Burnout Paradise Review

[RMA]

I nearly took this back about an hour after buying it. It was an hour I spent trying to weave in and out of the traffic on the open streets of Paradise City. Instead of weaving in and out I was plowing THROUGH the traffic. Not fun. I persevered and gradually, after picking a few cars and winning a few burning routes (which give you souped up versions of those cars) I got a bit better. Then I started picking up a few of the shortcuts and got to know the layout of the city better and better but I was still struggling with the Stunt Runs and Races, preferring instead to concentrate on the (much easier) Marked Man and Road Rage events. These yielded yet more cars which made completing some of the Stunt Runs and Races a whole lot easier! I've just realised I've been pretty much playing this game solidly for over a month. I've completed 75% of the game so there's still plenty to do to get the magical 101%...how many games these days have that longevity?

I've only recently discovered the online play in the last couple of weeks and it blows the online for PGR4 out of the water. You can enter online with a flick of the D-Pad, inviting friends or just joining an existing game with ease. It offers races, co-op and individual challenges which differ depending on how many players are in the room and then there's Freeburn which allows you and up to 7 friends to just cruise the streets of Paradise. Awesome.

One of the most amazing things about Burnout Paradise is the presentation - great menus including an easy to use map (although an Assassins Creed-like ability to fix on an event on the map would have been helpful), great stat keeping for both offline and online games and access to the latest BP news. Really sets a great standard that I hope Criterion continue to deliver.

If I had one quibble (and it's minor) it's that there's no offline multiplayer, which is a bit of a let down but not the end of the world.

I sit here now a convert to Burnout games having despised all racers except for Mario Kart and PGR. Extremely well balanced game with a wealth of depth only hinted at in the first few hours of play.

Roll on the downloadable content - new islands, new cars, new online game modes. Awesome. There goes another few months on this game right there....

9/10 - the point being deducted because I don't want to sound too much like a raving lunatic who's sole purpose in life is to extol the virtues of Burnout Paradise.

[Sektor]

I'm guna get this game.

Best racer on PS3 i have seen.

[Mickeymac]

After playing Burnout 3 today, it has become my new favorite series, and I definitely have to get Paradise so I can play people online. I was planning on getting it on the PS3 so I can have a racing game other than GT5 to play on it, but I've recently decided to hold off on the PS3 for another year or 2, and get an Xbox 360 this Christmas, so I'll just get the 360 version( once I play the heck out of the Xbox Originals version of Burnout 3 of course). The freeroaming aspect in Paradise sounds pretty cool, and I hear they have bikes now, so it'll be a lot of fun!