Burnout Paradise Review
- Posted February 18th, 2008 at 06:45 EDT by Eric Blattberg
- 20 Comments
Review Score
- PSU Review Score
- 9.0
- Avg. user review score:
- 8.7
Summary
Burnout Paradise is the freshest racing experience in a long time. This complete re-invention of the series revitalizes the racing genre, immersing players in a true paradise.
We like
- Remarkable “flow,” especially regarding the seamless online integration
- Incredibly detailed graphics with spectacular crashes
- Sheer amount of bang for your buck
We dislike
- Paradise City is more accurately Paradise Ghost Town
- Showtime, while fun, is no replacement for the old Crash mode
See PSU's review on Metacritic & GameRankings
(continued from previous page) ...to achieve and a time limit in which to do so. To take down another car, you merely have to smash into them until they crash. It’s simple, unadulterated fun. In Marked Man, the roles are reversed, as the hunter becomes the hunted. You have to make your way to a destination without getting taken out by the frenzied cars that are constantly on your tail. It’s not quite the blast that Road Rage is, but it nonetheless amounts to a solid experience.
The final mode, Stunt Run, combines open world driving with the old school Tony Hawk games to create a combo based score system. You’ll receive points for boosting, drifting, jumping, and so on, while super jumps, flat spins, barrel rolls and the like garner point multipliers. The end result of a Stunt Run is an exhilarating experience attempting to string multiple maneuvers together to overcome a particular score barrier.
One factor that may frustrate players is the lack of an option to restart an event should you fail. You literally have to drive back to the intersection where the event began to give it another go. It’s not the end of the world though, as you’ll eventually discover to play the game in a manner that optimizes the title’s aforementioned flow. After losing at an event, we learned to either search for a different event or just cruise around Paradise City looking stylish in our shiny automobile.
Speaking of shiny automobiles, Burnout Paradise’s cars look brilliant, as does the world around them. With an engine built from scratch leading on the PlayStation 3, the game runs at a rock solid 60 frames per second with amazing draw distances and sense of speed that will make your eyes bulge. It’s quite the technological accomplishment.
What is most impressive about Paradise’s visuals is the insanely detailed car deformation. As you crash, your car will realistically deform in real time based on a highly complex physics engine. The brilliant camera angles and effects accentuate the crashes, allowing for some jaw-dropping moments filled with warped steel and shattered glass. We would have loved to see a system that let you save your greatest crashes in the wake of the 'Skate.Reel' feature seen in EA’s recent ‘Skate.’ Perhaps in the next Burnout installment this absence will be filled by such a system.
At any time during a crash, or actually at any time whatsoever, feel free to enter “Showtime,” a mode in which you control your crashing car and attempt to huck the barreling steel body at anything destructible you lay your eyes on. Namely other cars are your targets, but you’ll also take out signs and poles in an attempt to cause as much damage as possible. We say ‘huck’ to illustrate the lack of reality this mode entails. It seems invisible forces are prodding at your car whenever you use boost, gained by hitting things, as you careen it along searching for targets (hint: go for the buses over anything else, as they act as multipliers). As for duration, it’s technically possible to travel the entire length of Paradise City in a single bout of Showtime. One of our chief complaints with this mode is it relies too heavily on luck – sometimes buses show up seemingly every fifth car, while sometimes you’ll go a mile without seeing one, or many other cars for that matter. Although too over-the-top, Showtime remains enjoyable, but the Crash mode seen in last-generation Burnouts is far superior.
The only missing element in Paradise City is, well, a population. You won’t see a single human being anywhere in this entire game. We understand that Criterion didn’t want this to turn into a ‘run over random civilians’ style Grand Theft Auto experience, but even your car lacks a driver. Perhaps the machines have gained enough intelligence to wipe out all the humans and rule Paradise City themselves, often partaking in high-speed joy rides and intense Stunt Runs. Perhaps not. We will never know.
