Burnout 3: Takedown

Burnout 3: Takedown was developed by Guildford-based video game studio Criterion Games.[11] The studio suffered several setbacks during the sequence of events that led up to the creation of Burnout 3, including the cancellation of a project, a failed pitch, and a fall out with the game's eventual publisher Electronic Arts (EA).[11][12] In 2002, Criterion was around 130 people divided into two development teams. One team was working on Burnout 2: Point of Impact, a follow-up to Burnout, set to be published by Acclaim Entertainment. The other team had completed the development of the extreme sports game AirBlade for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. Sony had intentions of continuing to collaborate with Criterion on a sequel to AirBlade, but the AirBlade team turned down the offer. Instead, Criterion began talks with EA, who had a proposal for Criterion to create a remake of the 1988 skateboarding video game Skate or Die!. Criterion was keen to work with EA and started development on the project. Following Burnout 2's release, Criterion prepared a pitch to EA Canada about working on a second game with the publisher. Criterion's proposed title was Need For Speed: Split Second, a stunt racing game within EA's Need for Speed series. Meanwhile, the Skate or Die! remake project was thrown into disarray when EA requested changes to the game's design and the creative direction of the project shifted away from Criterion's vision.[11] With development staff becoming unhappy and stressed about the project, the studio decided to contact EA and cancel the game.[11][12] EA was displeased with their decision and the relationship between the two companies soured, leading to dissolution of the proposed Need for Speed game.[12]

At the 2003 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Criterion Games' director of design Alex Ward was approached by Bruce McMillan, executive vice president at EA Worldwide Studios.[12][13] McMillan wanted to reconcile EA's relationship with Criterion and partner with them on a game. Initially, Ward refused, citing their experience of working with the publisher. EA persisted and suggested Criterion make Burnout 3 with them.[12] Originally, the studio was waiting until the next generation of video game hardware launched before starting work on a third instalment.[14] Criterion accepted the deal on the conditions that EA would not interfere with the game's development and that Criterion had the freedom to create the game they wanted.[12] Development on Burnout 3 began immediately after the expo in June 2003, with a larger team of staff working on the game than its predecessors.[12][14] By January 2004, Criterion had a build of the game ready to demonstrate to EA. The development team had drafted several subtitles for Burnout 3 including Fuel Injection, Crash and Burn, Seek and Destroy, Takedown along with some more ridiculous suggestions like See You in Hell. Internally, they felt that Takedown was not an appealing choice, but the outcome of EA's focus testing proved otherwise. Despite a rocky start in their relationship with EA, Criterion admitted to benefiting from the publisher's experience throughout the course of Burnout 3's development.[12] By July, development on the game was nearly complete with the remaining work confined to bug testing and polishing the experience.[15] On 28 July, EA announced that they had acquired Criterion along with the Burnout intellectual property.[16] McMillan stated that their strong expectations for Burnout 3 and ownership of the series were key reasons for buying Criterion.[17]

Ward noted that EA's snowboarding video game series SSX was an influence for Burnout 3's bolder and brasher nature.[18] There was an emphasis on making the game more aggressive than previous instalments. Ward described Burnout 3 as a game about "fighting through traffic" rather than "racing through traffic". This approach to the game's design led to the introduction of Takedowns, a feature that rewarded the player with boost and points for knocking their opponents off the track.[14] The Takedown mechanic became a focal point of Burnout 3's design and led to other innovations. At first, the team were not convinced by the idea of having the game's camera pan to show the crash of a taken out vehicle while the player was driving; however, once it was implemented, they agreed that the feature worked well. From there, they decided to show a player's crash as well, which gave rise to the aftertouch mechanic. The crash mode from Burnout 2 was expanded and redesigned to be more puzzle-based; aftertouch control, crashbreakers, and multiplayer support were added to the mode. They wanted to include ramps in crash events so that vehicles could fly into traffic, but the game's physics system was designed to push cars down on the track to prevent them from taking off during a race. This caused vehicles to descend immediately after driving off a ramp. To bypass this issue they "killed" the vehicle once it hit the ramp, leaving it a wreck that was unaffected by the driving physics.[12]

