Burnout offers thrills and spills aplenty

By James Bregman
BBC News Online staff

The third outing for the Burnout franchise offers jaw-dropping action that is difficult to fault and perilously addictive, ramping up the graphics and gameplay of its predecessors.

Gratuitous mayhem builds up credits in Burnout 3

It may involve vehicles, but Burnout 3 is not about driving. It is about crashing.

Causing collisions, getting involved in collisions and generally inflicting damage upon anything on wheels are the name of this outrageously violent game.

Challenges on offer range from bombing around a track in a simple time trial to an all-out grand prix against other equally crazed drivers. The more you play, the more gratuitous mayhem you get to exact, and credit builds up accordingly.

Success results in new vehicles getting unlocked and a steady stream of new events opening up.

Particularly handy for a quick status boost are the brief missions where you are required to hit the gas, drive for several seconds, and plough into as much oncoming traffic as possible.

Getting the better of your rivals, in other words pulling off a "takedown", earns a speed boost so you can catch up with more opponents and repeat the cycle of violence.

The other drivers are insanely aggressive too, and will become yet more peeved and chase you down if you barge them off the road.

Mini action sequences

If the whole thing sounds a bit morally questionable, well, it is. The game has no qualms about suggesting that car crashes are fun, and you will have to buy into that rather dubious notion to enjoy it.

BURNOUT 3: TAKEDOWN Format: PlayStation 2 (tested), Xbox Graphics: 10/10 Sound: 8/10 Gameplay: 9/10 Enduring appeal: 9/10 Overall: 9/10

Burnout 3 helps you along in that respect by throwing any shred of reality out of the window.

You can write off the cars in incidents that no human being would walk away from, and a second later the vehicles are respawned in perfect nick.

You also will not see a single person either inside or outside of those vehicles.

On the many, many occasions when you crash, or cause someone else to hit something, you are treated to a dazzling slo-mo animation of the action in all its explosive, spark-shedding detail.

This feature is just stunningly impressive, creating mini action sequences that have all the dynamism and flair of anything Hollywood could muster.

Crunching sound effects complete the picture, and these "impact time" moments are what make the game an instant classic.

Slick presentation

The game's makers deserve infinite credit for managing to make this feature such a winner, with camerawork and intensity that are often truly special to behold.

The look of the game is impressive

On a technical level, the game is magnificent. The graphics are hugely impressive, although everything whizzes past too quickly for you to appreciate the backdrops in full.

And speaking of speed, it is probably safe to say that if the game let you go any faster, it would probably cease to be coherent to look at.

Not only is its gameplay superb, but Burnout 3 is a thoroughly streamlined package.

The slick presentation and tutorials are flawless, but more impressive is the way that the game unfolds.

The gradual unlocking of events and worldwide locations gives the sense that the amount of content available is absolutely enormous.

The only real price to pay for such excellence is the occasional lengthy load time.

It is certainly unethical beyond belief, and even more certainly a no-brainer of the highest, or indeed lowest, order. But it is quite preposterously good fun.