Malik
(10/1/04)
Burnout 3 (XBox)
EA Games
So, with a new
obsession, I think it's time to keep up the trend of a rather quick
to production review. This time, it is my addiction of Burnout 3.
For those who aren't aware of many things, BO3 is one of the billion
games that is coming/came out this overly crowded season of 2004.
However, BO3 is also one of the few titles that actually stands out
from the rest of it's genre as worthy of our attention in this
freakish season. Also, BO3 is the sequel of one of the most under
appreciated arcade-style racers of this console generation; Burnout
2 (a game that hit the bargain price of $20 a little too quickly
considering it's great quality).
The Burnout series
is a pretty standard arcade-racing series that uses an improved
engine for crash simulation to serve as it's main selling price.
However, with BO2, the crash engine also became a new game play mode
in which you try to crash as spectacularly as possible for a high
score. However, the feature that's usually less noticed, until the
game is actually played, is the insane and spectacular sense of
speed that is so rarely seen in either simulation or arcade style
racing games (when you go 200 MPH in a Burnout game, you feel like
you're going 200 freakin' MPH!). So, now that you're up to speed,
let's get the ball rolling.
Plot
Well, there was a
wizard in a magical tower that was constructed by the teddy bear
alliance in order to protect the fair princess from the barbarian
hordes. Then, one day a monkey with a magical spoon of destruction
came along and decided that he would devour the brains of our fair
princess...did I mention that the princess is really a puppy in
disguise as a elf? She is. So, the monkey came along, and with the
help of his friend, who is a rogue teddy bear, they got past the
guard. So, you serve as the...ok...I'm messing with you...IT'S A
FREAKIN' RACING GAME! No plot! No need! A plot would only bring this
down to the level of other pseudo-sport titles that throw in a
plot.
Game Play
Now this is something
that Burnout 3 has...and it has a lot! First of all, I should tell
you about the game modes. These consist of several types of events
that can be played online (via the crappy EA ran servers...which
don't work...ever...unless you're one of the chosen people of EA
legacy...seriously, only about 10% of people playing on XBox Live
can get through to the EA Live servers without any problems), split
screen/other multiplayer offline, single event single player, or
World Tour mode (single player campaign...in which you unlock new
stuff). So, on to the modes;
First off I'll
start with everyone's favorite standard mode; Race and it's
variants. In this mode, it's you versus 6 other players (for a total
of you and 5 CPU players, 5 online people, or a split screen race
with one other human player) in a race of usually either 3 laps on a
shorter track or one lap/stretch of road on longer tracks. There is
not too much to say about the standard race beyond the fact that it
is in traffic on city streets and highways (and some jungle terrain
in some of the Southern Asia levels), and you will have to avoid not
only a sudden bend in the road, but also both oncoming and same
direction traffic, pillars in tunnels and some city streets, debris
(that will move, but obstruct your vision, when hit), and whatever
else you can think of (no, there are no pedestrians, you sick
$@#%...although...no, there's a time and a place and it's called GTA).
In the same line
of thinking, there are the eliminator races. These are always on
shorter tracks since they consist of 5 laps each. As you race, it
seems normal until the first lap is over. At this point, the 6th
place racer is dropped from the game. Then, with each additional
lap, the last place player is removed until there is only 2 racers
on the final lap. You should be able to figure out what happens from
there.
Also, there are
Grand Prix races. These are as they sound. You will have a total of,
usually, 3 races in a row, with no breaks, in which to each points
according to your place at the end of each race. The winner is the
one with the highest points at the end of all three. Sadly, in World
Tour mode, in which you try to get gold, silver, or bronze medals,
you can get a silver for being second place overall, but you only
get a gold if you get a perfect score (1st place in every race).
Luckily, for those who feel that the game can be bitchy at times
(which it can), you can restart any race in a GP without losing your
current score total (but you must do the restart before proceeding
to the next race).
The next game mode
is the Road Rage mode. In Burnout 3, you can, while racing, try to
cause another racer to crash. You can do this in any of the race
modes above or in Road Rage. If a player crashes, they will be
pushed back about 3 seconds as they respawn (this is also what
happens to you if you crash). This process is known as a Takedown
(hence the name; Burnout 3: Takedown). You can do this in any number
of ways from spooking a driver (cut them off and see if they might
slam into a wall without touching them; call a Psych Out), slamming
them into a wall (Wall Takedown), into a car (Car Takedown), into
special vehicles (called things like a Bus Takedown, etc), and into
special circumstances called signature takedowns (like if you slam
someone into a pillar, then you will get the Pillar Driller
takedown) which count towards your awards that count towards
unlocking new cars. Lastly, if you crash, you have limited control
of your vehicle during the crash...if you manage to hit another
racer, you will get an Aftertouch Takedown. In the Road Rage event,
you are given a certain time limit in which you must takedown a
certain number of CPU controlled cars (or other players in online
Road Rage games). However, you also have a certain number of crashes
you can take before you will be forced to stop (your car will take
damage in this event). It's a lot like the Death Race mode on F-Zero
X for the N-64...only with cars, more speed, and far better
visuals.