The game was developed on Criterion's proprietary game engine RenderWare.[19] The graphics engine was improved to give between 50–100% faster rendering than in Burnout 2. The increased performance allowed them to add features like real-time radiosity lighting and better environment mapping effects on vehicles.[20] Programmers at the studio were adamant about making the game run at a frame rate of sixty frames per seconds to offer instant response and feedback while driving fast. Since the crash sequences were slower, the higher frame rate was considered less critical than the spectacle of the vehicle collisions. They opted to run the game at thirty frames per second during these instances and dramatically increased the number of particles and debris that were rendered.[12] From an early stage in development, the team wanted to include support for online network play in Burnout 3.[12][14] They had never explored online play before, so they used Burnout 2 as a test-bed for the feature before integrating it into Burnout 3.[12]

While Criterion had their own audio team to create original music, working with EA allowed them to include licensed music in Burnout 3.[18] EA launched an initiative called EA TRAX in 2002 with the intent of including licensed tracks in all their games. Burnout 3's soundtrack featured over forty songs, delivered in a radio station format presented by DJ Stryker from alternative rock station KROQ-FM.[21] Options were added to modify which songs play during a race or on the menu screen, and the Xbox version supports custom soundtracks.[5]

Burnout 3: Takedown received "universal acclaim" from professional critics on both platforms according to review aggregator website Metacritic. Based on the game's metascore, it was ranked the second best video game on both platforms in 2004.[29][30] It is also the highest scoring Xbox racing game of all time and the second highest scoring PlayStation 2 racing game of all time on Metacritic.[35][36]

GameSpot editor Jeff Gerstmann opened his review by calling Burnout 3: Takedown one of the best racing games of all time, noting that it stood out among contemporaries in the diverse and expanding genre. He felt the quality of the game was high enough to recommend it to gamers who were impartial to driving games.[2] Edge magazine regarded Burnout 3 to be Criterion's finest work to date; they thought the studio had demonstrated their proficiency by revising the series structure and dynamic. They were also mindful of how Burnout 3's offered fun and exhilarating experience while other developers were prioritising realism in their games.[4] Andrew Reiner of Game Informer wrote that the addition of significant gameplay mechanics had helped craft one of the most addictive racing games ever made.[7] GamesTM awarded it a perfect score; they proclaimed that Burnout 3 was without a doubt the greatest racing game ever made and described playing it as the most fun they had ever had in the genre.[3] GameSpy reviewer Miguel Lopez, who also awarded the game a perfect score, remarked that it was possibly the best arcade racer ever made.[37]

Reception towards the introduction of Takedowns was highly positive.[3][4][8] Reviewers admired the impact that Takedowns had in transforming the boost mechanic and shifting the game's focus to a more aggressive style of driving.[3][4] GamesTM pointed out that the hostile behaviour of AI rivals supplemented the system by presenting more opportunities to perform Takedowns, culminating in an intense and dramatic racing experience.[3] Lopez explained that Burnout 3 had intelligently integrated elements of vehicular combat games by introducing Takedowns.[32] Gerstmann commended the game's use of Impact Time and Aftertouch mechanics, which he believed made crashing an entertaining aspect of the game, unlike other racers.[2] IGN's Fran Mirabella III was amazed by the crash system; he considered it to be far ahead of anything that had been done before.[38]

