Burnout offers racing with attitude

The latest instalment of the Burnout gaming franchise offers a good mix of speed and aggression, says Daniel Etherington of BBC Collective in his weekly games column.

There is no escape from the path of the 18-wheeler

An 18-wheeler jack-knifes into the path of oncoming cars, which crumple beneath its skidding mass, throwing up showers of sparks and exploded windscreen. Further vehicles hurtle into the expanding pile-up.

These are some of the moments found in the game world of Burnout 3: Takedown, the new title from Criterion Games and the first Burnout released under the ever-enlarging aegis of EA Games.

This is a remarkable game, one that builds on an impressive franchise.

It is familiar yet invigorated thanks to the masterful combination of a racing game, boasting a serious sense of speed, with violent combative antics, and out and out demolition.

Transcendental racing

The original Burnout, from 2001, captured the essence of arcade racing. That was built on by the 2002 sequel, Point Of Impact, which also expanded the original's crash components.

Here the fun is inordinately dynamic and nominally realistic. Paradoxically, but reassuringly, the required racing skills anchor the game back into the genre Discuss this story on BBC Collective

The growth for this second sequel is impressive. For example, in the Crash Mode there are now around 100 junctions to despoil with contrived vehicular carnage.

But most significantly, Takedown takes the concept of aggressive driving to extreme. You literally duel with your competitors (AI or real) through shunts, swipes and prangs in the course of the racing modes.

Thanks to the combative play, Burnout 3 seems to transcend traditional racing gaming.

Vehicular combat is not new in itself of course. It is a staple of Mario Karts, an interesting comparison as both are very much about fun, about party gaming.

Here the fun is inordinately dynamic and nominally realistic. Paradoxically, but reassuringly, the required racing skills anchor the game back into the genre.

Race variations

The main single-player mode, World Tour, provides the player with the opportunity to progress in a non-linear fashion through a series of challenges, keeping the experience novel by making either race or crash options available.

Racing comes in a range of styles

As such you can tailor the experience to your own preferences, opting to attempt to unlock all the crash junctions and win the medals, or racing on tracks in the US, Europe or the Far East to expand your choice of available car models (67 in all) and crack further unlockables.

Even the racing itself comes in a variety of styles - Road Rage, Eliminator, Race, Face Off, Burning Lap and Grand Prix.

The variations mean you have to balance your approach. There is also the novel addition of Aftertouch, wherein even if you have met your doom, you have some control over the path of your hurtling car carcass, and can cause further mayhem.

Looking at the driving genre disinterestedly, racing round circuits repeatedly has the potential to lose its novelty.

But throw some aggro into the mix and you are talking about a whole different gaming experience.

Burnout 3: Takedown is available now on Xbox and PS2