Ok ok ok.. I\'m a fair way into the game now (20% or so) so I guess I\'ve gathererd enough information to give some good impressions.
First of all, this game is FAST. I mean really fast. Uni, if you think that demo you played is anything to go by, you have no idea. You just wait until you unlock some special events, such as the one with the formula 1 car. It\'s just lucky that in these events there aren\'t many cars on the road, because once you\'ve hit that boost you\'d be crashing every corner.
Second of all, the game is hard. Those special events (which are usually trying to beat set times in one lap) are nigh on impossible to get gold on. In fact, if you hit your boost the ENTIRE lap (good driving is required to do so) and don\'t even crash a single time you\'ll still be struggling to get gold.
The game is also very unforgiving. I read in IGN that crashing your car makes very little difference (or words to that effect) but I can tell you that if you\'re 3/4\'s of a way through a race and you\'re winning by about 4 seconds and you crash your car, you can expect to miss out on a placing.
One great thing, the enemy AI. They don\'t just drive around the course waiting for you to take them down, they get aggressive. There\'ll be so many times when you\'re stalking up behind first place waiting to shunt him in the ass and force him into the wall when all of a sudden the car in third place drives up behind you and smashes you in the rear, forcing you off the road and into a pillar (in particularly spectacular fashion!)! While it\'s extremely frustrating, it will bring a smile of satisfaction to your face.
Some negatives, drifting and driving on the wrong side of the road are hardly worth anything in this game. If you expect to play it like you did Burnout 2, you\'ll get your ass handed to you. I think this is a negative personally. As fun as takedowns are, there\'s nothing to be said for driving on the wrong side of the road and doing some major drifting around corners. Speaking of which, the sound effects are really lacking in some areas, most of the time I don\'t even know if I\'m drifting or not!
Some annoyances, the AI cars don\'t seem to crash. So if you get into a bad crash early on, it\'s EXTREMELY hard to catch up. If you crash a couple more times, I wouldn\'t like my chances of a first place. Uhm.. "Psyche out!"\'\'s I think are a lame addition. This is basically where your mere precense make a car ahead of you swerve out of control and crash, giving you boost. What the hell? How big of pussies are these guys?
The fact that if you enter a race there is NO option at all to leave the race until you have FINISHED it. You can restart the race, but you can\'t exit! What the hell?
The cinematic style of camera is REALLY annoying, particularly in crash mode. They\'ve got all these fancy new graphics to have the most spectacular crashes ever, but the camera will be showing one car sliding down the street while 20 cars pile up out of view. And the replay won\'t show you anything that you haven\'t already seen! How about the ability to pick your own replay camera angle? That would have been great.
Aftertouch is Ok, but I think I preferred the crash mode as it was. That way, you could crash anywhere and still have a chance of getting a good score, with the addition of aftertouch and score multiplyers it means you have to find the best possible spot and go for it. Don\'t try to crash anywhere else. Good in some ways, bad in others. The ability to make your car explode is awesome, though!
2 player crashing is ok... but the camera angles really gives it less impact.
90% of the cars in the game have very little difference between them other than aesthetics.
Yes, the soundtrack and DJ really are as bad as the reviews say.
Oh, and the graphics.. I think they\'ve tried to make them too gritty, too.. realistic. The tracks are reminiscent of Gran Turismo 3 in one very annoying way.. the track blends into the background in some areas far too much. And at the speed you\'re travelling at in this game, it\'s often far too late before you realize that there is a corner in front of you to avoid it. Yes, most of the times they have yellow flashing arrows, but these are just as bad! These flashing yellow arrows block off streets that other cars come out of.. and sometimes, these other cars are YELLOW taxis which you can NOT see until you\'ve hit it because it blends in with the yellow arrows! But it\'s much worse when these arrows aren\'t there as sometimes you just don\'t realize it\'s a corner.
There are some more praises and annoyances that I was thinking of before, but I can\'t really remember them right now. I\'ll get back to you. Overall, I\'m pretty satisfied, but a little let down that it\'s so different from the previous game. Burnout 2 was all about speed, and skill of driving and weaving in and out of traffic. Burnout 3 is all about taking your opponent out. I\'m not sure which is better..
