Burnout: Paradise Review (X360)

Burnout Paradise is the latest in the Burnout series which is best known for its arcade feel and massive crashes and damage. This version however does away with the menu screen to select a linear race or event and makes an entire city your personal playground.

As said before Paradise is an arcade racer, but a lot of changes happen in this new version. For starters, while cars are still given stats for their abilities (Speed/Boost/Power) they are also classified into different types and have their own weight and handling. Stunt cars are designed for the trick events and get more boost meter from jumps and barrel rolls (LOLLER). Speed cars can’t use their boost meter til it is full, but using it all causes a BURNOUT which refills the meter to 90% full automatically. Each of these car types will have their use in the different events around the city.

The city itself is huge, it can take quite a few minutes to get from one side to the other. You can almost think of the city as having 8 sections each with a personality. The Crystal Observatory is in the northwest and of course is full of mountain curves and drops. The South has the Navy Shipyard, so expect piers and shipping containers. There is a full downtown area as well.

In past Burnout games, you selected a race or event from a list and had to wait for it to load. Not anymore. Almost every intersection in the game has an event to do. These include races, road rage (takedown as many opponents as possible), stunts (get x points in a certain time limit) burning routes (for car specific races) and marked man (everyone tries to stop you from completing the race). Once you choose the event, the load time is masked by giving you info on the race. While loading it will show you the map with the start and finish to plan your route. Unlike past games where the race was linear (exception of shortcuts) this game allows you to use the whole city to get there. To end an event you don’t want to do, you simply stop moving for a few seconds.

There are also assorted side missions to do. Throughout the city there are gates which lead to shortcuts. There are 400 of them to find I believe. Also, Burnout billboards are around the city and usually take you finding jumps to get them. For all the administrative functions, there are drive thrus. The junkyards allow you to change rides. Repair shops allow you to repair damage during races and events, paint shops change your colors, and gas stations give you a full boost meter.

I also like the way they handle getting cars now. You can win cars by ranking up your license and winning events. However not all are given to you. Some become available in the city, but you have to hunt them down and crash them to win. I actually veered off course during a race cause a new car I was after drove by.

Now lets talk multiplayer. First off, no local multiplayer, however this really doesn’t bother me. The awesome thing is the game can go online almost flawlessly. All of this is mapped to right on the DPad, you can create a match (for races), do freeburn which allows up to 8 players to drive the city and do challenges (more on this in a moment), or join up. Choosing to create or invite gives you about a 10 second load time and that’s it. You’re on, and people join in.

You can set up a race or series of races by choosing any of the existing races in the game, or making your own by choosing where to put down the start and finish. Winning allows you to mug for the camera (if your camera is equipped) to taunt your opponents. The camera also comes into play during takedowns as if the person you crash has one, you’ll get a mugshot of him at that moment.

So how about the challenges? There are 350 challenges in the game. 50 for each number of players (2player,3,4,5,6,7,8) and they range from easy (everyone meet at the baseball stadium) to team based (team total of 2000 yards drifting) to everyone must do a stunt (jump over the mine shaft). It’s fun as everyone tears off to the location of the next challenge and then sometimes causes havoc for other players. For example, Hito and I had to do drifting around a fountain. All was fine til we head on crashed cause we were going in opposite directions around the fountain. I can imagine the challenges with more players to be even more fun and deadly.

The last change in the game is Showtime mode. Unfortunantly, Crash mode was cut for this. To execute it, simply wreck then hit LB+RB together. When I first did it I was reminded of Katamari Damacy. You essentially roll or pinball down the street and can boost yourself a little to keep going. To refill the boost and keep Showtime going you need to crash into more cars. It’s not a bad mode, but it is no crash mode.

The final thing in the game is the Road Rules. For each of the events and Showtime modes at each intersection, the game will track your stats and that of your friends. You can actually work to beat their scores, and they’ll be notified of it, making you the “ruler” of that specific street. Streets you own are color coded on the map as well.

Graphically, this thing is a beast. The sense of speed the game gives never causes any graphical issues, although the shine can be a bit much. As far as sound, the in game sound is great and the soundtrack is packed with a ton of music (35 track + 20 from older Burnouts). The tracks range from Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, GnR, and Seether to techno and lesser known bands. The only questionable inclusion is Avril Lavigne’s Girlfriend. Really EA, really?

Overall I’m in love with this game. The open world enviroment plus all the exploration to be done coupled with the online co-op challenges and the mayhem included caused me a great amount of joy last night. If you’ve got it and you’re not on my friends list, send me a request. We’ll be looking to partner up soon to chase down the high number player challenges.

VERDICT = A-, BUY IT