Gameplay:
At its core, Burnout Paradise is a traditional arcade racing game. You can expect to drive your car at insanely fast speeds, launch off dozens of jumps, and crash frequently. However, from there the similarities quickly vanish. Burnout Paradise is one of the first racing games to feature a fully rendered sandbox environment. From the start you are allowed to drive up to any of the games many intersections and hold down both the throttle and brake buttons simultaneously to enter one of the several events that the game offers. There is a traditional race mode, a stunt mode, several crash related modes as well as an individual race designated to every car. Unfortunately, the crash related modes become boring quite quickly, and only the racing and trick modes really remain enjoyable.
The sandbox environment and intersection concept are very interesting, but unfortunately contain flaws. Since all races end at one of the 8 corners of the map, you’ll find yourself driving on a few of the roads in every race, and will almost never see more than half of the map. Also, many of the turns on the map are very difficult to navigate, especially when you factor in that you’ll be driving upward of 200mph with boost on, and there is lots of traffic. However, the game is still very enjoyable and the presentation is very commendable.
Controls:
Inputs in Burnout Paradise are very responsive and each car has a completely unique feel. Some of the heavier cars are very slow to turn, but are also very durable. However, some of the faster cars with low durability contain some of the best controls of any cars in any racing game to date. Racing is as simple as using R2 to accelerate and L2 to brake/reverse, but learning to drift around corners takes some practice. With that said, the controls in Burnout Paradise are great and are right where they need to be.
Graphics:
Although the game features a very expansive map, the graphics haven’t been compromised. Burnout Paradise is a very pretty looking game, and the car models are very well-done. The shading and filters used give the game a very next-generation look and each of the main areas of the game have a unique design to them. The most impressive thing about the visuals is that at times you will be driving at nearly 250mph and the game is able to keep the framerate and visuals without degradation.
Sound:
The game features pretty standard sound effects but each of the dozens of cars has their own engine sounds. The soundtrack for Burnout Paradise doesn’t have any big hits, but there are over 90 tracks ranging from opera to songs from the previous Burnout games. The announcer is very repetitive to listen to but the detailed sound effects more than make up for it.
Replay Value:
Burnout Paradise features hundreds of intersections each with their own race which can take upward of 20 hours to complete. There are also 400 yellow gates which typically lead to shortcuts as well as 50 super jumps and 120 red billboards to collect. To top that off, the online mode is a blast to play. The online mode includes all of the single-player event modes as well as many challenges to complete cooperatively in groups of between 2-8. Most importantly, Burnout Paradise has easily had more content added post-release than any other game on the market, and has received not only free patches which add to the game’s already flourishing replay value, but there are also plenty of released and soon to be released downloadable content which require small fees to download. Couple that with the nearly 100-trophies available and you have yourself one of the longest lasting racing games on the market.
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Rating:
Story: N/A
Gameplay: 9.0
Graphics: 8.5
Controls: 9.0
Sound: 8.5
Replay Value: 9.5
Overall: 9.0
Own, Rent, Avoid:
Own: So far this is the best arcade racing game this generation. Not only is it a very well-polished game but the constant addition of content and the already existing addictive gameplay make it well worth the admission.
Last Thoughts:
Burnout Paradise is one of the first great tastes of what the new-generation of racers have to offer. For such a budget price, there is no reason for anybody who likes racing games to not own Burnout Paradise.
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Written By
Jonathan Leack
4/27//2009
