Customer Reviews

Burnout Paradise

5 star:		(97)
4 star:		(53)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Ok, My background in racing.. Need 4 Speed all games. GTA III on up. Gran Tourismo all. Many more earlier, but mostly these for the sake of my review... meaning I never played the previous Burnout series.

Feel for the racing menu is much like GTA to me. Free form racing around the city is superb. There is a new race or even on just about every corner. Awesome! The feel of the city and surroundings is very good. Just as in GTA, you find secret billboards and unique jumps along with the racing. The way they have the level upgrade to your license is fun and keeps you going. Many a time, I have been close to the next level and refused to get off the game. Addictive.

There are tons of races, events, records to beat, too many to list actually. Some have complained about the Showtime event. I LOVE this event. It's a crack up (pun) and when you get good at it, setting the record in this event for every street in the game is really fun.

Ok.. if the game ended there, it would still be a great game. It doesnt.

Multiplayer. Online racing and entrance is seamless. You just basically hit the right button and you are in a game online. I always go in wanting to work on the online events you can do by teaming up with other players and doing jumps and stuff together, but I end up getting wrapped up in the Takedown with others and pretty soon, time has gone by without notice. It's almost too fun really. I'd probably buy this game if all it had was multiplayer takedown and no other options. Gladly, that's not needed. lol

There are many cars in the game and getting them is pretty straight forward. No garage or home here, just a junkyard where all your cars are kept. I've seen complaints about having to repair cars and such.. well, that just takes about 5 seconds, since all you do is drive your car through a repair shop which is always just down the street from the junkyard. Not sure why the problems with this feature. Basically you get your car from disabling it from somebody else, so the repair feature makes sense to me.

.....

Ok, so I gave the game 4.5 stars. Why the .5 down? The voice settings in the game are really bad. You have to turn your system music and game noise way down and keep voip on max to even hear the other players and then it's usually muffled. I use a PS2 USB cable headset which has no volume control, so some bluetooth sets may have better luck with this. However, it's the poor settings that make the problem, not the headset. I guess they are worried people would up the volume too much and damage ears or something. Still.. it's a minus for me.

Other down.. no split screen racing for offline multiplayer. This is a must have really for me. I like to race family memebers offline in racing games and wish Burnout had this feature.


Those two minor things aside, the game is flawless really. The graphics are superb and the framerate is better than any game I've seen on the PS3 to date.

Buy it. You won't regret it if you like racing. I am hopeful for GTAIV and GT5, but for now, this ones the king of the heep.

Pros:
- Great replay value
- Intense racing experience
- Brilliant online execution
- Constant patching is a huge plus

Cons:
- Only 8 racing designations
- Map layout could use some work
- Races become insanely difficult

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. First off, it is impossible to retry the race without driving back to the starting location which leads to frustration. Secondly, 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.

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.

Let me say right off the bat that I'm not a simulator racing person. I don't use a driving wheel and I like my driving games to be wild, crazy, fast and full of beautiful, unpredictable racing tracks. My favorite racing game of all time was Star Wars Episode I: Racer until I discovered Burnout 2.

So naturally, when I purchased my PS3, I was very interested in getting the next generation version of Burnout. I found that this Burnout was very different. At first it seemed kind of fun, driving around, smashing things, eventually tried a few races, most were pretty straight forward, not too hard. But it didn't take too long until I was insanely frustrated because one small mistake, one wrong turn can lose you the race, and there is no "start over" button. This is because everything about this game is open world sandbox style. The races are such that you can pick your own route. For me, at first this meant a great amount of frustration, eventually it meant thrills and miles of fun. There is more than racing to be done here, there are stunt runs, marked man runs (you're getting chased by these strong cars that attempt to wreck you), burning routes and more.

The one thing missing from the Burnout series is the incredible crashes where you would drive full speed into an intersection and just watch as your car crashed and caused incalculable damage. While Burnout Paradise has something called "showtime mode" where you basically have a controlled crash mode where you must cause the car to continue to bounce and cause a lot of damage, but it seems somewhat contrived and gets boring quite easily. My only other complaint is the crashing during race like events, you'll be driving and smashing with other racers and causing them to careen off course and crash magnificently, but if you hit some civilian-non-racer you'll end up in a pile of junk on the side of the road before you can say "what the..."

