

Sadly not available for the PC or gamecube, or anything else for that matter. I played it at a friends' place, and it is a great game, so I'll probably pick it up when Xboxes are $40 in a year or two.

I've owned the game for a few months now

[Enrico Pulatzo]

and really hate the load times on the xbox. That alone has made Crash mode (my house's favorite on the predeceding game) not nearly as fun. The best part of the game is the revamped pursuit mode, now known as road rage.

There are a lot of little interface odditites too. You can't jump into another crash mode via the menu, you have to go backwards and it takes as long to choose to play as it does to actually play the mode.

Lucky Zonk

[suffe]

Wow, that is one long post for slashdot. Not that I've actually read the "article" since I already have the game, but it seems like it would have hurt to get it rejected.

Sleep depravation

[Anonymous Coward]

This game kept me from going to bed at a decent time last night. Now I'm dragging my a$$ at work.

I bought an xbox for THIS?

[ReadParse]

Thank you very much for the review/comment. I actually have not yet bought an Xbox, but I must say that the release of Burnout 3 and the realization that it would not be released for the Gamecube definition made me starting thinking seriously again about getting an Xbox.

In fact, it is our plan to get an Xbox anyway, mainly because we're getting tired of feeling like we're on the stepchild system when looking at the rental shelves. I've also heard awesome things about the Xbox and like a lot of the games, etc, etc.

Anyway, had I still been thinking about getting an Xbox just to play Burnout 3 -- see, my son and I absolutely LOVE the first two Burnouts -- in fact, it will probably be the first game we get anyway. My point is that your review really hit on points that I needed to hear. They've sold the franchise up the river, apparently -- lousy music, too much loading, stupid "effects" like the fish-eye blur. The first Burnout was awesome, the second one took some getting used to but now I like it a lot also. Sounds like the third one will be a disappointment (like Star Wars and The Matrix and Back to the Future -- OK, I kind of liked the 3rd Back to the Future) -- oh, and the worst of all -- The Godfather Part III. Shudder.

Anyway, thanks for the comment. I appreciated it.

Re:I bought an xbox for THIS?

[cluke]

It's a great game, but they've really gone mad with the presentation. It looks awesome, but it gets in the way of the gameplay. For example, tracks are selected by geography, which is pretty unintuitive and annoyingly slow. And there is so much damn loading it's not funny.

EA seem to be obssessed with turning everything into an "X-treme Sport". Hence, the introduction hyperactive DJ on "Crash FM" who gives you crash tips and has witty little sayings like (talking about the wine trucks in a certain level) "The number one cause of death on the roads in the Vineyard is drink driving - number two is driving drink!" Tasteful, eh?

Also, if you play to beat your own or your friend's high-scores in crash mode, forget about it in BO3. It does not show you the high scores in game. Yes, you heard me. IT DOES NOT SHOW YOU THE HIGH SCORES AFTER YOU CRASH. You have to quit back to the menu, and enter a separate menu and then select your track *by name* from about 30 and REMEMBER your scores. That fact that loading times are a total bitch makes this a non-starter.

They have also fallen afoul of the latest craze to make every damn thing unlockable. Your first two hours will be a massive blur of literally dozens of "unlocked new car! unlocked new track! new award unlocked" mesages each of which dumps you uncermeniously back to the main menu to watch a little cut scene. There are about 50 odd cars, but they are mostly identikit with only about 5 classes. Unlocking is more a chore than a pleasure when you will only ever use a small fraction of the cars you get.

What else? Well, being EA they have obviously had some sort of meeting where they have agreed to leverage their partners properties or somesuch, hence you have 30 odd tracks from not-quite-made-it-yet bands with comedy track names like "My teenage angst has a bodycount". Though most of it was my taste in music, so that wasn't so bad for me.

Bottom line is though, the core gameply is FANTASTIC. The graphics are amazing, the crashes are amazing, the sheer adrenaline rush is like no other racing game I have played. Just a pity about the EA-ification it seems to have had to undergo.

Argh

[retro128]

Loved the crash mode, but is it just me or are the races freakin impossible?

