Burnout 3

[The Boye]

This feels so close to WipEout online it hurts. Mindnumbingly fast with takedowns being the essence of the game. Xbox version has a customisable soundtrack, all my favourite WipEout tracks are on their, adds so much more to the experience.

If only Sony could bring the Wip3out crew back together along with tDR to do an online WipEout justice.

[Hellfire_WZ]

Pure insanity is the only way I can describe this game. It's had me totally addicted for the past few days. Crash Junction and Road Rage are briliant, especially with the addition of the Crashbreaker to the former (that's a large bomb for those who don't know!) The only thing I'm not too keen on with the game is the way the more advanced AI tends to be able to weave their way in and out of traffic at will, leaving you to tear into it head on while trying to keep up. Still, that's a minor detail when you can plough through a crash zone in a fire engine! :lol:

I'm highly tempted to review this game on GameFAQs, it's been a while since I wrote one.

[Hyper Shadow]

This game IS awesome, it's so fast that my eyes bleed (especially in the Grand Prix cars) and Road Rage is so much fun.

I'd recommend it to anyone who even slightly enjoyed the previous game, because it is so much better its unbelieveable, this game may even keep my interested until Halo 2 comes out.

[G'Kyl]

I'd rather like to see a game that keeps me interested until DN4E comes out. ;)
Except WO, of course. *g*

Ben

[infoxicated]

My Review based on 10 hours gameplay
(you might want to skip this if you get bored easily)

I don't want to be too critical here, as I really do like the game, but it's nowhere near as perfect as the 10/10 ratings it's been getting. This is just reviewing on the crest of a wave of WOW! due to the scale and polish this time around, rather than an objective assessment of the game's parts.

Personally, I think they've messed with the AI too much, and the handling as well - both of which are now closer to being Need for Speed Underground than Burnout. Shame that EA buying up Criterion has led to cross pollination of that sort. The elastic band nature of the AI was never so prevelant in Burnout 2 - it kept the races feeling close but fair. With Burnout 3 it's just a pile of cheating **** as far as I'm concerned, and I'm very disappointed with it.

Burnout 3 is no longer about the racing - it's about the crashing, crashing, and more crashing. If you crash too much, the AI sandbags so you can catch up (my girlfriend made up a 25 second deficit in quarter of a lap because the AI car just stopped and waited for her, for some reason). If you don't crash, drive well, boost lots, and get too far ahead, the AI just reel you in - exactly like NFS: Underground.

Due to the above, I don't think I can bring myself to race all of the Face Off races - it just cheats too much and it's more frustrating than fun - just like NFSU. At least in the six car races it's a bit more open and the takedown aspect means you can try to gain boost without risking it all in a drift around a corner.

Crash mode is spectacular as ever, though, but some of the level design is just ridiculously contrived - requiring just the right fluke of circuimstances in order to beat it, rather than skill. You cant get gold on most of the levels without getting the 4X multiplier, too, so it's not as if you can use a bit of skill in a different way to achieve gold - it always has to be Bronze cash pick-up, Silver cash pick-up, Gold cash pick-up, Crashbreaker *KABOOM* - try to judge your direction as the camera goes off on one - 4X multiplier... level complete. And once you're done with a junction, there's not much point in going back to it... why? because there's no high score table - I'll come back to that later.

Now, does anybody really look at the back cover of a game, see the "EA Trax" logo and decide it's a mark of quality?! Other than a couple of tunes, the music is just the biggest pile of generic nuRock bullshit I've heard in one collection in a long time. I seen one mag called it "skaterock", but that's an insult to the genre. DJ Stryker lasted an hour in our house, before he was switched off for good. At least the DJ in SSX 3 only got boring after a good few hours of play, rather than a few minutes.

