#11 Burnout Paradise

It should be clichéd when entering Paradise City, the new latest open-world iteration in the Burnout franchise, the Guns 'n' Roses hit of the same name plays in the background, but it's really not, it just feels right. The core mechanics are still here; the boosting, quick reaction swerving through traffic, takedowns and the exhilirating sense of speed which no-other racer can seem to match, only this time the idea is full immersion, all the front end menus are gone - you press start and you're dropped straight into the city.

Now Burnout sits firmly at the arcade end of the scale of racers, hell they don't even include a speedo on the HUD. Each intersection in the game marks the start of a particular event. Simply stop at the lights, hit both triggers and you're straight in. A quick voiceover from DJ Atomica (replacement of DJ Crash?) explains the brief of the event. More often than not it will be a race from the intersection you stopped at to one of eight points on the city. At first glance it seems cheap that there so few finish lines to drive toward, but having these handful of persistent landmarks means that soon you'll be fine-tuning your routes and finding those useful shortcuts. This is where the open world setting comes in to its own - there is no defined route you have to take, you are given the start and finish points and anything inbetween is upto you. The direction of the finish is given as a compass bearing, and the game will offer up recommended turns but there's no obligation to take them.

The core mechanics are still here; the boosting, quick reaction swerving through traffic, takedowns and the exhilirating sense of speed which no-other racer can seem to match

At first, hurtling through traffic, battling as well as holding off your opponents (takedowns still count!) and having to cope with trying to plot your route and decipher the extra information can be daunting. In fact, that's the main reason why I was put off by the demo, a popular consensus apparently. Playing the full game, it's a much more enjoyable experience. It's probably a good time as any to mention the graphics of the game. Put simply the game is beautiful in all of its HDR lighted glory. Draw distance is very good which helps to see those cars fast approaching, and the frame rate is probably the most impressive of all - never dropping in my time with it, something that is very important to give that blistering sense of speed.

I do have some reservations. During the first few events there is a longing to open up the menu and hit restart if it's not going too well, but it is understandable that would break the metaphor of this open persistent world. That's something I'll accept but I wish there was an abort option. A couple of times I've missed a crucial corner, lost a lot of time and know that I am resigned to finishing 7th or 8th, but the event has to be completed no matter what to let you back into the open world - it's a small complaint. A popular mode from previous titles was of course the crash junctions and they have all but disappeared unfortunately. There are time attack records held on every road (another extra to keep you busy) and there are crash records (amount of money in damages) on the intersections but they are completely optional which is a shame.

As strange as it sounds, I want to draw comparisons with WoW so bear with me. After finishing an event, successful or not, there is usually another event to complete nearby - that's what I found so addictive about WoW, with travelling between quest hubs, there is always one more quest that's ready to be started, and the same applies to Paradise. And if there are no events available, there are all the extra non-event stuff to do, so the game's momentum never lets up. Finding all the smashboards and the destructable billboards are a welcome distraction if the racing gets too stressful, not to mention the super jumps to be found throughout the city. Unlocking of most new cars takes the form of a challenge where by you have to takedown the car in question, a lot of fun to be had chasing that shiny new model and a real sense of accomplishment - completely different from being handed many cars after finishing a single race which the series has been guilty of in the past.

I spent only the briefest amount of time online during the time I had with this title, but what I saw was very cool (not to mention the generous handing out of achievements for my short duration :D). Along with the front end menus being chucked, there is no lobby screen as such, the city itself becomes the lobby where you are free to explore or more commonly smash up others. Soon enough the host will decide an event and off you go. An effort has been made to make the whole experience streamlined, there is of course the aforementioned triggering of events, jumping onto an online match is literally a quick flick of the D-pad away and there's the repair depots, fuel stations, paint shops and junkyards which keep the menus at bay.

In closing, a mention has to be made of the post-release development of the game. A few weeks before I got my hands on the game, they released the "Cagney" update, a large, completely free update which adds literally hundreds of extra online challenges and irons out some of the creases no doubt. I can't say how the game was before but the commitment to putting in all the extra content really does boost the longevity of Paradise. Soon to be added are bikes into the mix (I'm gonna hold off on a PGR4 tie-in rant...) as well as day/night cycles, where the nighttime comes with a high number of unique challenges.

If you are a fan of racing sims, then this probably isn't the game for you. On the other hand if you like your racing very quick and dirty and have the reactions that will have your eyes out on stalks then look this one up. It's no secret that I love my racing games and if you like them too then I strongly recommend Burnout Paradise.