Burnout Paradise Review

Written by: Darren Cartledge Posted: 28th January 2008

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We head to paradise, to cause some destruction!

Burnout Paradise Details:

	Racing
	PlayStation 3/Xbox 360
	Criterion
	EA Games

Out Now

N/A

After the success of the last two Burnout games, it’s no real surprise that we are now on the fifth instalment of the franchise. What will surprise many are the major changes to the successful Burnout formula that Criterion have made.

The biggest change to the game is that it is now totally set in a free roaming environment, Paradise City. There are no menus to scroll through in order to find events, in fact the game features no main menu at all you simply start the game in your car on the streets. All you need to do is simply drive to the nearest intersection, spin your wheels and away you go! It’s a nice system that works well, enabling you explore the city when you’re not taking part in an event.

Ranks have been replaced by Licenses, you start with a learners permit and have to work your way up to the Elite license. In previous versions of Burnout you were awarded points for finishing first, second and third, these points were all tallied up at the end of races and put towards earning your next rank! In Burnout Paradise things are a little different, winning is everything?

For each license you have to earn a specific number of wins, all races are open to you from the start of the game, however you can only win the race once per license, while competing in the same races for each license does get a bit repetitive it can help you progress quickly, and there are plenty of events throughout Paradise City to offer a good deal of variation. One slight annoying thing about how the events are laid out is it’s not always obvious which ones you have already completed, you have to start the race before you are informed so by the narrator.

There are five main race types in Burnout Paradise, Burning Route, Race, Road Rage, Stunt Run and Marked Man. Burning route is pretty much the same as burning lap from the previous burnout games, however you have to do these races in a specific car and if successful you will unlock a special edition of that car. Road Rage is the same as in previous version and by far the best race type. The only new twist to this is that littered throughout Paradise City are auto shops, where you can get your car repaired at anytime. Races are as you would expect you go from point A to B and get there before all your rivals.

Stunt Runs are a new addition to the burnout series, in these you will have to achieve a set score by launching your car through the air, smashing through “Burnout” billboards and performing barrel rolls off ramps. The stunt runs are a nice addition to the series and should appeal to fans of the crash event, which sadly has been omitted.

The other new race type is Marked Man, in these events you have to get from one point to another while being hunted by powerful hunter cars! If your car gets wrecked before you reach the end you lose, however like in all other race types you are free to drive thru the auto shop for repairs during these races.

All the race events in Burnout Paradise are set in the games free roaming environment and you are guided round by your cars indicators that flash, you have a compass and a small map in the corner of the screen as well. Races being set in the games free roam environment can be both good and bad! It’s good because races have no set path and you are free to choose your own route, which can turn out to be shorter than your rivals! However, the most likely outcome is that you will take a wrong turn, as your cars indicators don’t flash with enough warning, and that’s if they flash at all! This often results in you getting stuck with no way to reach your destination, meaning you have to back track. If you navigate using the map you may have a little more success but will often find you’re smashing in to traffic and crashing as you’re not fully concentrating on the road action. Navigating like this quickly becomes annoying so expect to get extremely frustrated.

As I mentioned earlier there are no crash events in Burnout Paradise, however all is not lost for fans of car carnage as a new feature called “Showtime”, has been added. Showtime can be pulled off on any road in Paradise City all you have to do is crash your car and tap the ground break button making your car roll down the street hitting and causing as much damage to other vehicles as possible, the longer you keep it going the better. Showtime is part of a new feature called road rules, these are set for each road, as well as causing the most destruction, you will also have to set a time record for that road in order to “rule” it.

Cars in Burnout Paradise are the usual mix of muscle, exotic, hotrods and SUV’s and come in one of three classes, stunt, speed and aggression. Aggression cars earn boost easier then the other cars but loose big chunks if you crash, speed cars are obviously the fastest of all cars, but tend to be vulnerable to the bigger cars, also they can only use boost once the boost meter is full. Stunt cars are a good all rounder! They are often fast and strong and are the obvious choice for pulling off tricks, such as barrel rolls and jumps.

As you would expect from any Burnout game, there are lots of hidden short cuts for you to find, but in addition to these there are hidden “super jumps” and over 120 Burnout billboards for you to smash through. There are also lots of cars to unlock! These usually become available after upgrading your license or winning certain races. However, it’s not that simple because before you can use the car you will have to try and find it and take it out sending it to the junk yard.

Junk yards play an important part in Burnout Paradise as this is where you get your cars from. There are several of them in various locations throughout the city. This is basically a garage system where you can scroll through the various cars you’ve unlocked and view stats or customise your rides paint work. The only drawback with this is that because it’s a junk yard, all the cars are wrecks and you will have to get them restored at auto shops before racing! I honestly can’t understand why it has been done like this instead of just a standard garage system!

Probably the best feature of Burnout Paradise is the instant online play which has been implemented brilliantly. Unlike in most games that you have to exit your game to the main menu to play online, in Burnout Paradise you simply switch to online mode via the d-pad once you’ve had enough of trading paint online you simply switch back to offline mode the same way and carry on with your game.

There are two ways to play the game in Burnout Paradise, co-operatively or head to head. The head to head option is by far the best way to play, with you taking part in a series of user defined races and challenges, the game can also track up to 2500 rivalries so you’re always sure to find those you need to get payback on.

Playing co-operatively sees you team-up with other players in order to successfully complete a number of challenges, these range from racking up a certain amount of air time, to covering a set distance whilst driving into on coming traffic. I soon got bored of the co-operative play and went back to the action packed head to head races.

Technically the games online mode is solid, the game runs smoothly throughout and not once did I experience any lag or have trouble connecting!

The Burnout game engine has been revamped for this latest instalment and it runs brilliantly, giving a highly realistic feeling of speed as you achieve multiple burnouts, with the game achieving 60 frames per second. Vehicles handle in the typical burnout fashion, so you can expect action packed races as before. Traffic checking that allowed you to top your boost which was introduced in Burnout Revenge, has thankfully been removed making races more challenging and choice of car more important.

Visually Burnout Paradise is very impressive, the game environment is absolutely huge and is very varied, with straight city streets and winding mountain roads, although some areas can be a little plain most look fantastic and lot of detail has been added such as the road surface, hillsides and the city skyline. Cars are sharp and highly detailed as you able to see things such as tyre tread, light also reflects nicely off the paint work, and if you selected the pearlescent paint option at the junk yard, it will change colour under different light. However, where the game really excels visually is in the games damage system. When you crash the game switches to slow motion and you see your cars chassis twist and buckle, then as the shockwave travels down glass shatters into tiny pieces and various parts fly off! It looks absolutely brilliant!

Sound in the game is of the usual high standard, with varied engine sounds for the cars and some nice effects for crash sequences. The soundtrack is presented in a radio style similar to that of the Grand Theft Auto games, the DJ offers the occasional tip and for once isn’t really that annoying. Songs featured in the game include Avril Lavigne’s Girlfriend, Alice in Chains “would” and of course Guns n Roses, Paradise City.

Criterion has been bold with this latest Burnout game, changing many aspects which fans were used to! Despite the fact the game has a few factors that don’t seem to work that well it still a great game, just expect to have your head in your hands from frustration many times when races don’t go your way!