If I hear We are the lazy generation, We are the lazy generation, We are the lazy generation, We are the lazy generation, We are the lazy generation, We are the lazy generation, We are the lazy generation, We are the lazy generation one more ****ing time, I swear I'm going to get myself a very sharp blade and try to etch the track from the disk. :bombhead

The menu system is awash with user interface issues that hose on my Weetabix, too. I wont get into in too much detail here, basically because I sit and deal with that kind of thing day in day out, so I find repetative "press to continue... press to continue... press to continue" menu systems really annoying, whereas the average person might absolutely love having to press continue three times to re-start a crash level.

Okay, I know this has gone on a bit, but my final peave with the game comes down to the profile system. It sucks. It really, really sucks.

Two years ago when I got Burnout 2 there was a gang of us playing it at work using my copy and my memory card. One guy, by the name of Egg, had one go of a crash junction and got over 50 million right off the bat, while the rest of us were struggling to get 30. To this day, Egg's name is at the top of the high score table on my memory card... and for some reason I love that.

It shows a history - if I had mates around and they beat one of my lap times in the game, I'd be right back at it trying to better them. High score tables are almost a no-brainer in an arcade game, yet there are none in Burnout 3 - just records of the highest score, not of who accomplished it, on what day, with what car. Just a meaningless dollar total that could have been me, could have been my girlfriend... heck, could have been a burglar who broke in during the night for all know. This oversight just detracts from the fun of the game, I believe, and I'd love to know the reasoning behind its omission.

So there you go - those are my reasons why Burnout 3 is an 8 / 10 for me - a very good game, but it's now an EA rent-a-sequel rather than the quality indie arcade racer it has been in the past.

Shame, really.

[Thruster2097]

(Just for trainspotting purpouses, I have the PS2 version, played 23hrs gametime and I would rather insert a rusty pitchfork in myself than take my PS2 on-line, so no Im not making any comment about online play).

Couldnt agree more. Not even if I tried.
The thing that really peeves me is the "commercialisation of cool" thing that EA have got going on at the moment. Burnout 3 is an awesome game. No denying that. But what stands out to me as strikingly obvious is that the only creative input EA have offered here is some music licencing (which is horrific--- i'm 23 and even tho there are some pretty decent tun'e' by Ash and the von bondies, the music is better turned off).

Come on, everybody and quite possibly their grandma knows that SSX is a landmark game for EA, but the urge- - or need to cross-advertise with the help of "dj stryker" is nothing short of shameless. Huge advertising billboards in-game.....well, .... advertising EA games. Nothing else. Totally unnecessary. Honestly, it ruins my playing experience.
AND THE NEED TO INCLUDE A DEMO FOR NEED FOR SPEED 2 ?!?!?!?!!!?!
DO THEY NOT THINK THAT BURNOUT IS A GOOD ENOUGH FRANCHISE ANYWAY????
I know I would have bought Burnout 3 regardless, along with hoardes of the UK market, but EA's pledge to trying to lure 'undergrounders with a £40 demo shouldnt work. But it will. And this makes me angry. Furious to some extent.

Left to their own devices, criterion would have made an absolute whopper of a game.
The enhanced graphics are awe-inspiring, and the sheer amount of tracks and locations beggar belief. Also, the speed is good. No slowdown or anything.
It is a real heartfelt shame to say that burnout 3 is let down by shoddy "rolling barricade" AI, poor sense of speed (yeah, you heard me!), shocking menu displays, the ability to practically gain points for anything... "Damn Van - 40pts", car sound that could be found inside any lawnmower, appaling soundtrack, drastic over-emphasis on crashing and takedowns rather than racing, inclusion of "power-ups" on crash mode which make it far too easy.... just aim for the X4 and you got gold, lack of record tables for off-line modes, and AFTERTOUCH???? Surely the biggest joke yet! Burnout 3:Takedown fails due to the inclusion of EA, the hip-hoppin' and street-wise yankee urbanites that must surely have more money than sense.