Re:Argh

[British]

I haven't tried Burnout 3, but in 2 the races are definitely possible. You just have to learn how to get into chains of burnouts. my record was 11. Basically, when you are in boost mode, drive on the wrong side of the track, do good drifts on intersections and do lots of near misses.

Your reward is more boost when you are currently boosting. Thus, you can be miles ahead of the competition.

As for burnout 1, I couldn't complete a race due to sheer boredom of the game.

Re:Argh

[odin53]

Definitely possible -- it just takes practice. FWIW, sitting closer to the TV helps me!

Re:Argh

[Bahumat]

They're difficult at first, but well worth it as the gameplay goes on past the 40th hour or so.

I was pleased to find that the technique racing was just as effective as most.

A few things I've found help in the races: Remember that you have both brakes and "neutral" on your analog dpad. You can make some marvelously sharp turns by simply letting go of the gas/brake entirely for a moment.

Likewise, regardless of the car, your handling is always better if you aren't boosting. Always. Even for some reason in cars that go no faster with boost than without it. (The Dominator Sports/Super, the racing carts.)

Especially in the faster races, learn to steer only as much as you need to; learn to take your speed down in appropriate turns. Master, master, master those drift turns too; they'll chop seconds off your lap time.

Mind that with the high-performance vehicles, the boost serves more to help you accelerate than making any real difference on your top speed. Pulse the boost, that way your car won't get stuck in a gear (as it sometimes will, since it can't shift if your revs are too high), and hence you'll get to your top speed faster.

In the last races, yes, the difficulty is nearly insane. The computer, weakling and pitiful in the Compact series, becomes Hannibal Lecter behind an airfoil in the cart series. There's really little you can do about that except outrace them at that point; forget brawling.

Lastly, for burning laps and most time-sensitive races, just restart if you crash more than once. You won't make the gold time, period. Perhaps one time out of a hundred you can have two crashes and still make a time limit, the rest of the time, you're hooped. So in those races, avoidance of traffic is key. Accept that there are times you'll have to hit the brakes to survive; take the slowdown time-penalty over a much more severe crash-penalty.

I can't help you much with the Retro Roadster though. I swear to god someone greased the wheels just before you start it up. My record drift turn with that sucker is 1612 feet. My next highest drift turn with any other vehicle is 800 feet.

Re:Argh

[retro128]

Hey, thanks, I'll take that advice and (try to) apply it. Besides the timed races being somewhat impossible to get through for me, I find it annoying in the head to head races how the crash penalty for the computer is practically zero. I never get more than one second ahead. But if I crash, the computer is automatically 10 seconds ahead...I swear the developer is a total masochist.

Some kick asses, some kiss asses, some just asses

[stoneaxe coming]

The posting of the whole review makes it disgusting and blatant advertising. It is just pathetic that main-stream media including non-profits are so involved in this kind of shady deals like paupers. Were they born with spines or were they born with something else? Such artifical word-of-mouth makes me sick.

Hmm..

[delmoi]

Well, I'll probably rent the PS version at least and see if I like it. Gotta have something to kill time with before GT4 comes out :P

WTF ??!!??

[Anonymous Coward]

Burnout 3 : Takedown has been on the shelves for quite a few months.... its a blockbuster.....we're after christmas.... and we get a review now ???

It's ok that /. makes a few bucks with it but.... WTF.... MONTHS after ??

I mean, I played the game, beaten it, unlocked what is godly possible to unlock and now I get a review ?

LOL, this is almost fun.

SMB?

[OrangeTide]

I've been trying to get the word out on one of the best games this year. It's called "Super Mario Brothers". Nobody would publish my review in the past, but it looks like slashdot may.

Two words: Carmageddon

[nweyer]

This may seem a bit obvious, but can anyone compare this console game favorably to the original Carmageddon, circa 1997? And if you mention better graphics, may I point you to Carmageddon II?
This guy summed it all up eight years ago:
http://www.skierpage.com/carma/loving.htm

"Bet that hurt."