Ignore that latest hypothetical, and indulge yourself in listening to Guns N’ Roses’ song ‘Paradise City’ as you read from here on out. Really, listen to it right now. Think it would work well in Burnout? Well, ... (continued on next page)
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Comments
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Chrisandmyps3
- 3:48am EST - February 18th, 2008
- 2
i love the game i cant stop playing it this is a must buy !!!!! it will take a while to get bored of it!
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MrAce
- 6:39am EST - February 18th, 2008
- 6
Yeah I got this game too, had it a couple days now, a few annoying bits for example you can't restart a race. You can't skip to the junkyard you have to drive all the way back. Wouldn't be so bad if you could have some sort of GPS to guide you but there isn't. These are all cons Eric Blattberg.
Other than this it is a good game, trying to get to know all the streets at the moment. Its the type of game you won't get bored with because there is so much to do. Stunt runs are awesome. I'd rate it 8/10
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macphisto
- 9:37am EST - February 18th, 2008
- 8
EA tried to make the game with no loading screens, which is the point of Showtime, You just press L1+R1 and viola! It works. No loading crash junctions, it's just seamlessly integrated. I do wish they had a retry option and the ability to jump to junkyards. But then there would be loading screens. Overall, Burnout "rips"!
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iplayonlysony
- 10:29am EST - February 18th, 2008
- 9
@ #5 I agree with you, this is the worst. As someone who has played the old burnouts, this one just does not do it for me.
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hush404
- 5:56am EST - February 19th, 2008
- 12
Sometimes I have a problem with the races... cuz I'll just end up taking a wrong turn or w/e which leads me to staring at the map more and more and eventually I'm watching the map more than racing.... which saddens me.
I love the game other than that small squabble tho. If perhaps they put up some boundries so you don't take the wrong road which leads you 1/2 way across the map before you realise you've gone the wrong way.
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woodcock_ps3
- 6:32am EST - February 19th, 2008
- 13
I know what u mean hush 404 i also cant stand that they should of made it like burnout 3 takedown a true racing game not some dumb knock off of need for speed they shouldnt of made this game so crapy i love the bp franchize but this truly is a horible game for me. Maybe next time burnout dont try being something ur not and do what u do best make a good racing game.
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vvmasterdrfan
- 8:44am EST - February 19th, 2008
- 14
yea i got the game.. but the one thing i hate is you dont know your speed. otherwise its a great game
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FlyinGShoosteR43252
- 6:34pm EST - March 1st, 2008
- 16
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GunsOfLiberty
- 7:57am EDT - March 25th, 2008
- 17
Awesome title, let down by some minor things such as the inability to restart a race which can get frustrating at times...
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Hightower
- 10:30am EDT - March 28th, 2008
- 18
I have no idea why this game got so high of a rating...i personally thought the game play sucked..all of my friends think it sucked...you get going SO fast that its nearly impossable to make the correct turns...and the obvious reason this game blew...not being about to restart, without having to go all way back across town.the only cool thing about the game was the crash sequences. 4/10
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caveman7
- 7:22pm EDT - July 13th, 2008
- 19
I think the flow of this game is fantastic... seamless. The crashes are a thing of beauty, as are the lighting effects and the perfect controlls.
My only complaints are these: you can't restart an event, you can't jump to junkyards, and you can skip foreward in the playlist but not backward.
9.5/10
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Dougifresh
- 1:28pm EST - February 28th, 2009
- 20
As far as the series of Burnout is concerned, yes this isn't the best, however, since it is the only one for the PS3, it does a nice job of being a simple cheap racing game. Graphics are pretty good in the game, and the intense racing events always has you resting on the edge of your chair. A deep and rich selection of different cars gives you a bit of selection to play from. It severly lacks split-screen, and though availible for $9.95 on the Playstation Store, you shouldn't have to pay twice for a game just so your friends can play. I bought the game to enjoy playing and so my Fiance' could enjoy something to play aswell, and the lack of split screen made me file this game back in my library. Yes, it is a great game, it is worth buying, just be ready to invest another 10$ into it, otherwise pull out your PS2's and play some burnout revenge.
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