Not Much To Say, Really
It's been awhile, but that's really because there's nothing terribly new to report on. The biggest update is where the review is concerned, and that is done. You'll need to hop over to 9x to see that, and there are a couple of links on this blog to get there.

As far as my progress goes, just a lot more unlocking of cars and extras. I did manage to get all 100 gold crash medals, and I'm about 80% gold on the races. I can't remember if I posted this the last time, but I did "complete" the race events. There's still the Gold GP leftover, and I can't get to that unless I get gold in the events that need a gold.

Then there's my records, and I think everything has changed:

Percent Complete: 93%
Burnout Points: 1,620,620
Crash Damage Total: $150,387,887
Takedowns (offline): 1,834
Slams (offline): 1,940
Gold Medals: 146/173
Longest Oncoming: 13,158 ft.
Longest Drift: 1,274 ft.
Overall Gameplay Time: 30 hrs. 59 min.
Race Events Completed: 225
Crash Events Completed: 207

And here's a couple of records that I have of my own that the game doesn't really keep track of (except for the takedown records):

Burnout Points In One Race: 57,050
Most Takedowns In A Road Rage Event: 54

That's it for now. I'm not sure how much more often I'll update this blog other than give my records from the profile.

Another Day, More Stats
Mood:  lazy
You're probably getting sick of seeing this by now, aren't you? But I think there may be some who are wondering how far I've gotten into the game. I did hit a couple of "personal" milestones last night, as I had hit the 1,000,000 mark in Burnout Points and the 1,000 mark in Takedowns. Here is my progress as of late last night:

Percent Complete: 73%
Burnout Points: 1,074,895
Crash Damage Total: $83,508,678
Takedowns (offline): 1,225
Slams (offline): 1,272
Gold Medals: 82/173
Longest Oncoming: 10,747 ft. (no change)
Longest Drift: 1,140 ft. (no change)
Overall Gameplay Time: 21 hrs. 18 min.

And I also have my Top 11 Crash Totals so far (do we smell potential for another one of my Top 11 lists?). I'm only counting the top score from the top ranking crash stages. I do have a couple of totals that are more than some seen here on a similar stage, but I figured I would leave a bit more variety. I probably also just confused you, too. Well, here they are anyway:

#11: $1,320,324 (Look Both Ways)
#10: $1,348,248 (T-Boned)
#9: $1,437,668 (Exact Change)
#8: $1,445,288 (Chilly Crash)
#7: $1,453,736 (Bus Blockade)
#6: $1,485,596 (Break The Bank)
#5: $1,625,560 (Airstrike)
#4: $1,764,884 (Turn & Burn)
#3: $1,831,032 (Medieval Mash)
#2: $1,833,372 (Haul A$$)
#1: $2,213,140 (Hate To Be Late)

So, for those of you who have the game, have you beaten any of these scores? Let me know! There's links somewhere around here for feedback. And hey, if you like this blog, or don't like it, let me know by e-mailing me at contact92530i@lycos.com with "Burnout 3 Blog" in the subject line (so I know what the e-mail is about). I might do another blog for another game, and I want to know what I should keep doing and what I shouldn't. And please visit my website 9x Digital Entertainment if you haven't already!

Guess that's all for now.

You Lazy Bastard!
Kind of got sidetracked on the updates here. No, I haven't stopped playing, in fact, between the last post and this one, I put in almost 8 hours into the game. No, it's just another instance in which I neglect my site.

Anyway, I have some updated stats of my progress:

Percent Complete: 69%
Burnout Points: 866,215
Crash Damage Total: $70,659,446
Takedowns (offline): 979
Slams (offline): 993
Gold Medals: 78/173
Longest Oncoming: 10,747 ft.
Longest Drift: 1,140 ft. (no change)
Overall Gameplay Time: 18 hrs. 2 min.

I also collected all 10 headlines and unlocked the Firetruck. Out of all the things that need to be completed/collected, the crash headlines seem to be the easiest to do. I really suck at getting the postcards, though, since I seem to crash A LOT on the special events. I can medal them, but getting gold is tough. It's also tough going back to completed races and getting gold. I never had this much trouble getting 1st place wins/gold medals in Burnout 2. Criterion really did amp up the difficulty this time around.

So, that's all for now. I'm not sure when the next post is coming up, they just seem to happen when I find the time. And as for the review? It's coming.

Some Stats For You
Yesterday I said that I would put up my progress/stats so far in the game. I didn't write every single thing down, just the major stuff. This is how much I've done as of 3:10 am on September 17 (yeah, that's pretty late):

Percent Complete: 39%
Burnout Points: 505,995
Crash Damage Total: $23,407,411
Takedowns (offline): 573
Slams (offline): 557
Gold Medals: 34/173
Longest Oncoming: 5,587 ft.
Longest Drift: 1,140 ft.
Overall Gameplay Time: 10 hrs. 13 min.

