Burnout Paradise

Do you like fast cars? Do you like to see things smash? Are you a burnout? If the answer to all three of my rather childish inquiries is yes, than you gotta check this game out. Criterion Games takes a new approach to it's successful series of burnout games and places you smack dab in the middle of a massive city where you essentially do whatever the bleep you want. Drive around, see the sites, hop online for a quick multiplayer match then go explore some more. It's a seamless, open ended, high octane experience that keeps you coming back for more.

It didn't take very long before I really started to enjoy Burnout Paradise. At first you feel a little over whelmed not knowing exactly what to do or where to go but it turns out that this is actually a part of what makes this game so great. The developers created a game that encourages exploration and just letting loose and having fun. A brief tutorial or summary of sorts is provided by DJ ATOMICA. He chimes in every once in a while to let you know how things work in Paradise City. He'll let you know how to start races, how to get online along with giving you hints and tips regarding how to find secrets. All sorts of valuable information. I didn't like that fact that these little tid bits were not logged any where for future reference but as long as you're paying some attention to what he's saying, you'll be fine. It's really up to you to discover things on your own which ends up being a lot of fun.

One of the best aspects of this game is how you transition seamlessly from open world exploration to challenges and online play. At first there are no set challenges, you need to drive around and when you approach a traffic light, the name of an event will pop up above your mini map. At this point you can either continue on your marry way or you can stop, hold your break button down and then rev your engine. The next thing you know DJ ATOMICA is back giving you all the details on the particular event you will be facing.

Event types include Road Rage where you are assigned a set amount of cars that you have to take down in a certain amount of time. Race which is pretty straight forward. Race from one point of the map to another and get first place. Stunt Run where you have to either make big jumps are land some crazy tricks like a barrel roll in order to reach a pre-defined point total. Marked Man involves a series of cars frantically trying to take you down while you make your way to a particular destination and Burning Route requires you to beat the clock with a specific vehicle in order to obtain upgrades to that ride. You perform in these events in order to upgrade your license in turn unlocking new cars and in a sense completing the game.

Another neat feature that was added was all of the online leader boards and stats that scroll by while you're playing. If you arrive at a road that has been "ruled" the players name along with their fastest time appears and you get the chance to beat that time. A counter pops up and if you beat that time, you're name and time are displayed for everyone else that drives on that road. Very cool way to assert your dominance over Paradise City and its fellow commuters.

It's not all just work though. There are lots of hidden areas in Burnout that are fun to find while you're checking out the city. Keep an eye out for Super Jumps marked with blue lights. Hit a super jump at top speed and watch the cinematic view take over while a snap shot is taken of your ride in mid air at the height of your jump. There are also yellow "keep out" gates to smash that present short cuts to the regular roads you normally stay on. There are also red Burnout billboards that you can smash through. These really serve no purpose other then collecting them all for trophy purposes and to complete the game at 100%. in Paradise City there are literally hundreds of these so keep an eye out and floor it when you spot one.

The city it self is massive as well. There's a downtown core full of tall building and the regular city hustle and bustle (minus any pedestrian....thank god). There's a ship yard to explore along with some peaceful country living amongst other detailed section of the city that are all integrated into one large place to drive around. The best part is that there is no load time. Just fire up your engine and you're off.

You'll love the crashing and smashing aspect of this Burnout game. The crash physics are awesome to watch during the cinematic and slow motion style of the reply. Watch you car get annihilated and spin over and over while the momentum of your wrecked cars goes barreling down the road. Sparks fly as you crunch someone up against a building and watch them get completely totaled. Burnout finds away to make losing or performing poorly rather entertaining which is not an easy task.

All of this is done without any pop ups in the distance and burnout still manages to blaze (hehe) at 60 frames per second without any hiccups. Your surroundings blur to give you that super smooth, fast feel while you're using off all of your burnout juice and it looks great. The environments and backgrounds are detailed and look amazing. The cars are beautiful and all have different attributes that make them either stronger, lighter, faster and can effect the over all weight or feel of how your ride handles. This game really pulls off a lot of kick ass moments that make it very hard to put the controller down. It's fun to play, it's fun to explore, it's fun to look at and the event challenges are fun to. It's just simply freakin' fun.

The Bad:

• Only two camera Angles. I would have liked to have brought the camera in closer or floating a bit further back.
• Instructions are spoken to to you and not logged anywhere so if you purchased this via Playstation Store, you're s.o.l. without a manual sucka.
• The mini map kind of sucks, you can't place a marker on the map and then follow it like in GTA IV. I guess this was not implemented as it might be considered cheating but when you race from one end of the map to the other, you tend to pause the game, look at the big map, then resume playing which breaks up the action.
• If you lose a race that you really want or need to complete, you'll have to drive back to the other end of the city to start over again. Super annoying pain in the ass. It gives you a chance to explore a bit more on your way back but if you've already found everything, it can get very tedious.

The Good:

• Seamless online integration. Just call up a menu and players appear in the city without any load times or stoppage in action.
• Massive open concept sandbox to explore, go anywhere in the city
• 75 different cars to unlock
• Different challenges take place at any time by revving your engine at a traffic light
• Blistering fast, frame rate keeps up, detailed cars and landscape
• lots of things to do by finding short cuts, super jumps and crashing into billboards
• Crashes take place in a cinematic slow motion replay that look amazing