Re:Front Page News

[Anonymous Coward]

I submitted something about Family Guy being censored by FOX when they re-aired it, even though they never received complaints the first time around. They did it preemptively. I titled it "Chilling Effect:"yadda. Nothing.

I didn't even expect it to be front page news, but damn, pretty lame it got ignored.

Nice review, but...

[rinks]

The game's been out for months. Why does this constitute front page item? Yeah, it's great- but most of us gamers have beaten it months ago. Looking forward to review of Halo 2 now, I guess.

no guns?

[CAIMLAS]

Excuse me, where are the guns?

Racing games are tired. Sure, they vary a bit from one to another, but they are, in essence, the same: go around a track. It's worse than FPS games in terms of repetitive gameplay.

I want something along the lines of "Rock 'n' Roll Racing" but with a modern game engine and graphics and additional gameplay modes. Is that too much to ask for?

Blurring Graphics

[clanrat]

yeah, the graphics blur, except for the billboard ads along the racecourse. Selling of course, current products. Kind of scary to see real ads in a game. Or maybe I'm just getting old.

Cam.

/hates ads.

spend some fucking time in real cars

[UlfGabe]

do this in real life, killing and maiming so that we can have more room for athletic people. (read: kill the fat slow obese people) fuck you all

Re:sigh

[Blue-Footed Boobie]

I STILL play XCOM. God I loved that game.

Same with Indiana Jones:Fate of Atlantis and Sam and Max Hit the Road.

I am also addicted to Burnout 3 for my Xbox...

Re:*yawn*

[prezkennedy.org]

Burnout 3 easily gave me 20+ hours of entertainment... just doing Crash mode. I've done some amazing and spectacular crashes and others that were simply hilarious. The review may not have been the greatest, but not even looking at this game because of it is simply stupid.

The only game ever made this good

[Anonymous Coward]

there was one that was such a close tie with this.

"King of the Road" on commodore 64 was the point of my life between bard's tales..

If you liked X-Com

[787style]

Then Silent Storm is for you.

http://www.silentstorm-online.com/main.php?lang=en

Re:If you liked X-Com

[Blue-Footed Boobie]

Haven't seen that before, looks pretty cool (still, not as cool as XCom)...

Thanks! Hope someone mods you up!

Old?

[shamowfski]

I see, you'll post his burnout 3 review, but not my Super Mario Bro's review. They're both about the same age....

That's not a review.

[fondue]

It's a description.

By the way, games publishers release screenshots to the press, these are easily obtained and don't need to be credited.

bah

[Anonymous Coward]

Who the fuck cares? This game has been out long enough for a lot of people to have enjoyed the game.
Ooooh my review. Yeah right.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

*Kerr-RASH!!* The sound of fun.

[John Pfeiffer]

Yeah, I love this game. Even my father can be found playing this from time to time, and going up against him in 'Road Rage' is so much fun it should be illegal. We have a pair of Logitech GT-Force racing wheels that we got off ebay for cheap, I decided to plug them in on a 'what if', and it turned out Burnout 3 loves them almost as much as I love Burnout 3 :)

Recently, I was talking to some friends about how awesome it would be to play Burnout 3 on the DLP Projector/'10-foot wallscreen of Doom' I'm putting together, one of them hadn't heard of the game, and after showing him a crash mode video I'd recorded (You can find it on my site), he immediately ran out and bought it...which no one knew until he popped onto IRC a day later and said he hadn't done anything but play Burnout 3 since then... (I should note that if you want to buy video games and stuff around here, you're pretty much committing yourself to a 20-30 mile drive)

My father gets no end of enjoyment from forcing me infront of oncoming semis and buses... It's just not right. *shakes head*

Oh yeah, and the soundtrack is awesome. Nothing beats causing freeway mayhem to 'I wanna be sedated'.

My review

[Skudd]

On the PS2, this game is:
- Fun
- Addictive
- Not really realistic, but still very cool
- Addictive
- Addictive
- Addictive
- Addictive

good goddamn game though

[Perianwyr Stormcrow]

I usually hate these games, but Burnout was some serious business.

