----------------
--Introduction--
----------------
Most of the stuff in the faq is written specifically for world tour, even
though most of it will also apply to single event and multiplayer. This FAQ
is also written specifically for the PS2 version and I haven't tried the
X-Box version, but I'm pretty sure that the versions are similar enough
so that everything in this FAQ is valid even if you're using the X-Box
version.
--------------
--Strategies--
--------------
-Becoming a better driver-
The most important thing to learn in Burnout 3 if you want to drive better is
to avoid crashing. You can drive the best you can and do the best takedowns
and drive in oncoming while drifting and getting near misses but that won't
mean a thing if you continously crash like a maniac. There are of course
other things as well. Starting to drift early in big turns will be great
use since you don't only do them faster but you get a nice little boost bonus
as well. To be honest though, this is an arcade racer so there isn't that much
to master about general driving, there's no gears to handle, sliding along
walls isn't that harmful to your speed as you'd expect. So there's basically
only two really important things to master: avoiding crashes and handling
boost.
-Takedowns-
Takedowns is definitely the most efficient way to gain boost. Once you take
down an opponent you'll get a filled 2x boost bar, and get two more foes and
you'll get a nice 4x boost bar. The way to get takedowns is to slam into your
oppnent hard enough so he'll lose control and crash. Remember that you do
absolutely no damage to him by slamming into him, you make takedowns by making
your opponent crash, not by continously slamming him with nothing for him
to crash into.
The easiest way to do takedowns is by shunting your opponent. A shunt is when
you slam into your opponent from behind. This normally does little good if you
have similar speed as your opponent, but if you have greater speed, he'll
usually do a 90-degree turn and crash into the nearest wall. A nice tactic
is so save some boost until you're just behind your opponent, then use it so
you can shunt into him with great speed and watch him crash. This works
especially well if all the opponents are close by and you're able to takedown
the one furthest behind, if you're lucky you'll get enough boost from the first
takedown that you get enough insane speed to just drive through the entire
competition.
Another way to do takedowns is by slamming into them, which is just simply
approaching your opponent from the left or right and drive right at him. Don't
overdo it though, don't turn too hard or you'll just crash yourself. This is
a pretty efficient method to use if there's traffic nearby. Just slam your
opponent and he'll go a little left or right and hopefully straight into
a traffic vehicle.
Most of the time you'll probably just get takedowns without really planning
it, if you just hammer at the enemy or grind continously at him he'll
probably crash after a while, but remember the most efficient way of doing
takedowns are the ones I listed above. There are also other more rare ways
of doing it, like the psyche outs, which happens if you stay behind your
opponent long enough and he'll just go crazy and crash by himself.
An important thing to remember is not to do any overkills, once you get one
takedown you usually get enough boost to drive ahead of your competition.
So there's not much gain in doing more takedowns unless they're easy to do.
So if you do one takedown and if the enemy is placed perfectly for a
takedown, then go ahead and make him crash. But if you've done a takedown
and you see the enemy in an dangerous area without any proper setup, then
just use your boost to get ahead of him and don't take the unnecessary risk.
Another tactic you might consider to use is braking down if an opponent is
right behind you. If he's able to stay behind you he'll have a nice chance
to take you down if you aren't careful enough, but if you brake a little
so he'll drive past you, then you can use that to your advantage and slam right
into him and making him crash. This only works well if you have enough boost
to get a real powerful shunt at him.
-Driving recklessly-
You probably know very well you get boost from driving oncoming, drifting,
getting air and near misses (as well as the various slams you can do on your
opponent's vehicles), but remember you get a lot less boost from all these
methods. You get a fair amount of boost by slamming into your opponent,
though you'll usually want to do takedowns instead of getting a little boost
from hitting your opponent. Driving in oncoming, doing near misses and
drifting is a slow way of getting boost. So I really don't recommend taking
too many risks to get boost this way, it's slow and it's really bad if you
crash by just trying to fill a quarter of your smallest boost bar. But of
course, if you're in an area with little traffic and a wide road then
you have nothing to lose with driving on the wrong side of the road,
and the best way of taking most corners is by drifting.
-Avoiding crashes-
This is in my opinion the most important thing when it completing races.
Since you'll lose so much time by doing a crash. And most beginners in the
game has a tendency to drive as recklessly as they can, and this leads to
MANY crashes. There's a few things you can learn to avoid crashing easier.
First of all learn all the things which are dangerous and not. Walls and
such aren't that dangerous unless you drive headon, you can easily "slide"
along walls and you won't be hurt, you'll just lose a tiny bit of speed.