In short, this has killed Burnout, a genre-defining game. EA have to start putting a hell of a lot of effort into localising their games to suit their intended destinations before release. America doesnt rule the universe yet, I am not part of the extreme generation, nor am I lazy. I am normal. So are billions of others. Deal with it.

As for that poor sense of speed comment, I am refering to the road traffic speed. You know, the random cars that are in youre way. I dont know for sure, but I guess that theyre travelling about 130, which makes them difficult to overtake on the flowing lane, and almost invisible to spot on the incoming lane. A sense of realistic speed may have done a lot of good here. May have even made Burnout3 forgiveable as an excuse.

This game is going back for a refund sometime this week.

Sorry if thats a bit harsh, maybe I'm still going off on a tangent about the loss of acclaim, I dunno. But for some reason I've been stuck to it like glue for a weekend, and I cant take that away from the game. Just for that, I give 5/10. But I really want to give more.

And also to the whole "anti-online" thing, I was chatting to insiders at EGN and Gamestars about next-gen home consoles, basically what we came up with was a shopping list for a multimedia PC..... thats for another topic, but online play needs to be reserved purely for Computers, not consoles.

[infoxicated]

I haven't tried the online play yet either - EA's online play implementation always leaves a lot to be desired - it's done so much better in Tony Hawks and Hardware, for example.

I wouldn't rule it out, though - I've spent many an hour online in Socom II's universe, and I'll probably be back at it when the new map package comes out.

The tragedy for me is that Burnout 2 was a rockin' independant racing game by a quality studio. Now it's a. n. other EA franchise that might as well be called Need for Speed: Daytime.

In a recent interview one of EA's big kahuna's said that they'd probably support the PS2 up until 2010 - I expect to see Burnout sequeled to an early grave by that time.

[Hellfire_WZ]

Now that I've been playing for a while, I've been getting a little more critical about the game as well.

One thing I failed to mention earlier was some of the requirements to get trophies and signature takedowns. I've just got to the point where I need to make some ridiculous takedowns to get the takedown trophies, is someone telling me that it's actually possible to intentionally ram a car into certain random objects that only appear once or twice in the whole race? I don't know about anyone else, but I've only ever got signatures by sheer luck, I don't think it's possible half the time. Most of the AI just wall-hug most of the time, so you can't ram them out into the road, and when you do manage it they always seem to be able to deftly avoid whatever you fling them at. If the same happens to you, you just plough straight in! I know where the signatures are, and I've lost count of the number of times I've been on the receiving end.

I'm obviously not alone then when I say that the soundtrack does indeed suck hard. I kinda envy the Xbox players who have the custom soundtrack feature. But I just do the next best thing. Music off, annoying twat DJ off, PC on and blast some Iniquity in the background. Trust me, playing Road Rage while listening to death metal does wonders for your scores! :rock_on It does make you wonder what Criterion would have done with the music if EA hadn't interfered,

I do agree with Rob that the introduction of score multipliers to Crash mode was a waste of time. I managed to get all gold in Crash, but I can't say I enjoyed it as much as in Burnout 2. At least in 2 you needed to find the best place to crash to get the biggest score, and it wasn't always obvious. Placing the 4x multiplier in 3 has just placed a massive signpost saying "Gold right here, come and get me!" Out of 100 junctions, I'll be surprised if I had more than a few goes on 5 before getting gold, and they were the ones where the mutiplier was in such an out of reach place you needed to be hit by about five trucks before you could reach it with the Crashbreaker. The only reason I go back to them I said in my last post. Charging through the junction in a fire engine is one of the most hilarious things I've seen in a game. If I'm just playing to cause a massive pile up, it's okay, but I don't play for scores anymore.

I played online at GameStars, and I must say it was really enjoyable. It's a shame it's such a hassle getting consoles online. I've already got one internet connection from an ISP that doesn't support console connection. I wouldn't be willing to spend more money on a network adapter and subscription charges for another ISP just for the pleasure of one or two games with online capabilities.