Total agreement

[Bollenator]

I've had this game roughly since it came out and find that I still put it in the ol' Xbox to play, despite the other top-notch games in my collection (Halo 2, MechAssault 2, Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow). The graphics, gameplay, cars are all designed with quality in mind by people who obviously have a passion for gaming. The included EA Trax could definitely use the old "heave-ho," but otherwise I am very impressed with this game.

The most amazing thing about this game, however, does not stem from its AI or unmatched feeling of speed or even its dazzling visuals when coupled with an HD-ready TV. The most amazing thing is:

My wife can't get enough of it.

The only other game that my wife has even remotely enjoyed playing on my (now our) Xbox is Fusion Frenzy, which gives me bad-voice-acting-induced headaches and nightmares of ascending the threads of an infinite corkscrew, jumping and ducking to save my life, all to the tune of bad techno. Needless to say, when my wife picked up and played Burnout 3 with unmatched fervor, I couldn't have been more happy. You know, thought I, maybe this will be my wife's "gateway game"; I'll have her hooked on Halo 2 in no time! *evil laugh*

Of course, it was I who got hooked on Burnout 3, and gaming with her has never been better.

Thanks, Criterion Software and EA... well, maybe just Criterion Software. ;)

Damn I just got over this game

[KrizDog]

....and now i feel like loading it up.

My best crash

[ColonBlow]

I got just over $2.2 million worth of damage by jumping a city bus across the divider of a bridge into the oncoming lane. You'd be surprised how often I think about that while driving to work.

If it's Wednesday...

[Anonymous Coward]

...I guess it means we like EA this week.

you know you've played too long when...

[imthatguy]

you wonder why you can go any faster into oncoming traffic

you explain to the cops that you were only trying to get gold in road rage

you find yourself wondering if you boosted over a ramp into rush hour how much crash cash you could win

Switch off the announcer

[repvik]

Yes, he's freaking annoying. After a couple of hours of play you've heard everything. Go into the menus and switch him off. It's not that hard ;)

Not for me...

[ksiddique]

I have a GameCube you insensitive clod!

Criterion Games is a wholly owned subsidiary of EA

[Sagarian]

...so that argument doesn't really hold water.

Re:Two words: Carmageddon

[strangel]

Yes, the original Carmageddon is on my "best games of all time" list, and Burnout 3 is the first game to recapture the fun I had with it. You mention Carmageddon 2, but it while it had much better graphics, the controls and the damage felt...stiff and clunky, not anything like Carmageddon 1, I hated it. Carmageddon TDR 2000 came closer to the controls of the original but not quite...nothing beats the original.

the game simply rules!

[madpuppy]

and you really have to check it out on a 100" front projection screen in dolby digital!!

I am not even a big game fan and I love this game.

I couldn't get myself to like it

[Mostly Monkey]

Although the game was overall pretty fun, the blatent cheating by the AI really ruined the game for me. I could knock out a car 3x in a row, filling my boost meter all the way up, but yet the same car could catch up with me almost every time even while I was constantly boosting. If I have earned a 15 sec lead let me keep it! Even worse, the rubberbanding was only one way... If I fell far behind there was no chance of catching up.

C64 'Drive Music'

[tonypeters]

Indeed, the C64 'Drive Music' was a horror to behold!!! I remember being round a freind's house and looking through a box of disks he had borrowed and came across 'Drive Music'. We thought it might be a demo disk with great music from Outrun or whatever and slapped it in...... LOAD *,8,1 (or whatevrr) later and the drive started to play Happy Birthday. we chuckled for a few seconds before we realised it was the heads making the noise!!!!! ARRRRGH

Why?

[DaveCBio]

This games has been out since September 2004. Why on earth is this review being posted here? Why does this review get posted over the thousands of others that probably get submitted?

XBOX Acceptance

[raam]

Has anyone noticed the sea-change in acceptance of the XBOX? I remember the attitude when it came out was somewhat dismissive of it as a "PC in an ugly box", but now it seems that the ugly duckling is sprouting new feathers. Is it the LIVE experience? Is the PS2 passe? Is it the supposedly better graphics? Are newer games finally more robust than initial offerings? Is it the fact that everyone can hack it? OR is the bxo finally coming into its own as people realize some potential?

