Burnout 3: Takedown

Burnout 3: Takedown is the third and widely regarded as the best game in the high speed racing series, Burnout. Released on September 7, 2004, developed by Criterion Games and published by Electronic Arts (the first Burnout game EA published), the game drew critical acclaim and a large fanbase. A GameCube version was planned but was scrapped during development. It is also the only game in the series that received a T rating by the ESRB. This game has been followed up by Burnout Revenge and Burnout Paradise.

Gameplay
There are five play modes, including two race modes and three crash modes. Before play starts, players choose their vehicle based on its speed and weight. In the race modes, the player gains "boost" by driving in the oncoming traffic lanes, narrowly avoiding traffic, and by causing competitors' cars to crash (called a "Takedown"). In "Race" mode, the object is to win the race around the track like a standard racing game, while in the "Road Rage" mode, the player must takedown a set number of computer-controlled opponents.

In the crash mode, the player is not racing opponents on a track. Instead, in each crash attempt, the player races at high speeds towards an intersection and tries to do as much monetary damage to the vehicles there as possible, while collecting cash and multiplier bonuses. The three crash modes are very similar. In some, you drive alone, in others you crash as a team with a combined score, etc., but the goal of doing the most damage remains the same.

In any mode, medals are awarded for achieving certain scores. These medals are used to unlock hidden tracks and vehicles.

Burnout 3 features 173 different events in the offline mode, and 67 cars to unlock, including a City Bus, Lorry Cab, Fire Truck, and a Garbage Truck for use in the Crash mode. There is also online play where up to six players can compete in a race, and eight players can compete in a Crash event. In online races, there is less aggression than in single player. Racers must focus on good drifts and avoiding traffic, not just takedowns, in order to win. This gives the online mode a different feel from single player. There is a racing variant known as Road Rage where players are divided into two teams. The blue team receives a three second head start and must drive a certain number of miles without being eliminated by being taken down. The red team attempts to takedown the blue team before they reach the finish line.

Locations
The game is split over three areas: USA, Europe and Far East. The exact locations of the tracks are just as differing as the tracks of previous Burnout series. A new asset to the race track environments are real-world landmarks and vehicles known famously to these locations: In the Downtown race track, Chicago's famous elevated subways can be seen, In the Waterfront race track, the San Diego Convention Center is seen, and in the Riviera race track, the Monte Carlo Casino is viewed briefly. As for the vehicular aspect, small three-wheeled taxis called tuk-tuks, which are found throughout Bangkok, can be seen in the Golden City track. The real names of these locations are never actually shown in the game, however.

The tracks are:

Soundtrack
The soundtrack for Burnout 3: Takedown featured nearly 40 songs, including "(We Are The) Lazy Generation" by The F-Ups, I'm Not Okay (I Promise) by My Chemical Romance, and came complete with commentary from DJ Stryker from alternative radio station KROQ-FM in Los Angeles. Alternatively, Burnout 3 supported user created soundtracks on the Xbox with the usage of the Xbox hard drive.

Xbox Originals
As part of Microsoft's classic Xbox download service; in December 2007, Burnout 3: Takedown will be available for download for the Xbox 360 at a price of 1200 Microsoft Points. . It was rumoured that the game's servers were closed and that it would prevent Xbox Live play but those rumours were likely based on an earlier temporary downtime problem as well as confusion because of the closing of the Burnout Revenge servers on November 1, 2007. Larry Hryb announced the game would land on the Xbox 360 on January 14, 2008.