Driving on vehicles is obviously dangerous, but if you have a very low speed
then you won't crash on them. There's also the slight chance you'll just
"slide" off vehicles if you drive on them from an odd angle. Opponent
vehicles are actually completely safe to drive on unless they've crashed
(unless you did a takedown on them, then their wrecked car is usually
safe). You'll probably do most of your crashes on traffic and on some
walls.
It's vital you avoid unnecessary risks. Especially if you're at top speed.
If you're driving into a dangerous area or if you're simply not sure how
the next turn will be just drive more safely. Let go of that boost button,
and try to "cling" to one of the walls to remain almost 100% safe. Once
you've gotten past the area you can use some of that boost again. Also be
very aware of any oncoming vehicles, if you're driving in oncoming you'll
see bright lights from the oncoming vehicles, so just focus on avoiding those.
Try to drive along a lane which is safe or try to drive between vehicles.
Mastering how to drive between vehicles is pretty important, since it isn't
that dangerous once you get a hang of it and you'll get a nice
oncoming+nearmiss boost from it.
I personally prefer driving in oncoming if I'm driving on a wide road since
it's easier to see the bright flash from oncoming vehicles than those on the
other lane, and if the road is wide enough then you have plenty of room to
manoevour in. Remember that you get little boost from oncoming and near misses,
so avoid doing those unless you're positive it's safe.
And of course, sometimes crashing is simply inevitable. Sometimes an opponent
will you slam so hard you'll just head right into a bus and there's not a thing
you can do about it. Or you just drive at top speed and suddenly a car drives
right at you from the left or right so you won't see him soon enough. When this
does happen it's important to use the aftertouch to your advantage. If you were
just ahead an opponent then just position your wreck so there's a chance you
get a takedown. Or you could try to get your wreck as far as possible so you'll
respawn a bit further ahead.
-Using boost-
It's pretty stupid to just use your all your boost when you first get it.
If you don't have that much boost and you just get a little from doing
drifting, oncoming and near misses then I recommend you save that boost until
you need it. When I have a small boost bar I usually only use the boost in
cases where I just lost a good chunk of my speed. For instance, if I did a
turn badly and ended up sliding along the wall then I would have lost a quite
bit of speed, that's a good moment to use some boost to quickly accelerate.
Otherwise I'd say it's a waste to use your small boost bar just to drive a
little faster in a straight forward road, when you could have saved it to do
takedowns easier or to quickly accelerate when you've lost most of your speed.
On the other hand, if you do have a lot of boost to spare then things are
different. If you just did a takedown you get an insane amount of boost,
and you might as well use most if it to get further ahead. But try to keep
your head cool, don't take unnecessary risks when you're driving that fast.
Also if you're already ahead by 5 or more seconds then you should try to drive
more stable and be completely certain you won't crash. If the enemy is getting
closer, then you could use the boost you saved to either take him down or
drive even further ahead of him.
Another thing to be aware of is that if you're really a long way behind your
opponents you'll get boost quicker. Take this to your advantage, start to
drive oncoming so you'll get closer to your competition. This is especially
true in face-off races.
-Non-boost strategy-
This is a strategy I've been using a lot recently which makes certain races
a lot easier. The idea is take the lead and just barely hold it, without
using a lot of boost. Just start the race as you normally would and try to
take the lead. If you're close by you don't have to start driving like a
maniac, just drive carefully and make sure you get the lead after a while,
ideally you'd go for doing a takedown on the 1st or 2nd place opponent.
After you got the lead, then just hold it. If you just did a takedown and have
lots of boost, *don't* use it. Only use it to quickly accelerate out of turns
and similar things. If you drive stable and don't crash you'll notice you'll
be able to hold your lead fairly well. And if you do manage to lose your
lead, then just try to get a little behind the opponent who just drove past
you, line him up and then use the boost you saved to shunt him and he most
definitely will go down. And just keep going, making sure you drive safely
enough so you don't crash. You might even notice you'll get a lead with as
much as 7-10 seconds even if you just about never use your boost.
When you get near the finish line you might as well start using all the boost
you have to make sure there's no chance an opponent can slip by.
This strategy works surprisingly well, I've been able to do certain races
with relative ease since I can drive more carefully than usual and only have
1-2 crashes in the entire race. This strategy won't work any well for people
who just can't avoid crashing, since one crash will make you drop down to 4th
or 6th place. It also obviously won't work for multiplayer, since it's based
around on how the "rubberband AI" works. Well, the general idea of just
barely leading and taking down anyone who gets in front of you with your boost
might be a valid tactic for multiplayer, but I don't think it'll work that
good. Unless you're really good at doing takedowns.
