Burnout 3: Takedown (Acalith Review)

For those of you who don't usually read whole reviews, I'll just sum this one up for you: this game OWNS.

Graphics:
I won't focus on this category a lot, simply because I don't really care about graphics much. I don't believe you should buy a game because of good graphics, or vice-versa. But I'll talk about them anyway. Simply put: they're unbelievable. Everything is just so damn shiny and detailed! The blurring effect around the edges of the screen when your pulling 200 mph. make you seems like you're about to take of into Earth's orbit. But enough of that, let's get onto the important stuff!

Sound:
This game is absolutely godlike in surround sound. The sounds of metal crunching and gas tanks exploding are so incredibly satisfying, that you'll end up playing the game over and over again just to hear them. The music is all licensed, so you'll probably hear some familiar songs. Although, you won't care about the music when you're playing Crash mode, which is part of the next section:

Gameplay:
This is definitely where Takedown shines. This is my absolute favorite racing game...EVER! If you're looking for a sim, this isn't the game for you. But for the rest of you, this is heaven. This game features all new features to the Burnout series, and just the arcade racing genre in general. The first are the Takedowns (hence the title). These occur when you are racing against other people, and you...well..take them down. These can occur when you smash them into walls, pillars, or off of the sides of bridges. Each takedown gives you an extra amount of boost. You are rewarded with slow motion videos of your opponents car flying into the air, and then slowly falling to the ground....and getting totally pullvarized. There are also "signature takedowns" which are special takedowns, that only occur in certain places. And example of this is the "Gon' Fishing" signature takedown, which happens if you can smash your opponent off of the road, into water (a lake, river, ect.).

Another new feature, is "Aftertouch". "Aftertouch" allows you to steer your car after it has crashed, in order to smash into your opponents' cars. This will earn you "aftertouch takedowns". But the best feature by far, is the Crash mode. There was a crash mode in Burnout 2, but it was no where NEAR as good as Takedown's. There are over 50 crash levels, that let you try and cause as much damage as possible. There are pickups as well. These can either be good (such as the pick-up that doubles your total score), or bad (such as the "heartbreaker" pick-up). You can actually steer your car while it's airborne, in order to strike certain points in the "crash juntion" (usually just a busy intersection or highway).

Overall:
This game is simply one of the best racers I've ever played. It's right on up there was Mario Kart. The graphics are beatiful, the sound is amazing, and the game is just so damn FUN! It gets a well deserved 10/10