Burnout 3: Takedown

Burnout 3: Takedown is a 2004 racing game developed by Criterion Games, an arcade racer built around blistering speed, aggression, and spectacular crashes rather than realism or licensed simulation.

The signature mechanic rewards dangerous driving: players earn boost by drifting, driving into oncoming traffic, and narrowly passing other cars, then spend it to slam rivals off the road in violent, slow-motion takedowns that permanently remove them from a race. A dedicated Crash mode turns deliberately causing massive pileups at busy junctions into a points-scoring puzzle, celebrating destruction as its own reward, while tight controls and a searing sense of momentum made every race exhilarating.

Widely regarded as a high point for arcade racing and a critical smash, it defined the series' aggressive identity and heavily influenced the genre's approach to risk and reward. While the original is tied to its era's hardware, its spirit lives on in later Criterion racers, including the open-world Burnout Paradise, and in various spiritual successors.