--------------
--Game modes--
--------------
-Race-
This is your typical race with 1-3 laps and with 5 opponents. Your goal is to
end up 3rd or better so you'll unlock more events, or you can go for gold so
you'll unlock the best stuff in the game. Races aren't usually that difficult
if you're a good driver and know how to do takedown and then hold onto your
1st place along the race.
-Road rage-
Your goal is to get a set number of takedowns before the time runs out
or before your car is totaled. I'm not sure how many crashes are allowed
before it's game over, but just be aware that if you crash too much you'll
quickly lose. In my opinion these are the easiest type of races to do.
You'll get *plenty* of targets to mess around with and the biggest challenge
is simply not to get too carried away and crash as you try to do takedowns.
-Faceoff-
These races can be pretty frustrating. It's just you and one other opponent,
and these races are usually on tracks with no laps. And your opponent is
really aggressive, he'll do anything to take you down, and he's *fast*. Do one
or two crashes and he'll fly long ahead of you. My suggestion is to do what
you have to get ahead of him, and then try to drive more carefully, he'll
be right behind you *no matter* what you do, so trying to drive even faster
will probably make you end up wrecked. Also remember it's the final part
of the race which is the most important one. A crash or two isn't that harmful
at the start of the race, but a crash by the end of it will *definitely*
make you lose the entire race.
-Grand prix-
These are simply a mix of 2-3 races and you get an overall score from all those
and if you get 3rd place or better you'll be able to move on. What applies to
normal races applies to this too.
-Time attack-
These aren't actually called time attacks in the world tour but they work
the same. They're usually called Preview Laps or Special Event. They're always
one lap and you have to beat the record to get a medal. There's no opponents
but there's traffic (except a few time attack events which are nice enough to
give you very little traffic). And there's one big difference compared to
normal races, you get boost *fast*. You start with a 4x boost bar and you can
easily fill your boost bar by just going in oncoming and doing a few near
misses. And you really need to use just about all the boost you can get to be
able to beat that time record. These races can end up becoming really
frustrating, especially later on when you get really fast cars and there's
traffic everywhere. There's basically one thing to keep in mind here,
don't crash! One or two crashes in the later time attacks is all the game will
accept, anything more and that medal will be out of reach. Gold medals usually
require you to drive the entire race perfectly with boosting all the time
and never crashing.
-Eliminator-
These are similar to the traditional knockout races seen in most racing
games. There's always 5 laps, and by each lap the car which is furthest behind
will simply explode (which is actually quite neat to watch if you're the
unlucky one). Even though these are the longest races in the game they aren't
very difficult. Once the first 3 opponents are gone (which are usually easy
to drive past, since they are afterall the weakest opponents in the race) then
you're guaranteed 3rd place no matter how badly you manage to do it. Unlike
normal races where you can get unlucky and crash a lot during the last lap
and ruin everything.
--------------
--Crash mode--
--------------
Crash mode is basically an entire game in itself. And there's a lot of
levels for the mode, 100 in total. Though Criterion cheated a bit and you'll
find that most levels are repeated twice only with the position of the pickups
changed. There's also the Team Crush mode where two players try to get the
best combined score, and there's even seperate high score lists for this mode.
Just too bad there's a lot of slowdown while playing Team Crush, it's still a
lot of fun though.
Players who wish to fight for scores might want to head to www.cyberscore.net
which has an online scoreboard for this game.
Getting gold on most of the levels isn't that difficult. You'll find that
if you do an acceptable crash while being able to get the 4x multiplier it'll
ensure you a gold medal. There's some levels where the 4x multiplier is placed
in rather awkward places though. I'll list some of the more difficult levels
here and explain how to get gold.
-Dead end-
At first impression it doesn't look that tough, but the challenge here is
doing a good crash while getting that 4x. If you drive right ahead at the 4X
you'll get it alright, but you'll probably hit no cars at all. And if you
drive straight ahead where there's most traffic it'll be *very* difficult
to get the 4x.
This is how I got the gold medal, I started with a boost start and went
straight for the boost pickup, after that I went further right so I was headed
to the bronze cash pickup. I pickup that up and went on for the gold cash
pickup, and here came the tricky bit. After this I quickly turned a bit left
and crashed into one of the nearest stationary taxi cabs, then I used my
aftertouch so I was headed straight forward but leaning to the left so I got
the silver cash pickup. While I was doing this the taxi cab was flying straight
into the traffic causing havok. And when enough vehicles are wrecked I used
the crashbreaker to fly straight onto the 4x.
But this isn't any sure way of doing it, I had to do about 5-7 tries using that
tactic before getting it right. Most of the time I got the silver pickup I got
kicked back by the truck driving right infront of me, and that made it
impossible to get the 4x multiplier. But when I did get it right, I got about
641,000 in points which was more than enough to get that gold medal.
