Burnout 3: Takedown
Burnout 3: Takedown from 2004 by British studio Criterion Games is an adrenaline-fueled arcade racer where wrecking your opponents matters just as much as crossing the finish line first. The third entry brought the series to absolute perfection: players drive against traffic on highway-packed roads to charge their boost, risk collisions right at the edge for an extra burst of speed, and actively ram rivals using a system called Takedown, sending them into barriers, billboards, or straight into oncoming trucks.
The entire design pushes players toward taking risks: boost can only be charged by driving right on the edge of danger, and once full, it can be unleashed instantly, so an aggressive style rewards itself. The iconic Crash mode turns collisions themselves into elaborate puzzles, where the goal is to trigger a chain reaction and maximum financial damage at a busy intersection full of cars. The sense of speed is heightened by motion blur, dynamic camera work, and palpable impact shudders, making the game feel extremely visceral and rewarding aggressive driving over careful maneuvering. Crashes even replay in slow-motion, during which the wreck can still be steered into another opponent.
Burnout 3 received rapturous praise from critics and players alike, and it's still ranked among the best arcade racers in history, having definitively set the bar for the entire destruction-racing genre. Critics especially praised how perfectly the game's technical side, physics-based destruction model, and soundtrack came together into one cohesive whole. On Xbox the game ran smoothly and even made use of online features through Xbox Live, making it one of the unforgettable experiences of the generation. Takedown's success spurred Criterion Games to develop the destructive elements further in later entries and cemented the studio's reputation as a leading creator of arcade racing games.
Game 25 of 176 for Microsoft Xbox
The same title elsewhere (1)
Both 2004 versions run on the same Criterion Games engine and play almost identically — same tracks, same car roster, and the same Takedown system built around aggressive driving and drifting into oncoming traffic. Thanks to slightly stronger hardware, Xbox generally ran a touch sharper and steadier, while PlayStation 2 was the lead platform with by far the largest player base. The differences between versions are cosmetic rather than fundamental, and the game is defined by its adrenaline-fuelled design rather than by any specific console. Whichever one you happen to own, you won't be missing out on the experience.