What IS going on?

Re:XBOX Acceptance

[fondue]

It's trivially easy to pirate Xbox games. No big mystery.

Re:XBOX Acceptance

[Anonymous Coward]

I disagree with your piracy comment a little bit. It's more like Michael Copland (ex Corel) years ago turning a blind eye to piracy to sell more software once people like it. I have 2 xbox, one modded for trying out games and the other non-modded to play xbox live. After playing the "free" downloaded version I just had to go out and buy this game to play online.

Re:XBOX Acceptance

[RubberDogBone]

Piracy is one thing -remember, easy game piracy was a major factor in the success of the original PlayStation. Sony probably sold double the consoles that way. Another factor for the Xbox is that it is finally reached a mature stage where the publishers are finally pushing the machine as hard as they can, decent games are everywhere, used games are cheap as hell, and the online stuff is actually working. It has finally all come together and that's why it is damned hard to find an Xbox in stores. I know, cause I tried to but one last weekend and nobody had any in stock. Demand is such that used boxes are going for only $20 under the new price. The things just do not depreciate! Frustrating for console buyers and stores but MS should be happy. The new box will be coming out this year if the rumors are true but I think the first Xbox still has a couple years worth of legs left in it and more if the new one is not backward-compatible. I know MS loses money on every box (aww....) but it seems a shame to drop it like a stone in favor of the new one, which is probably exactly what they will do; MS is really good about abandoning hardware devices on a whim.

Re:sigh

[amuro98]

Moo3 is like having a relationship with someone you know is totally wrong for you, yet you keep coming back for the abuse.

Each time you think "it'll be better this time...I'll make it work!" only to meet with the same pain, dissapointment, and anger.

And like that person, you can't change Moo3 no matter how hard you try...

Re:xbox and ps2 only. :(

[HAKdragon]

Supposedly the reason why Burnout 3 wasn't ported to the Gamecube was because because of the online play, though that wouldn't make sense for why they didn't do a PC port. I have the PS2 but I haven't played online because I don't have a network adapter, so if they had a Gamecube version sans online play, that'd be ok by me.

Heartbreaker Icon ruined the game

[Anonymous Coward]

I loved Burnout 2. I liked Burnout 3 at first, but only played it for about a week.

Crash mode is truly the most fun part of the game, and it was ruined by the addition of the Heartbreaker icon, which would take your score and divide it by 2. What a pointless thing to do! Actually, all the icons were pointless, because passing a crash level went from finding the best angle and time to boost (Burnout 2) to finding the best way to hit all the icons.

Other things that were lost so EA could publish this game by Christmas of last year was the addition of a replay mode for Crash (it's an Xbox with a Hard Drive, let me save my best replays dammit) and the horrible camera. The camera in Burnout 2 was actually better.

I hope someone from Criterion who can influence Burnout 4 is reading this. Get rid of icons in crash mode!

Re:Heartbreaker Icon ruined the game

[jizmo]

My thoughts exactly.

Flatout

[Sciflyer]

How does Flatout compare? A similar game that is a real laugh with your mates :)

Reminds me of Sega's Crazy Taxi series

[MaSee]

Sounds fun! Just like Sega's Crazy Taxi. A car game with a twist and lots of meyhem.

For those who haven't heard of Crazy Taxi, well, you're a taxi driver of an indistructible taxi. You pick up fares and take them to where they want to go. The faster you get them there, the more money you get. This leads to just driving like mad, weaving through traffic, and pulling off stunts. You get points for dangerous driving without crashing, which just slows you down.

One of my all time favorite games. Too bad it's hard to find good arcade machines for it, due to the abuse they get because of certain techniques used in the game (putting the card in Drive, and then slam on the gas a split second later gives a speed boost).

Am I the only one who hates this game?