Personally, I'd give Burnout 3 an 8/10 as well. Great game, really addictive, but just let down by certain things that detract from what Burnout is supposed to be... and don't get me started on Burning Laps.

[Hyper Shadow]

Now I've played it for a few hours, the cracks have started to show.

The AI is starting to grate, I can never get more than a second ahead of my rivals on races, and believe me I've boosted around tracks for more than 75% and perfect raced it, yet I still am only a second ahead ><;;. I've also boosted down a straight and got overtaken, noting that the overtaking car didn't have the blue exhaust flames, so he overtook me without boost 8O WTF? Then I can be around 5 seconds behind an opponent, boost to the next time point and be 8 seconds behind, the AI needs work.

Multiplayer is still great fun though and certainly is well worth a few hours play.

One last thing, camera glare and road reflection. I've lost count of how many times I've rocketed the wrong way down a highway, only to be taken out by an 'invisible' car hidden by the overdone shineyness of the road.

I'd give it a 9/10, not perfect but good fun nontheless.

[The Boye]

Xbox live is probably the most hassle free online experience you could wish for, look at PGR2's frontend and you'll see what all online games should be like.

[G'Kyl]

Even though offering fast and stable online capabilities doesn't make online games good online games yet. ;)

Hm, one question about Burnout 3: Just how much does that catch-up feature lessen the "racing with the pack" experience? I have never been a fan of that trick to make the AI go faster, but as long as the overall feel of racing is still somewhat intact I can bear it...
I have so been looking forward to Burnout 3, but what I`ve heard from players made me relcutant to go and get it right away.

Ben

[infoxicated]

The racing is... well... intense, I guess - but only because you can never lose the AI cars. So if you're ahead you're going to be rammed up the tail-pipe, or they'll attempt a takedown on you.

Don't let my negative comments put you off getting the game, Ben - it is a spectacular ride, and the visual tricks used really do give the impression of brain melting speed. It's just that once you look past the mis-direction of the wonderful graphics, there are flaws there and it's far from the perfect 10 / 10 the magazines have been giving their review copies.


Xbox live is probably the most hassle free online experience you could wish for, look at PGR2's frontend and you'll see what all online games should be like.
Mate, if you're playing an EA game it doesn't matter whether you're on PS2 Online or XBox Live - you're still playing on EA's servers, and dealing with the sometimes quirky EA lobby systems.

[G'Kyl]

Thanks. Even though that's the bottom line you get from about every (player) review, I just needed to hear it just once more in regard to the evil catch-up. :) Now the only concern I have left is that the game is so fast it will literally make me cry when racing the faster cars. ;) (Motion blur at high speeds has this effect on my eyes.)

Ben

[infoxicated]

Your problem will be failing to blink!

At least that's what affected us the most over the weekend, just trying to keep your eyes open long enough to win. :)

I'm wondering if there's a pattern emerging by the time they come to the third game in a series?

Driver 3, SSX 3, Burnout 3, Gran Tourismo 3 - all bigger and bolder than their originals. But better? well, sometimes not - they seem to lose the essence of the original as time goes by.

GTA 3 and Wipeout 3 were obviously flukes! ;)

[The Boye]

Xbox live is probably the most hassle free online experience you could wish for, look at PGR2's frontend and you'll see what all online games should be like.
Mate, if you're playing an EA game it doesn't matter whether you're on PS2 Online or XBox Live - you're still playing on EA's servers, and dealing with the sometimes quirky EA lobby systems.

Why are you stating the obvious? One thing I can praise EA Servers for is that once you do manage to get a game running, there isn't any in-game lag whatsoever.

My point was in response towards the apathy shown against online play with a console. PGR2 on Xbox Live is a perfect, fussfree experience.


Even though offering fast and stable online capabilities doesn't make online games good online games yet. ;)



What else do you require to make online games good?

