I enjoyed Burnout 3 to be honest, and tracks like Orpheus by Ash made the music quite enjoyable. That said - with music there are always going to be people who're disappointed.
I will say though, that EAs insistance on plastering their games with sign boards for their other games is quite irritating. I want to play a game with atmosphere, not a walking advertisment.
Kinda curious though, this whole EA / HL / Publisher thing. EA does realise that Valves Steam system totally goes around the publisher, right? I don't see Valve budging on that, but I don't see EA being happy to role over and let one of the biggest game names of all time use them as a publisher then avoid the publishing costs with Steam.