The expanded and refined Crash mode was embraced by critics who found the gameplay to be addictive.[4][6][7][39] Reiner highlighted Crash mode as his favourite part of the game,[7] and Eurogamer writer Kristan Reed stated that it was the mode he spent the most time playing.[6] Edge welcomed the inclusion of ramps and aftertouch, stating that the design of the mode had become "more complex and focused". They thought Crash mode had evolved into a substantial component that was capable of being released as a standalone product.[4] Mirabella and Reed both complimented the balance and variation of events in World Tour,[6][40] and GamesTM was pleased with the amount of content featured in the single-player component.[3] Gerstmann agreed that Burnout 3 offered a large amount of content and excellent replay value. He also felt that the progression of difficulty in World Tour was done effectively by introducing a faster cars throughout the campaign at reasonable pace.[2] Reviewers were in agreement that Burnout 3's engaging and frenetic gameplay remained intact during online play.[3][31] Reed stated that he would have liked to see the single-player content become more integrated into the online component, citing other existing racing games as examples. He thought that progress across single-player events should be recorded in online leaderboards enabling score comparisons with friends.[31] Mirabella believed Criterion had largely triumphed in creating a great online component.[41]

The game's visuals and spectacle were lauded by critics who suspected that it would amaze players.[7][31] Reed questioned whether it was the best looking game to have ever been made.[31] Critics observed that the use of high frame rate and motion blur helped convey an incredible sense of speed. Other aspects such particle effects, reflections, and real-time deformation drew praise as well.[2][38] Critics expressed approval over the sound design of the cars and collisions. However opinions of the licensed soundtrack and DJ were less favourable. Some writers found the DJ's enthusiastic dialogue to be annoying and had mixed opinions on the songs included in the soundtrack, but were thankful for the available audio customisation options.[2][31][34][39]

Burnout 3: Takedown received numerous awards from the video games media and independent awards organisations following its release. Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine and Official U.S. Xbox Magazine both ranked Burnout 3: Takedown as their "Game of the Year" ahead of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Halo 2 respectively.[42] Eurogamer staff rated Burnout 3 in ninth place on their list of the top fifty games of 2004.[43] GameSpot named it the best Xbox game of September 2004,[44] and it won the publication's annual "Best Driving Game" award across all platforms.[45] At the 2nd British Academy Games Awards, Burnout 3 won three awards in the "PS2", "Racing", and "Technical Direction" categories, and received three further nominations in the "Art Direction", "Online Multiplayer", and "Xbox" categories.[46] The game won "Racing Game of the Year" and was nominated for "Console Game of the Year" at the 8th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards.[47][48] For its showcase at E3 2004, Burnout 3 won "Best Racing Game" from the Game Critics Awards.[49] At the 2004 Golden Joystick Awards, Burnout 3 won the "PlayStation 2 Game of the Year" category and was a runner-up for "Online Game of the Year".[50] At the 2004 Spike Video Game Awards, Burnout 3 won "Best Driving Game" and was nominated for "Game of the Year". It also won the viewer's choice award for "Most Addictive Game". Alex Ward and Criterion were nominated for "Designer of the Year" for their work on Burnout 3.[51]

Burnout 3: Takedown debuted at number one in the UK software chart. During the game's launch week in the UK, 57% of sales were for the PlayStation 2 and 43% were for the Xbox. The game became the fourth fastest selling Xbox title ever in the UK.[52] Sales of the PlayStation 2 version increased by 32% the following week.[53] In Europe as a whole, Burnout 3 sold above 1 million units by the end of September 2004.[54] The game's PlayStation 2 version ultimately received a "Platinum" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA),[55] indicating sales of at least 300,000 copies in the United Kingdom.[56] In Australia, Burnout 3 placed in third and ninth respectively in the PlayStation 2 and Xbox software charts at launch.[57] The game performed strongly in Japan, achieving 32,000 sales during launch week and debuted in second place on the software charts.[58] By July 2006, the PlayStation 2 version of Burnout 3 had sold 900,000 copies and earned $28 million in the United States. Next Generation ranked it as the 65th highest-selling game launched for the PlayStation 2, Xbox or GameCube between January 2000 and July 2006 in that country. Combined console sales of Burnout games released in the 2000s reached 2.3 million units in the United States by July 2006.[59]