[G'Kyl]

Roger: That's what I meant. :) I have the same "problem" when playing EDIT Wipeout games EDIT OFF for a long time or when driving in Redshift class. Ballistics also is one of those games.

The Boye: It's the options being offered, the UI (live games usually have a good one, but that doesn't come with the servers) and the netcode. In different words: Imagine an online FPS with medicore graphics and only deathmatch mode allowing no more than 2 players... That's what I meant. :)

Ben

[infoxicated]

What else do you require to make online games good?

A good game in the first place? ;)

Why was I stating the obvious? Because I mis-intereperated your comment... it was a little out of context. :)

[Wamdue]

Bought burnout 3 yesterday. I havent played the previous versions so I had no expections and didnt really know what I had bought.. I just wanted a fun arcade racer and I was pleasantly suprised. Frankly, its the most fun Ive had with a racer this year yet.

I agree the catch-up feature is annoying and the menu system is really annoying as well, I have no problems with the soundtrack as I got the xbox version and got daft punk in the background instead. I think the crashes are fun, I like the bullet-time thingy going on and the sound effects when crashing are very nice too. The tracks are all fun, and even if I dont win I have a good time finishing the race anyway. Im very impressed by the camera system, I think its really nice to get a close up of your take-down and then quickly switch back to the race and the view-switch hasnt ruined my racing yet.

I only play it an hour now and then, I think arcade games quickly get boring if you "grind" them 5-6 hours straight.

Its a very nice game and will keep my occupied til Outrun 2 is out.

[G'Kyl]

I am SO waiting for Outrun 2! :)

Anyway, may I ask how exactely they managed to have the impact-time show the crashes without you kissing the wall while driving loose?

Ben

[infoxicated]

It only switches back for a second or so in slow motion, it's usually not that bothersome, and you can turn it off in the options if you want.

It has caught me out a few times, though - you can be heading right towards some traffic and take someone down, but by the time you're back in control of your car again it's too late to take avoiding action.

They're all a bit samey after a while - but it is worth seeing the signature takedowns, as they can be spectaular. Granted I've only seen a couple of them, but then I haven't gone looking to specifically perform a signature takedown.

[G'Kyl]

What are signature takedowns and trophies anyway? ;) I never played any Burnout 1 or 2 and it's hard to find a page where it is actually being explained when googling (lol) for it, so I hope noone minds me asking noob-questions here. *g*

And just an idea on the crash-view: Couldn't they have simply made the whole game roll back to the time of the initial impact when switching back to real-time?

[Hellfire_WZ]

The takedown camera isn't all that bad actually, you get a short period of invulnerability while the camera is away from your car, and also for a split second when it returns. I've hit a big rig head on right after a takedown and it just folded up around me, leaving me unharmed. I've tried turning it off, but I find myself crashing a lot more without it.

Signature takedowns and trophies are a new feature to Burnout 3. Signatures are essentially unique takedowns, like ramming someone into a roundabout, over a cliff, into a pillar, etc. As I said earlier, some of them require pure luck to get, but they're fun to watch when you do. There are also four trophies to be won depending on your takedowns, ranging from Easy to Champion. Five requirements to be fulfilled for each, and again some of them are luck based. The easy ones are just things like "First car takedown", whereas the Champion trophy needs things like "40 takedowns in a Road Rage event" or "2000 total takedowns". They are only really there to unlock another two cars.

[Roger]

I am SO waiting for Outrun 2! :)
Xbox only, I see :( . Still, I've got my Saturn with arcade perfect rendition of the original Outrun! 8)

---
edit: just watched the movie at the official site (http://outrun2.sega-europe.com) - man, that's pretty graphics 8O . But the music sucks, let's hope that's not the only in-game music available.

[G'Kyl]

Not XBox only, but no Saturn either. :) Oh, and all I got to do is power up MAME and run the REAL original Outrun! ;))

Thanks for the explanation, Hellfire!

