Tuesday, September 07, 2004

Twisted Metal, in Dolby

There were quite a few things I wanted to do today: cure cancer, build a life-size replica of the Great Pyramid of Giza, have lunch, then prove the existence of Bigfoot, Nessie, and UFO's. Just a normal day for America's least accomplished blogger.

I'll have to do that stuff tomorrow, though, because Burnout 3: Takedown hit my front porch today. I saw some advance reviews that said this game was the shiznit, and for once they were right. This game is absolutely, ridiculously excellent. I've played for almost three hours--and I'm still in crash mode. That's right--all I've done is follow the progression path for creating more and more spectacular, destructive wrecks. In a stroke of sheer genius, once a collision is initiated, you can slow down time and still control your vehicle via 'aftertouch.' So as your vehicle is sailing through the air, you can direct it into loads more vehicles, causing additional carnage. There's also a 'crashbreaker' feature that is activated after a certain number of cars wreck. Crashbreaker allows you to blow up your own car and send it soaring it into the air--where you can then control it with aftertouch to direct it into MORE cars.

Each crash only takes 30-60 seconds from start to finish, so the 'just one more time' disease is totally gripping with this game. Medals are awarded via a points system which measures the destruction by vehicle and bonuses, and there's nothing more fun than replaying one of the scenarios to get the gold. And the scenarios are quite varied as well, so it doesn't get repetitive in the least.

Then there are the online crash features, which are just insane. Two-player cooperative crash mode. Eight player competitive crash mode. It's just a brilliant design.

Oh yeah, I think there's some kind of driving, too. Or something. And skill in causing wrecks is needed to advance in the driving section as well.

Graphics look very good in 480p. Level of polish is very, very high. It's wicked fun for any age from 3.1 to 80.

Don't ask me how I established the lower age limit. And if you hear Eli 3.1 shout "KABOOM!" I know nothing about it. Nothing at all.

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