Burnout 3: Takedown

Burnout 3: Takedown from 2004, by the British studio Criterion Games, brought arcade racing to absolute perfection by building the entire game around risk and aggression instead of careful driving. The boost meter fills up by driving in oncoming traffic, drifting close to opponents, and so-called Takedowns, meaning forcibly knocking an opponent out of the race through a collision, which rewards the player with extra boost and a slow-motion cinematic shot of the destruction. This risk-and-reward loop instantly became iconic and defined the arcade racing genre for years to come. Even after their own crash, the player controls the flying wreck and can attempt to take down the nearest opponent along with them.

Also legendary is the standalone Crash mode, in which the player drives into busy intersections aiming to cause the largest possible chain collision and inflict maximum financial damage, turning a traffic accident into an elaborate puzzle. A dazzling sense of speed heightened by motion blur, convincing crash sound design, and a total absence of braking, since the game literally punishes caution, created an adrenaline-fueled experience unmatched on PS2. A packed licensed soundtrack and an energetic radio host complete the impression that this is more of a music video than a racing game.

Criterion Games definitively overshadowed rival Need for Speed with this entry, and Burnout 3 is still cited today as the benchmark for arcade racing and one of the most fun and highest-rated racing titles of the entire console generation. The game ran smoothly on both platforms of the time, PS2 and Xbox, and the destruction physics effects were among the technically most ambitious elements of the genre at the time. Today players still return to it for the purity of its idea, since it's a racing game that doesn't need an open world or tuning to be instantly fun. Burnout 3's success directly influenced the direction of the entire series as well as competing arcade racers, and Criterion Games later earned the chance to develop Need for Speed: Most Wanted thanks to it.