Ben

[Thruster2097]

From the playable demo I got, the cars and tracks are really pretty, the noise from the engine gets irritating after a minute or so at maximum revs (but its a ferrari so who cares!?) but the control over the car seems poor. Also going onto the smallest piece of grass totally kills your speed.
I love Heart Attack mode in the arcades.
Also, it will be interesting how they manage to get some life out of, what is undoubetly, the first coin-op racer.
Its going to be a very good re-make, no question. I'm waiting to try the inevitable re-makes of Daytona and Sega Rally! (conveinently forgetting about Daytona2001 for DC)

[infoxicated]

What about Pole Position... and Super Sprint?!

They were coin-op racers while the wood for OutRun's cabinets were still in the forest, being trees!! :lol: :wink:

[The Boye]

Why was I stating the obvious? Because I mis-intereperated your comment... it was a little out of context. :)

How did you interpret my comment? All that was mentioned was Xbox Live and PGR2's online achievements.

[infoxicated]

:?

okay... the post previous to yours doesn't mention online play. But yours does, so all it looked like to me was XBox Live boosterism. This is why I "stated the obvious" that regardless of whether it was the walled garden of XBox Live or the open plan PS2 online, we were all playing on EA's servers a the end of the day.

And now, back to scheduled programming...

[Thruster2097]

(holds hands high) Okay, you got me.... I've only ever heard of super sprint, but Pole Position.......I played but didnt enjoy. It just didnt cut my cheese :? . I guess theres just certain games that I feel are fantastic. They have an X factor. A certain pizazz, if you will. Outrun has it. Pole Position doesnt. Virtua Racing has it. F1'04 doesnt. WipEout has it. Burnout 3 doesnt.
Just my opinion, I guess, and my apologies to nammie and :foxy for deeming Pole Position as insignificant. :oops:

And what was that comment about "scheduled" programming? You know this place just about as much as I do. Topics dont often get followed. It's fun! (i think?) :)

I'm gonna shut up now..... 8)

[infoxicated]

And what was that comment about "scheduled" programming? You know this place just about as much as I do. Topics dont often get followed. It's fun! (i think?) :)
Jeeees... am I going to get called out on everything I post this week? <in joke>Come back Nuworld, all is forgiven!</in joke> :wink:

I know what you're saying, though, Thrusty - some games have "it"... some don't, it's just the way of the world.

[piranha wiper]

i apologies if this has been said already but i read through this topic and didnt see anythng about it,

so, do they still have the same track of about 5 and then just add extra bits on the end to make them longer and a bit ddifferent like in the bo1 or did that go out with bo2?

[Hyper Shadow]

I guess it's like PGR in the fact that there is one large are which gets partitioned off into tracks of various lengths (In BO3's case, 3 areas, USA, Europe and FarEast).

I'm also amazed that for a racing game, theres very little racing to be done. I'm about 47% of the way through the game, and I've finished the racing section an the first 'lap' of the crash section. I don't like the emphasis on Crash Junctions, because, to be honest I find them tedious and boring.

[Pandemic0rgasm]

I was seriously dissapointed that all the action happens in 3rd person... biggest letdown, but the game rocks.

or is there some way to change the point of view that I haven't figured out?

The game music is absolutly horrible :) EA kind of ghey'd it up..

[G'Kyl]

First af all, welcome to the WOZ. :)

Is there really only 3rd person view to play in?!
I have so far played about every racing game from the cockpit perspective (even though there wasn't always a cockpit drawn ;) ), which is simply because that is where the sensation of speed is greatest. It also gives better control over where your car is headed. You cannot SEE the car/craft drifting as well as from behind, but you feel it. And you see where exactely it will go next. So far games with no cockpit view haven't had a long life on my "being played" shelf...

Ben

[Pandemic0rgasm]

Thanks for the welcome ;)

Sense of speed is exactly why I like to play from the "cockpit"... I think they could have made the crashes a bit more fun, but I think it may just take time for me to get into that aspect of the game. The takedown side of the game is lots of fun so far. The car damage and detail of the wrecks really adds value.

