Having lay dormant for the best part of a decade – Burnout Crash! notwithstanding – EA and Criterion’s arcade racer is back in vogue thanks to the release of Paradise Remastered.

May 17, 2017  Danger Zone bears a big similarity to Burnout 3: Takedown's Crash Mode, encouraging you to crash and cause as much damage as possible, rewarding you with money for your mayhem. Now the game has a. Due out in May on the PlayStation 4, the title will take place in a virtual crash testing facility, where you'll attempt to cause the biggest collisions.

It’s a bumper package, too, with enough content to keep your wheels spinning and fingers twitching for weeks – if not months – and Criterion’s revival is living proof that, even after nine long years on the sidelines, Burnout‘s core gameplay mechanics have withstood the test of time.

As a matter of fact, the pent-up excitement for Burnout Paradise Remastered allowed EA’s re-release to open in pole position on the UK all-format charts – the first time in 13 years, no less – where it’s already been dethroned by Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom and Far Cry 5 in the past few days. Of course, the mid-March corridor is typically a quiet time of year for the industry, but if ever there was proof of Burnout‘s continued relevance, this is it.

Point is, EA and Criterion have a real gem hidden away in the vaults, and it’s about damn time they pull back the tarpaulin. So in light of Paradise Remastered‘s launch and subsequent success, I’d like to make the case for Burnout 3: Takedown, arguably one of the finest arcade racers ever made, to tread the same path onto PS4 and Xbox One. And PC at a later date, if Paradise‘s current-gen schedule is anything to go by…

Pedal, Meet Metal

First released all the way back in 2004, Burnout 3 was an aggressive, bone-rattling thrill ride that steered the genre toward uncharted territory: vehicular combat. Yes, thanks to those oh-so-satisfying Takedowns, players were actively encouraged to smash into nearby opponents in order to receive a quick speed boost. The more cars you wreck, the longer the boost. And so, the thirst for Takedowns was born, as you revel in the slow-motion destruction.

The end result was a gameplay experience so addicting – so pulse-pounding in its brilliance – that at times it was genuinely difficult to put down the controller. And then there was the Crash mode. Pitched as an evolution of the gameplay mode from Burnout 2: Point of Impact, albeit with the added Aftertouch feature, Takedown‘s Crash Events allowed players to introduce a little anarchy across 100 jam-packed junctions.

Fire engines and gritting trucks were sent careering through the air in what quickly became a dazzling firework display of sparks and, if you happened to collide with a Big Rig and its adjacent tanker, fiery explosions as the accompanying damage meter sky-rocketed. Toss in a 4x cash multiplier and you have all the makings of a record achievement, and it’s this element of score-chasing that only added to Burnout 3‘s replayability. Though it may err on the side of hyperbole, Criterion’s 2004 classic was arcade racing at its bone-rattling best, and the re-release of Paradise on PS4 and Xbox One only leaves me pining for that experience all over again. Just with prettier graphics.

Crash for Cash

It doesn’t have to be anything too fancy, either; Paradise Remastered is living proof that a Burnout title can be just as accessible as its original release years prior, and the robust content on offer in Takedown – Road Rage, the aforementioned Crash Mode…you name it – would no doubt ensure players were given enough bang for their buck.

To play devil’s advocate, perhaps Burnout would be better served with a back-to-basics reboot, or a new experience entirely. After all, Paradise Remastered marked the franchise’s first full-fledged console release in almost 10 years, so it’s fair to say that Takedown may have already missed its window of opportunity. Nostalgia can be a tricky butterfly to pin, too, as appealing to dusty-eyed players like myself with an appetite for the Good Old Days can often lead to a HD re-release crippled by dated controls – or worse, a game shoved onto PS4 (read: Deadpool) as part of a thinly-concealed marketing ploy. Here’s looking at you, Activision.

If the remastered Burnout Paradise really is EA’s litmus test, what with its visual enhancements and under-the-hood tweaks, then surely – surely – the Powers That Be are mulling over the possibility of a new installment.

We’ve seen it countless times in the past: a studio and/or publisher pumps out a HD revival of a dormant franchise with prettier graphics and, in some cases, a cabinet full of trophies in order to gauge user interest. It’s a way for companies to hedge their bets when mapping out the future of ‘Series X’ – or lack thereof. Sometimes that remaster is a false-start; other times it leads to a bona fide revival.