[jizmo]

As a huge fan of the two first games, I was really looking forward for this third one only to see they ruined everything that was great in part 2. Here's why: 1) Crashing mode. They spoiled the ingenious idea in Burnout 2 with silly extra 'features' that ruin the idea of having to plan perfect speed, direction and timing to have the perfect crash. Just straight forward crashes where you become a passenger after the first impact. Now it's all about collecting bonuses, steering in mid-air and aftifically exploding the car afterwards. Boring and utterly stupid. 2) The graphics aren't improved at all, in fact Burnout 2 looks better to me. Horizon becomes blurred in distance so it's impossible to predict the oncoming traffic. 3) Physics have taken a turn for worse in crashing mode. Wildly oscillating buses that bend like they've made out of cardboard. Sigh. 4) Most annoying rubberband effect ever. No matter if you drive with normal speed or boost perfectly for three laps straight, they're still on your tail. 5) Don't get me started about the soundtrack and the annoying announcers. Go marketing, go! 6) Unlocking system that takes all the fun away from unlocking stuff. 'You've unlocked three inferior cars you don't need anymore. Congratulations.' End of rant, I'm off to play Burnout 2. /jizmo

Re:xbox and ps2 only. :(

[raygundan]

I don't follow their online play reason, either. There's an ethernet adapter in my gamecube. If they have netcode in the other versions, I can't imagine a port would be that difficult. Especially given their experience developing Burnout 1 and 2 on the 'cube-- they clearly have some experience gamecube developers handy.

But I'm just whining since there's a good game that's not available for the gear I have-- the answer is just to pony up, or keep mooching on my friends' xboxes. :)

lack of consistency...

[nullstar]

You nailed several of my primary beefs with B3...Aftertouch camera woes topping the list. If I had to summarize my other complaints into one, though, I'd say "Lack of Consistency in the Rules." (Don't get me wrong, though: I love this game.)

You mentioned lack of after-crash immunity...but sometimes it is there -- your car moves laterally to avoid trucks, cars, walls, etc. But then sometimes you just smash right into one of those objects -- or one that wasn't even visible when the game went into autopilot mode. (After a couple hours, the takedown photo op is just a distraction that often causes you to crash for reasons beyond your control -- just give us the option to turn it off -- like the damn DJ.)

The amount of time alotted for crashes varies without clear rules, too -- sometimes you're back on the road immediately; other times you crash and stop...wait a second...a truck hits you...more waiting...then a car...then you restart only to find yourself gone from 1st to 10 seconds behind 3rd. But I've lost track of the number of times a CPU racer has been barreling directly toward my car -- too close to steer away -- only for me to be teleported at the last instant to my restart, simply to watch through my windshield as the CPU player blazes on at top speed.

Takedowns are scored very poorly at times, especially if multiple vehicles are involved: forcing one vehicle into another often results in no takedown for me. I'd advocate some kind of system where A hits B which runs into C and both crash scores two takedowns for A. (Sometimes I get credit, but as often as not I don't. Especially if walls are involved.) On the other hand, if B crashed after being hit by A -- and would have missed C entirely but steered toward C, hit it, and caused it to crash -- then A and B ought to get a takedown each. The worst (and most common) event along these lines is trying to ram a racer only to have them crash a split-second before you hit them -- because it means you crash (and probably lose boost) vs. score a takedown (and refill your boost meter).

One last gripe: - Why do I consistently get the "You are five seconds ahead" message just half a second before the "He's right on your tail!" message?! And if I'm 10 seconds ahead, how can a five-second accident result in me not only losing two positions but being so far behind I can't even see the other players? A Mario-Kart-style map w/ position indicators would do wonders here vs. the inconsistent (and irregularly timed) updates written on the screen. Or maybe the DJ could be put to good use and announce relative positions of players...

Well, it is now...

[kapowaz]

...but the deal to purchase Criterion went through (publically, at least) shortly after Burnout 3 was released, although EA's involvement in the project began some time before then. But as far as the developers are concerned; it was made by Criterion, not EA (although we can thank EA for their brand-centric placement of the EA Soundtrack ticker, and the focus group skaterawk soundtrack).