We Are Ninja
CAG Veteran
Intro:
EA acquired the rights to the Burnout series and turned the arcade racing genre on it’s ear with the third game in the series, the seminal Burnout Takedown. It was the perfect melding of Acclaim’s straightforward racing and crashing with a healthy shot of innovation and a heavy coat of polish. Unfortunately, the fourth game in the series, Burnout: Revenge, was overkill. Aftertouch, crash breakers, and traffic-checking took the focus off racing and muddied the formula that had worked so well in the past. Enter Burnout Paradise, a game that simultaneously returns the series to it’s roots and moves the franchise in bold new directions.
Premise:
Burnout Paradise is the series’ next-gen debut. EA took the Burnout you know, stripped it of everything familiar, and rebuilt it from scratch. Gone are the fixed courses found in previous games (and most racing games in general…). Paradise City is a massive, open world; a vehicular sandbox that you will become very familiar with before all is said and done.
Gone are the gimmicks of the later games; the aftertouch, the crashbreakers and the god-awful traffic-checking. Burnout is once again about running hard, racing hard, and wrecking hard.
Criterion approached Burnout Paradise the same way the approached Black. Focus on one thing, and build the rest of the game around it. The focus is the cars. The world they reside in is built solely for the purpose of allowing the player to enjoy then to the fullest.
Each car has a distinct identity that consists of three components; it’s appearance, it’s sound, and it’s behavior. Each car is it’s own character, and there’s one for every event and every playing style.
*Graphics: 9.5
Burnout Paradise is beautiful. Every object in Paradise City is perpetually bathed in sunlight. There is no draw distance and you can go nearly anywhere you can actually see. The city is dotted with landmarks like diners and football fields and each part of town has it’s own aesthetic and a distinct feel.
The cars first major component are their appearance. They're all immaculately detailed both inside and out. On the outside, cars glisten as if they were freshly waxed. It’s what’s underneath their brightly painted bodies that’s really impressive, though.
An integral part of the Burnout experience is crashing, and while it won’t win you many races, it looks great. The camera zooms in and changes speed to show the carnage from the best angle, and it’s here, as your car’s body panels are being sheared off, that the detail really shows. Missing bumpers display detailed radiators and intercoolers. Missing wheels and fenders show brake rotors and various suspension components. Shattered windows reveal fully modeled (but driverless
) interiors.*Sound: 10.0
It must be said, that Paradise has the weakest soundtrack the series has ever seen. EA Trax usually impresses, but not this time. It’s not Forza 1 bad, but it’s very, very… Bleh. But, musical taste is subjective. I’m sure that somewhere out there, someone starts up Paradise and rocks out with their junk out... Just no one I know.
That single misstep notwithstanding, Paradise sounds amazing. It’s almost good that the soundtrack is so bad, because you’ll be more inclined to turn it off completely, and listen to the game. The amount of audio detail that Criterion managed to cram into the game is amazing. Drive past a construction area and hear actual construction being done. Leave the pavement and listen as your car’s tires make contact with the gravel on the shoulder. And that’s just the ambient sound; the cars are the real stars here.
The vehicle’s aural footprint is the second of three components that comprise each car in Paradise. Each vehicle has it’s own startup, idle, and shutdown sequence. More impressive, however, are the engine notes. Some howl, others burble, and others scream. When things inevitably go wrong, there are the crashes, each one a symphony of crunching metal, shattering glass, and groaning suspensions.
*Control: 10
The third and final component of each car is it’s handling. There’s a reason that each car is rated in every category except handling; it’s because each car is so intrinsically different, that none of them actually compare to each other. There are oafish cars, hyper-responsive cars, and cars that cannot keep their wheels pointed forward under full throttle. The Hunter Takedown 4x4 can plow through nearly everything on the road, but can’t round a corner, while the Watson Roadster can [literally] drift circles around traffic but is all but wrecked if it makes contact with pretty much anything. No matter your playing style, there’s a car in the game that fits you.
*Gameplay: 9
Paradise’s open world is the foundation of the new Burnout. Paradise City is a vehicular playground. Every stoplight is an launches a new event:
Burning Laps are the Burnout series’ interpretation of the standard time trial. Go from point A to point B in the allotted time. Succeed and get a modified version of the car you were driving when you started.
Marked Man Events pit you against a endless stream of maniacal, malevolent Dodge Charger-esque Hunter Civilians that exist solely to put you into that wall or bus or barrier.
Races are straightforward. Get to the finish line any way you can as fast as you can.
Road Rage Events pit you against the clock and a handful of opponents. Take out enough rival cars before time runs out and you win. Your opponents, however, do not go softly into the night, they want to end your run as badly as you want to end theirs.
Road Rules (Stunt/Showtime) are two variations of the standard time trial. Timed Road Rules are miniature time trials. You’re tasked with beating a developer’s time down each road in the game. Complete all 64 for a nice surprise. Showtime Road Rules are a little more complicated. This [lackluster] replacement for the previous games’ Crash Mode asks that you “bounce” your car into as much traffic as possible in an effort to amass more damage than the preset record.
Stunt Runs pit you against the clock, just like races, however your goal here is to amass a set number of points in the allotted time, by jumping, drifting, barrel rolling, etc.
*It’s worth noting that the game’s open-ended structure can add a temporary layer of difficulty until you learn the layout and flow of Paradise City.
Should you decide to take a break from the insanity, just slow down. There’s an intricate maze of back alleys and shortcuts marked by fences with yellow signs that you probably won’t notice when flying by at 200 mph. Find and smash all 400 of them for a bonus car. Like nosebleeds? Hunt down and clear all 50 Super Jumps. Another bonus car awaits. Wanna engage all those problem solving skills you learned in school? Locate all 120 billboards. Then, figure out how to get close enough to smash them. Yah. There's another bonus car in it for you.
Online gameplay is completely seamless. Simply press right on the d-pad to bring up the online menu. Select your destination and you’re there. Logging out is just as painless. There is no delay and no loading. You can play offline, hop online and do your thing and log back off without any break in the action. Flawless victory.
*Overall Experience: 10
Where to start? I haven’t had this much fun racing since I don’t know when. Not only is the single player campaign a blast, there’s replay for months on end. There are hidden areas to find, hidden cars to unlock, hidden items to uncover, and all the online play you can handle.
*Overall Score: 9.7
Outro:
EA has successfully rebuilt the Burnout series from the ground up. There are no negatives, no issues, and no detractors (except maybe the soundtrack). If you like racing, buy this game. If you don’t like racing, buy the game anyway.
NOTE: I posted this on a different forum, but figured I'd post it here too...
