[Timgt5]

Burnout Paradise, review by Timgt5

Type: Arcade Racer
Genre: Modern Day Street
Platform: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Released: January 2008
Rating: E10 (10 and over)

Highs: Excellent Graphics and Sound effects, Rockin’ Sound Track, Eye popping speed, smooth controls, variety of game play, great online play, lots of free downloadable content

Lows: Dear Mr. Alex Ward, oh please, please bring back “traffic check” from Burnout Revenge.

Criterion Games is one of those developers you can always bank on to bring out a great product. Burnout Takedown and Burnout Revenge were brilliant and innovative games on PS2, Xbox and Gamecube. Burnout Paradise takes it to the next level and proves without a doubt that Criterion Games was game publishing giant Electronic Art’s smartest acquisition.

Game Play: For those of you who have played past versions of this series, much will be familiar. To keep it fresh, Criterion has remade the overall design. In previous itinerations of the game you traveled the world racing in various cities. Burnout Paradise takes place entirely in one large city (Paradise City). The concept is very similar to its cousin over at EA: Need for Speed Underground. This allows for more time behind the wheel and less time navigating menus. The transition from just “crusin” around to an event is seamless.

At the beginning of the game you are issued a C license (You have the option to upload your picture and have it on the license-very cool!!) and are taken to your first Junkyard. The Junkyard acts as garage where your will store your acquired cars. Your first vehicle is dropped via crane and is in bad shape. You crank up the clunker and head to a repair shop, where your car is instantly repaired and restored to new condition. Head back to the garage and then pick from a number paint styles. There are a total of 80 or so vehicles to acquire. They range from old school junkers, to muscle cars, to ricers, SUVs, Vans, and euro exotics. From there you are off and running. Head for the nearest intersection, get to the light and perform a “burnout” (Hold the brake and gas simultaneously, and smoke the tires) to start an event. Events are as follows:

Race: A point to point B run against other racers. Outrun AI or human opponents (online). The routes are not fixed and the trick is to find short cuts and wreck your opponents as often as possible to gain position and boost (to make you go really really fast) Make it to the finish line first by any means necessary.

Marked Man: Survive a run from Point A to Point B. the event is not timed but you have four cars trying to destroy your vehicle before you get to the finish line. If your car survives in running condition, you win.

Road Rage: It is your turn to be the hunter. Your goal is to wreck as many opposing cars as possible in the time given. Beat the quota, and win the event.

Stunt Run: Complete as many drifts, jumps, and barrel rolls, as possible within a time
limit.

Burning Route: this is a timed point A to point B run. Each burning route must be run with a specific car

As you complete events, you accumulate points on your license and once a certain level is reached, you move up to the next license. Moving up means more cars are delivered to your Junkyard and more Junkyards are open to you throughout Paradise city. In addition to gaining cars by winning events, you can take down (wreck) certain special cars and those will be added to your collection. If you are online with your system, you can also obtain motorcycles via FREE download (Criterion rocks!!) You get three free bikes to start you off and can earn more by completing motorcycle specific events.

The events are diverse and balanced. There is a lot to see and do in Paradise City. The learning curve is just about right as well. Entry level license events are fairly easy to win. Once you get to the “A” license the challenges ramp up quite a bit in difficulty.

Being an “arcade” type racer, Burnout Paradise has the usual over exaggerated car physics, which make driving a lot of fun. The cars do adhere to some basic rules of behavior. Big bulky SUVs and vans handle horribly, but are perfect for “Road Rage” and “Marked Man” due to their toughness. Meanwhile the “ricers” under steer and the muscle cars can do crazy drifts. The euro super cars have magnetic road holding ability and are crazy-fast. The simulation rules of precision driving, careful line planning, and obeying the traffic laws simply do not apply here. To succeed here you have to drive like a maniac. The game features a lot of crazy drifting, huge jumps, insane speeds, and of course the famous crashes. When given a race, your are told to get from one point to another, but the routes are not preset, often you find your way via a number of “shortcuts” and hidden roads. Taking down opponents be they human or AI is a great way to work off the frustrations of real life. If your PS3 or 360 has a camera attachment hooked up, you can actually see the expression of your opponent’s face when you take them down in a race and take a “snapshot” for your collection. All of this and more adds up to a very cool experience! Once again Criterion has proven itself to be a trailblazer.

Sights and Sounds. Visually, Paradise City is a delight. One could expect nothing less than from the inventors of the legendary “Renderware” program. It seems to be modeled after some cities in Northern California. The city is quite expansive and loaded with a variety of geographic features. On one side you have the business district, the wharf area and the baseball stadium. On the other side, you have more suburban and rural areas and into the curvy mountain roads. All of it is rendered with a lot of detail and sweet lighting. Traffic flows throughout the city bringing it to life. Even at blazing speeds the frame rate never stutters, and there is no draw-in or pop ups anywhere in the environment (again a fantastic feat despite the crazy speeds). The car models are not licensed real world cars, rather facsimiles of a variety of classic, muscle and sports cars. All are nicely detailed. As a player you get the option of choosing a variety of paint finishes and schemes. They all look very sharp.

Speaking of blazing speed, Burnout Paradise City really shines in this area. Hit the nitro boost on your car in a race and there is no other game like it. The landscape blurs at eye popping speed. No other racing title can produce a “white knuckled” experience quite like this one. This thing can really get your heart pumping. The other brilliant thing that Criterion has always had with this series is the car crashes. Always the best in the business for showing car damage, the additional processing power of PS3 and Xbox 360 allow them to do some really cool effects. When you wreck your car, the action goes to slow-mo and you can actually see the shockwave rip through the sheet metal as steel deforms and glass shatters, then parts litter the street in all directions. You will want to experiment with the crashes just to watch the effect a few times. Equally satisfying is performing a “takedown” on an opposing vehicle and watching it tear to shreds. It is all glorious to behold.

The sound quality is just as good, with excellent engine and wind sounds. Ambient sounds are present as well at just the right volume. Crashes are accompanied by nasty “crunch” of sheet metal and shattering glass. The excellent music score is led off by the iconic Guns and Roses tune “Paradise City” ( it had to be in there) followed by a variety of techno, metal, and alt-rock tunes, all up-tempo and well suited to the all the incredibly fast driving. Accompanying your adventures, the games “radio station” features “DJ Atomica”, who some of you may remember from SSX big. He gives out news and advice as you tool around Paradise City.

All in all the whole presentation is first rate.

Kid’s Corner: Burnout Paradise City is rated E10. I think that is about right on the money. There are no instances of bad language (The songs on the soundtrack are the “sanitized” versions) nudity, or violence. Criterion was wise enough not to depict anyone inside the cars when they crash. I would however recommend that parents take the time make sure their kids thoroughly understand that wrecks in the real world are not “fun” and people in real life are greatly harmed in a car crash.

The only other word of caution would be for those who suffer from easy dizziness or motion sickness; you may want to skip this one. It can trigger both.

Burnout Paradise City with its smooth mechanics, polished visuals and great variety is another one Criterion has hit right out of the ball park. To date is it is the best arcade racing game on the market. If you have a PS3 or Xbox 360 and like racing titles, grab this one, now in some places at $19.99. For you PC gamers it is coming to your rig, later this month!

Check out the footage: