Burnout 3: Takedown (Alpha 1 build)

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Burnout 3: Takedown (Alpha 1)
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Build Info
Platform: PlayStation 2
Compilation date: July 20th, 2004
Also known as: "Review Build"
Released publically: Yes

The Alpha 1 build of Burnout 3: Takedown was passed to reviewers to give final thoughts on the mostly finished product. It doesn't contain any major substance but proves to share a bit of differences to retail in various places.

Notable Differences

Light World Tour Changes

Being rather close to the retail game, most of the World Tour goes unchanged. However, there are a few events with some differences, namely Burning Laps with times being much tighter than in the final game. It is possible that vehicle choices were different regarding some crash junctions but this must be confirmed first.

Light Crash Mode Changes

In crash mode there are very light differences, namely the end-screen pan around working much differently than retail. Instead of money being gradually counted individually by dollar, it is added onto the main number as a whole, and skipping the monetary damage for bonuses and multipliers will continue to run the pan-around.

More Aggressive AI

Through gameplay it's easy to notice the AI are given much higher values within the Value Database, with some vehicles including Dominators and Assassins becoming more intense competition. Super Class and some Race Specials are also very noticeably heightened in AI values, making the final stretch of the game much more difficult. Certain vehicles upon the player crashing may become unreachable, leaving the player as much as 10+ seconds behind and requiring a restart for a Gold Medal, or simply first place depending on if you're playing World Tour or not.

Heavier Combat

In this build, the combat is found to be although not drastically different, heavier than what is given in retail. Cars take more of a beating without dying, and getting Psyche Outs presents itself more of a challenge. Sometimes vehicles can be seen tipping sideways like in the Standalone Demo but this is no longer able to be done by engaging in combat and is merely just how the player interacts with the track at high speeds.

Environment Lighting

Some tracks feature different values within the Environment Slice. It's primarily seen in european tracks with most having a much colder look to them, as well as Alpine Expressway having strange lighting, though only Expressway Eastbound appears to be genuinely broken. Based on promotional material and old gameplay videos some of these environment values could date back to as early as May 2004.

Scrapped Colors in Icons

On the icons for certain vehicles, colors that are not present in the final product can be seen when cycling through them in the garage.

Cut songs

This build includes 4 different songs that did not make it to retail. These include:

  • Ride by The Vines
  • Skeptic by Snapcase
  • Louder Than Bombs by Time in Malta
  • Messin Around by The Datsuns

Known Issues

  • Sports Type 1 is missing exhaust tips on the model.