With Burnout, there’s a real chance to bring Criterion’s franchise back to the fore, albeit with a new lick of paint. The demand is there, as evidenced by the release and subsequent success of Paradise Remastered. All we need now is for Criterion Games to roll the dice on Takedown PS4. Or, failing that, a sleek new Burnout experience that’s informed and indeed inspired by the incredible game modes and pulse-pounding action that defined Burnout 3: Takedown, one of the best and most accomplished arcade racers ever made.

Sure, Three Fields Entertainment catered to that same sense of nostalgia with Danger Zone, an indie car game partly inspired by the Crash Mode of Burnout 3 in that it allowed adrenaline junkies to earn money for their mayhem. It was a bright and breezy experience that became available for PS4 and PC, but just imagine if Criterion Games, whose credits include Star Wars Battlefront II and Battlefield 1, were given the freedom to dump all of the necessary resources into a current-gen version of Burnout 3: Takedown. Hidden treasures game.

Wishful thinking? Maybe, but in light of Paradise‘s re-release, I’m inclined to believe it’s not off the table, after all.

Burnout Crash consists of a selection of intersection that work a bit like levels. Each level or intersection has 15 challenges, and completing each gives you a star and these stars unlock new intersections and challenges with which to test yourself. You also unlock new vehicles with different weight, velocity and handling.At its core Burnout Crash is about high scores, or causing as much damage as possible, but these challenge add a sense of progression and purpose. The challenges are divided into three game modes - Road Trip, Rush Hour and Pile Up. They may come across as very similar to each other, but you will have to use very distinct tactics to master each one of them. In Road Trip the objective is to get as many cars as possible involved in the crash.

One fundamental tactic to achieve this is by building enormous road blocks, that in unison work like a spider web to catch all traffic. There are a lot of points to be won if the destruction spreads to nearby buildings, but then you also leave the roads unattended and some cars may slip through your web unharmed. If this happens five times it's game over. If you do well enough the round will end with an event of cataclysmic proportions that can turn the whole block into rubble.In Rush Hour the objective is to achieve as much damage as possible within 90 seconds. When the clock runs out your car explodes, with the idea to put yourself in a position to take out as many cars as possible with your final blast.The third game mode, Pile Up, offers the most challenge, but is also the least entertaining mode. The objective here is to stop all cars without causing explosions (which makes the wreckages disappear).

When the cars stop coming 'Inferno' is activated, a multiplier that gives you a greater score with every car or structure that's on fire. Your new mission statement: get all the cars that have piled up to start burning and then explode together. It's truly delightful to see all the metal and burning rubber on the roads, and it begs for you to give it another go. What is missing are the incredibly detailed crashes for other Burnout games.

Burnout Crash, may be a simple downloadable title, but even with that in mind you wouldn't call it pretty. The menus are another area that could have done with some tidying up. They're not just ugly and cluttered, but you are forced to go through several steps after each level, which is something that seems contradictory to the casual nature of the game.On a more positive note, Autolog (featured in last year's Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit) makes a welcome appearance in Burnout Crash. It keeps you up to date with your friends' high scores, and allows you to challenge these with the simple press of a button. So even if Burnout Crash lacks a bit of substance, and lays all of its glory bare within the first minute of play, it still manages to be quite addictive. What contributes to the addictive nature of the game is the insanity of it all.

One of the most satisfying things about it is to witness the absurd incidents that can occur. It would be a shame to spoil these for anyone about to play the game, but you should keep an eye open for tornadoes, meteor showers, and planes making emergency landings. The power ups are equally over the top, with magnets that direct all traffic towards your car, and several special vehicles that require more advanced techniques.There is also a well utilised licensed soundtrack here that adds to the atmosphere. Everything that happens on screen has a tune associated with it. When a blizzard hits you will hear 'Ice Ice Baby' with Vanilla Ice, when the police arrives they do so to Inner Circle's 'Bad Boys'. The play-by-play announcer also adds to the madness with his absurd references. It won't appeal to everyone out there, but it contributes to a unique experience.

Burnout Crash doesn't take itself very seriously, and neither should you. Give your brain cells a break for a few hours and enjoy the crashes.