Last of all is
everyone's favorite trademark of Burnout...Crash mode. In this mode,
you are given a small stretch of road from one of the standard
tracks, some power-up or score altering pick-ups, and a special set
of heavy traffic...and maybe a ramp or two. You are then given an
overview of the track and are then a score goal. Your purpose is to
find the best way to crash into traffic to create the most expensive
pile-up possible (or at least to earn a gold medal in World Tour).
The pick-ups you can find include boost (which mixes out your
vehicles speed and you no longer have control of the speed on your
car/truck...yes, there are trucks!), score additions (gain a couple
tens of thousands of dollars to your total), score multipliers (to
either double or quadruple your final score...after the other
pick-ups are added in!), the heart-breaker (which cuts your final
score in half...this pick-up counters and overwhelms the
multipliers...which can lead to a lot of swearing and thrown
controllers), and the "Crash Breaker" that causes your
vehicle to explode and give you some more momentum to do some
aftertouch work. Also, these pick-ups can all be obtained either
while driving or after the crash occurs.
So, to obtain the
best scores, you not only need to consider what pick-ups are easy
enough to obtain (which always needs to include the quad score if
you want to pwnzor), but also which vehicle to strike first, where
to go with your aftertouch, and the crash breaker. The crash breaker
is not only available in a pick-up, but you also obtain one after a
set number of vehicles are crashed. So, once your momentum is done
and your aftertouch use is over, you can throw in a crashbreaker and
not only take out more vehicles and cause more carnage, but you also
gain some new momentum. Also, unlike Burnout 2, you do not get a
bonus multiplier for the number of vehicles in the pile up...thus,
you should always consider the value of a vehicle over how many you
can get involved (a tanker truck is always worth more than a little
compact car, etc). Best of all, as you crash, different vehicles
will behave differently. If you hit a tanker truck's tanker, you can
cause an explosion; if you hit a bus on the side, it will roll
easier than almost any other vehicle; hit a small car with a lot of
force and it will fly; his a logging truck and the logs will spill
onto the roadway. This mode alone makes BO3 worth it for even people
who don't usually like racing titles.
Best of all, Crash
mode has the best multiplayer options. There is party crash, in
which up to 8 people play (one person after another...not
simultaneously) to get the best score; there is a co-op crash mode
in which two players drive simultaneously and try to get, together,
a huge score...however, if a multiplayer is obtained by one one
player, then it will not count towards either total (the
heart-break, however, only needs to be gained by one person to cut
both scores in half); there is competitive crash in which two
players go at the same time to get a higher score and beat the other
player to the pick-ups. All of this makes BO3 a good party game,
even without the racing.
With the World
Tour mode, you play starting with a small number of cars (which
carry over to the other modes...so, if you don't play World Tour,
then your single event and multiplayer games will teh suxor...you'll
have few cars, few tracks, and few events to play), only a couple of
events to play (a race and a crash event), and a lack of Burnout
Points (earned by taking people out in races, making some cool
crashes in a race, or from great driving skills), Total Takedowns,
and Total Damage (your total crash score). As you get bronze medals
(or higher), you will unlock new events of the same type that you
earned a medal in (either one of the race mode games or a crash
event), and as you earn points, Takedowns, and damage values, you
will also unlock some new vehicles (crash dollars only apply towards
vehicles that cannot be player in races, nor in World Tour mode).
Lastly, if you earn enough gold medals, you will unlock more special
events and vehicles. So, with every victory, you will unlock, at the
very least, a new event and maybe a lot more (I've unlocked up to 6
things in one race). These also include trophies for special
Takedown requirements (like getting 5 takedowns in a single race),
those Signature Takedowns, causing a special damage amount in all
the crash locations (not the actual crash events, but the general
area of each crash event), and postcards from getting gold in
special events...if you get all of any of these trophies, you will
get a hella pimp new car (like the fire truck for getting the crash
requirements all met).
Also, with Burnout
3, there's a matter of the controls. Which are beyond a doubt
the best you will find on an arcade racing game. The controls are
rather intuitive with the right trigger serving as accelerate, the
left rigger serving as brake (which you will only use to start a
skid which will help you navigate tight curves) and reverse when
you've stopped (which, sadly, you will use occasionally when the
game respawns you facing perpendicular to the track), the A button
serving as your boost, black and white for advancing the music track
you're on, and X and Y both altering your perspective (one moves you
from first to third person and the other is rear view). Besides the
analogue stick (left analogue stick) controlling your direction,
that's about it for controls. They are simple, quick to learn, and
quite responsive. Sadly, for those who would like a different
configuration...well, you're SOL on that one.