-Leap of faith-
This is perhaps the trickiest crash junction in the entire game. You'll
notice that the 4x is placed under a bridge which seems to be impossible to
reach. There's also a ramp to the right of you as you start the crash
junction, and it does have a few tempting pickups, but this is just a red
herring. Your goal is to start driving straight ahead and along that bridge.
There's some oncoming traffic there, and a crashbreaker you can pick up. You're
supposed to get the crashbreaker and then use your aftertouch to steer your
car to go left and straight down on another crashbreaker which lies beside
the 4x multiplier. Once you're this far, you can easily get the 4x with your
aftertouch, though the camera may be rather evil sometimes and give you a
rather confusing angle.
It's important to get that crashbreaker on top of the bridge while having a low
speed. Otherwise you'll just fly straight ahead and onto a completely
different road. The best way to do it is by crashing into one of the first cars
on that bridge, and then slide onto the crashbreaker. Then you'll much more
easily be able to get down and take that crashbreaker (or if you're lucky,
just go straight for the 4x)
--------
--FAQs--
--------
Q: How do I perform a boost start?
A: Once the timer start counting down you start to hold the acceleration button
and press the brake button once (doesn't matter when you press brake just as
long as it do it once will suffice), and when the counter goes down to 1 and
just before it gets to GO you let go and quickly re-press the accelerator
button (just before the GO appears).
It has to happen pretty quickly, and it'll take a while to get used to it,
but at least Criterion made it a lot easier to do in Burnout 3 than the
previous games.
Q: Does the AI cheat? What does the phrase "rubberband AI" mean?
A: Yes, the AI cheats. Once you get ahead of your competition the AI will
magically match your speed and stay very close behind you, this is what
the "rubberband AI" is.
This is why getting ahead with more than 5-8 seconds is *very* difficult to
do. I'm not quite sure how it works specifically, since there's been a few
times I've actually been able to get ahead of the enemy with more than 10-15
seconds. You'll notice that the AI in faceoff races is even worse, since it's
near impossible to get ahead at all.
On the bright side the game gives the player an advantage if you get behind
with more than 5-6 seconds or so since you'll be able to acquire boost faster.
Q: Does this game work with HDLoader?
A: Yes, just install the game and while highlighting the game press Select,
and then activate Mode 3. After that it'll work just fine (although online
mode and the Need for Speed demo will make the game freeze)
Q: Which version is best, X-Box or PS2?
A: I haven't tried the X-Box version so it's difficult for me to answer. But
I can highlight some of the differences I know about:
-No version of the game supports changing the controls, and the X-Box version
uses a rather abstract default button layout. Giving the PS2 a slight
advantage for those who like a simple button layout.
-X-Box has faster loading times (unless you're playing the PS2 version with
HDLoader)
-X-Box has slightly better graphics
-X-Box supports custom soundtracks
-PS2 has free online mode.
Q: Why does the game sometimes add more cash than what the crash junction total
says?
A: The event total only shows how much you got in your last retry, but it adds
the total of your all retries to your crash total. For instance, if you play
once and get 400k but you hit retry because you didn't get gold and
then get 600k then the crash total screen will say you got 600k in total, but
it'll still add a 1000k to your crash total because that's how much you got
for all the retries.
Q: What is best to use, 1st or 3rd person view?
A: That's mostly subjective. I personally use 1st person because I feel I get
better control from that view. But on the other hand there are obvious
advantages with using 3rd person, you'll get to see more around you which
helps for doing and avoiding takedowns. And it simply looks better.
If you do use 1st person there are a few things you should master, first of
all you should learn how to hear if another opponent is close by you (even
better, learn which side he's on, though that's difficult unless you use
headphones). And you should learn how to quickly use the L1 button to look
behind you to see exactly where you opponent is, this will help you to avoid
enemies taking you down.
--Contact information--
If you have any questions or whatever you can email me at
remi(at)strategyplanet(dot)com. You can also post on the gamefaqs Burnout 3
message board with any question you have (though I'm not always around there
to answer, there's always other people who can answer your questions).
--Version History--
- v0.8 - First version
--Disclaimer--
This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal,
private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed
publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other
web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a
violation of copyright. All trademarks and copyrights contained in this
document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders.
--Credits--
-Thanks to Criterion for making this wonderful game (although those guys really
should learn how to write an AI which doesn't cheat)
-No thanks to EA for being evil enough to buy Criterion and put their annoying
ads and awful music into the game
-Super hyper special thanks to cyphie