Not too bad for about four days work. I also finally unlocked the Far East race events last night. I'm pretty much everywhere in the crash events, but I'm a bit behind in the races. I've also managed to find a couple of new Signature Takedowns (again, by accident), and a new crash headline (one of the stages was in excess of $1.7 million in damage I created!).

Can't really find much else to talk about now, so untill the next post!

Oh, if you're reading this outside of my website, why not visit my website: 9x Digital Entertainment ? There you'll find many reviews written by me for all current platfroms, as well as special features, including the Burnout 3: Takedown fansite!

For those who have visited my site, and are wondering when the hell I'm going to write a review for this game, it won't be much longer. I actually want to play through a little more of it before I have a review. Less than a week from today. Hopefully.

More Things To Do, More Things To See
Mood:  accident prone
Well, another day, another accident. Actually, more like yesterday. I seem to write these things the day after my last playing session. Like anyone would notice anyway.

During the races, I've slowly been finding the Signature Takedown loactions. I'm finding these by accident, actually. So far, I've found three. And I've gotten a couple of crash headlines unlocked, too. Those are unlocked by reaching a certain crash total for a designated course. It actually tells you in the records menu. I've also managed to get a couple of postcards, too. Those seem to be the hardest to get, because you really can't screw up on the special Burning Lap events. You really can't crash into anything, and you need to keep a pretty good line.

It's a pretty tough game to put down once you start playing. Plus, I keep going from the world tour to single race events, so that really keeps the game going longer. I've also gone back to a few courses and crash stages I haven't played, or improving the medal I had won prior. There is a lot to do in this game. It seems like there is something that is always unlocking after each event.

My completion rate so far is 32% (I think) and my overall time is a little over 8 hours. That's quite a bit in three days. I really don't remember the rest of my stats off the top of my head. I'll try to have them up tomorrow.

Not much else to say for now.

Holy Crap!
Mood:  on fire
Even though you have to do a lot to unlock it, you can actually get a taste of the F-1 style car on one of the special event stages. This car is FAST. It's like the game is on fast-forward or something! Even with some of the cars I unlocked within an hour or two had some zazz to it. I would say that this game is as fast as Nintendo's own F-Zero GX, and just as smooth. In terms of the sense of speed this game has, it will be one that few can touch in the coming months. I think EA may need to start worrying about the NFSU sequel, since the last one wasn't as smooth as Burnout 3 is, and I think the sequel to NFSU will be no different.

And I have to say something about the degree of difficulty in this game. While not aggrivating, it is more challenging than Burnout 2. Maybe it's because the AI is more aggressive, or there's more hazards, I don't know. But in a few races, I've managed to fall behind pretty far. So to those who felt that the last Burnout was a bit easy, it's not that way anymore. And the crash mode is much more challenging, since there's a lot more skill involved in the pick-up bonuses and even where to start the pileup.

One of the best modes of the game has to be the Road Rage mode. It's the one mode where you can hunt down those bastards and make them pay. It's a lot like the death race mode in F-Zero X, except it's a lot more fun, and you can play on more than one course. It's even fun to play outside of the world tour, as just a way to vent off the daily frustrations on happless AI opponents. So far, the most amount of Takedowns I managed to achieve in a road rage race is 20. Not too bad, really. It's a mode I do pretty well in.

So far, at the end of this day, I've put in a little over 5 hours into the game. That's just within two days! I wonder if I'll surpass the 40 hour mark I had in Burnout 2 and Project Gotham Racing 2.

If you haven't picked up Burnout 3 yet, you might want to do so now. I think it's one racing game that fans of the genre, or even ones who aren't, shouldn't miss.

Today Is The Day
Mood:  a-ok
Well, I finally got my hands on Burnout 3: Takedown. In case if you're wondering which version I picked up (like it wouldn't be obviuos when the review came out), I got the Xbox version, since the custom soundtrack function gives it a slight edge over the PS2 version.

As excited as I am to play Burnout 3, I feel as if I were a little spoiled by the Burnout 3 demo on the September OPM Demo Disc. Sure, it didn't have all of the features the final version had, but some of the crashes weren't as suprising. One thing that did suprise me is that the cars can ACTUALLY explode now.

Burnout 3 is much bigger than Burnout 2, in every area. The Burnout World tour is bigger and has more options than the championship mode of B2, there are more crash junctions and there are more cars. This is a game that's surely able to keep me busy for a long time.