Also, speaking of
things like the boost button, there is the matter of where boost
comes from (besides pick-ups in crash mode). You get boost from
being as insane of a driver as possible. For example, if you drive
in oncoming traffic, you can earn some boost for the time you spend
in the danger zone. If you come close to hitting a non-racer, you
will earn a near-hit boost bonus. If you drift turn (skid), you get
boost for the time spent drifting. Lastly, if you fight with the
racers, you can get boost. You'll get a little for hitting a racer,
and a full boost bar with an addition to the maximum if you takedown
another racer. However, at the insane speeds you'll get up to once
you've unlocked the super class cars, all of this will become a lot
more challenging (but, the progression of the game is smooth enough
that you'll learn as much as you'll be challenged...which leads to
an ideal challenge level for a racing game).
So, in a nutshell,
with all the unlockables, the many types of races and crash modes,
the online (if it ever works...damned EA should just let Microsoft
host the servers), the multiplayer, the quick and easy controls, the
good learning curve, and the hella fast speed of the game, this is
ideal racing game for people who love arcade racing, and a great
title for those who usually hate racing titles...at least in terms
of game play.
Visuals
With such a high
level of speed, and such good controls, the thing that would make
this perfect is if the visuals were nice...well, better than nice
visuals are even better...and even better are the Burnout 3 visuals.
There is little to say beyond, DAMN! The visuals are simply amazing.
The cars show the tiniest of details, especially when they get torn
to pieces in a wreck; the streets are finely detailed down to the
debris of tables and chairs, the signs on the side of the roads, the
looks of each unique building, the differences in a city street in
Europe vs. America vs. an island paradise in Southern Asia; and most
importantly, the draw distance and the quality of visuals for far
away objects take high priority (which is especially nice when it
comes to speeding at 200MPH in oncoming traffic). To put it simply,
these are the best looking graphics on a racing game currently
available (I say currently since GT4 stands to blow everything out
of the water when it finally comes out). Nothing else to say...they
are an example of visual perfection...just expect some eye strain as
you dart your eyes from one place to another in a frantic effort to
keep track of a 200MPH race, with traffic coming at you at the equivalent
of 260 MPH, opponents popping up without warning, and trying to keep
an eye on your HUD...but the strain is worth it.
Audio
To get the easy
stuff out of the way; the sound effects are also, like the visuals,
perfect. Engines hum and purr according to the vehicle type (trucks
roar, compacts buzz, etc), which is always good. Plus, the sound of
metal crunching and twisting when an accident ("accident"?
More likely a takedown) occurs is nothing short of realism at work.
Most importantly, the surround sound quality of all of this is
nothing short of pure and total ear-candy.
Unlike Burnout 2,
which would allow either custom soundtracks (XBox version) or some
really cheesy and generic tencho/video game music, BO3 has a better
option. You still get the custom sound tracks, but you also can now
have good built in music. The music of BO3 ranges from a wide
assortment of punk music from The Ramones to Yellowcard to The F-ups
to Sugarcult. There is something on this sound track for anyone, and
you have full control of what songs are played in race, in menu,
both, neither, and if the songs play in order or randomly. Also,
with the black and white buttons, a new track is only a press away.
Sadly, the only downside of this is that you will not, NEVER, have
music in crash mode...which sucks horribly since my custom
soundtrack of Less Than Jake's B is For B-Sides consists of a couple
of nice songs that are the perfect length for crashing (about 40-55
seconds).
So, if not for the
lack of crash music, the sounds of Burnout 3 are beyond anything
I've ever heard in a racing game before.
Conclusion
So, while I hate
to do so, since it goes against my bitchy nature, I have no choice
but to praise this game. Simply put, Burnout 3 has the best game
play, with the best controls, the best options for racing, the
all-mighty crash mode, great multiplayer options, and far too many
cars to count. All of this rare enough for an arcade racer without
also having truly breath taking visuals that break one of my old
rules of games (Rule: When graphics become too good, they usually
become horrible in and of themselves), and a great audio engine that
has not only realistic and wonderful sound effects, but also a great
sound track and a great use of surround sound technology. Best of
all, there is no attempt to force a plot upon us, as so many
pseudo-sports titles like to do in this generation of consoles. So,
I will simply say that Burnout
3 deserves a 9.75 out of 10
(if the cars were all unique and not just new skins on the same
machine for some of them and if EA Live worked right with XBox Live,
this would get a 10, hands down). This is the best racing game I've
ever experienced and easy lives up to the hype...and then some.
Malik
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