I hadn't heard any menton of the game lacking the changable perspectives before I bought it, not from any reviews I read online which quite frankly boggles me. In my opinion that's a huge departure from the last release.

EA really dumbed the game down seems they wanted to target 13 year olds at my annoyance ;) Thankfully you can control those elements.

[Pandemic0rgasm]

Well I gave it a chance over this weekend.

Good:
Great graphics
Fast action
Great wrecks
Far more expansive than burnout 2 lots of tracks

Bad
No cockpit perspective (HUGE downer)
Annoying crash animations take too long to play and break your rhythm.
Crash time & after takeout cameras make it worthless
the cars are all the same in performance and look.
EA screwed it all up..
Music absolutely sucks (hard guitar with whiny teenager singing bleh)
The burnout sound ... (full boost) sounds more like a popcorn machine than anything.

The fun wears pretty quickly in this game, and the things that were cool become annoyances. I think it could have been executed better but it's still a great game when you compare it to what's out there. The lack of cockpit perspective really ruins it for me though.

[jmoid]

I've been playing online for a few days and it really adds a lot of longevity to the game. You have to mess around with your settings for the PS2 online version but once you've done it, it works fine, and the EA helpline staff seem very helpfiul at talking you through how to do it. The Xbox Live version apparently isn't so smooth, according to what I've read in another forum (http://www.rllmukforum.com/index.php?showtopic=56781), although I haven't played it myself. My B3 handle's mechajmoid.

[AmishRobot]

I have to say that I don't quite understand the camera complaints. I've been happily playing from the nose-cam view since I bought the game, and I don't believe any of the previous versions had a true cockpit view.

EDIT:
One thing I have to mention that I don't think anyone else has, is that the true genius of this game is that it isn't that fast; it uses graphical tricks to make you think it is. That's great, because it makes it exciting while being extremely playable.

[Shem]

Well said AmishRobot. These clever graphics tricks (meaning motion blur mainly), make the game look not only awesome, but fast as well. But there's a small flaw caused by using motion blur effect. While everything moves, everything is blurred, which is obvious, but when you slow down, everything gets super sharp, and thus - uncovers the basic graphic flaws (like the lack of polygons, texture quality). It was once said that to make the graphics look realistic is not to use tons and tons of polygons, better textures, coulours. The key is to slightly distort the image, so it doesn't look artificial. This is what was partly achieved with Burnout 3. And that's what i liked about the game. Apart the mayhem of course.

[G'Kyl]

I think distorting the image had made many people complain about washed-out and unsharp graphics, cause they wouldn't understand what this kind of effect was good for. Most players want their graphics to be as sharp as it gets. Oh, I'm sure some would even have started rants about low-res textures because texture resolution is about everything they know from the techical side of programming/designing. ;)
Personally, I prefer a low poly-count with an added artistic value over loads of polygons that leave little room for additional effects. See Doom3 and you'll know what I mean. :)

It's true what both of you said about the motion blur. That trick has always made racing games (those few that have used the effect) look a lot faster than they really were. Incresing focal length at higher speeds does the same trick.
By the way, it took me some time to adopt the understanding that I wouldn't be going THAT much faster only because the motion blur started to kick in into my driving in Quantum Redshift. In the beginning I usually hit the brakes far too early before realizing there was no turn to be taken yet. ;-)

Ben

[AmishRobot]

Exactly... cinematographers don't have just one type of lens. I think in the last couple years we've finally begun approaching the uncanny valley (http://www.arclight.net/~pdb/glimpses/valley.html) in game graphics. It's nice when developers use these effects and filters to muddy-up the images a bit. On top of being more artistically interesting and stopping the subconcious from looking for flaws, I'm willing to bet it's often less taxing on the systems as well. It's probably a hard sell, though, as it often makes still screenshots look like dreck, even though the moving image is improved.