Aside from these two minor complaints there is plenty to love in this innovative arcade racer that allows you to roam the entire city and country side of "Paradise City". There's plenty of signs to smash, parking garages to explore, lots of events scattered around the city, plenty of cars to earn, and races to win, shortcuts to find and lots of fun to be had in this bold take on the Burnout series. This is probably one of the best arcade racers you can find out there.

I recently bought this game for myself after craving an arcade style racing game for the ps3. I have the Burnout series for ps2 and always enjoyed them, to my surprise; this one is awesome!

The open-city aspect of the game is awesome, no more menus of picking a race, you drive to find them. It also allows for free-roam where you can just explore the city and go after other objectives such as finding shortcuts and breaking through billboards.

The cars are designed well, the controls are easy to get used to and the bikes are also awesome. I miss the split-screen multiplayer mode but it doesn't take away from how much I like this game.

Highly reccomend for a inexpensive racing game and awesome replay-ability.

[Update 4-11-09: Criterion released a patch in February that enables a race restart option (thanks slowjam98), so most of the complaints in the review can be ignored. I haven't played the game again though.]

Burnout: Paradise has many great qualities and Criterion should be praised. However to fully appreciate this game and become good at it you basically have to memorize the entire huge city. I've been playing the game for about 20 hours and I can barely remember where the short cuts are and what's the best street to turn down for races and stunts. Especially because you're driving so fast. They do have flashing street sign indicators but they're only a little helpful.

Let's say I start a race. I then pause and look at the terrible map when the race starts and plan out my route. Then I drive about 10 seconds, pause, then look at the map again. I find myself doing this over and over during the race. This frequent pausing breaks up the fun and momentum of the race. So let's say I lose the race. No big deal the whole point of a game is to practice and get better. Great. But then you have to drive alllll the way back to the starting point, miles away. I've won many races so it's not because I suck, but I've rarely been able to get particularly good at any races or any other events. I don't feel that satisfaction of getting better at a game, just blazing speed and blind luck.

People say it's no big deal because another event is right around the corner at a traffic light. But how am I going to get better at the previous race if I don't do it again for a long time? So you basically just wander around aimlessly from event to event, not ever really perfecting anything. The whole thing begins to feel like a meandering, directionless mess. It's a shame because I've had a lot of fun with this game especially the stunt runs, but the map problem is so bad it's to the point I'm getting really bored with this game after only 20 hours and a B license.

The game does have many great things about it (not Showtime), the graphics, the speed, the handling, the stunts, and I also love open world games. If you spend half your life memorizing every nook and cranny of the city then you'll have fun. If not it gets old after awhile, especially after the millionth slow-motion crash. If they fix the awful navigation system and lack of a restart function for the next installment, it'll be a classic game.

I got this as a gift for my boyfriend, and ended up spending a whole weekend playing it on his PS3. FANTASTIC game! I'm kind of a n00b when it comes to any video games that aren't 'Zelda' or 'Pokemon' but I think this game is great! Lots of different types of challenges, races, and plenty of chancers for distruction and mayhem! One level in particular that we both found to be fun is the level where you must try to run as many cars off the road as possible in a time limit.
Great grahics, tons of different types of cars and tracks. The only thing I would change would be the paint types. There's no matted paint! Ha-ha! But it has many different colors and paint styles. Over all, a fantastic game.
Love it!

This game is the best auto racing game on the PS3, but would be even better if it had split screen. Its replay value is just so much worse than it should be because of this. The story mode gets old fast, and you have to be creative to make the online mode fun, but it is still a good game. I highly recommend this game, especially if you like online racing.

I've played all the burnout games over the last few years, and while this one looks the best, it is by far the worst to play. The reason is that the whole game is made to make you feel like a lost tourist.

The average race goes like this:
-Pause the action 5 times or more to look at the map.
-Crash 3 times because you are looking at the HUD instead of the road
-Make a wrong turn anyway and lose the race

To add insult to injury most of the race cars require you to keep your nitro button pressed pretty much all the time or you go a lot slower. Of course you have to take it off when you look at the map, so when you come back you've lost your boost chain unless you are really quick to get your finger on the button again.

And it seems like all the events leave you up in the hills where there are only about 5 events within a 3 minute drive, so you find yourself constantly trying to get back to the city just like a lost tourist. I don't know about you but I never enjoyed being a lost tourist. Unfortunately the main characteristic of this game is that it is the perfect lost tourist simulator.

The stunt events are similarly annoying, require that you pretty much know exactly the course you will take in order to get the right points. But if you know it, you probably smashed all the billboards and stuff that give you points.

It's very annoying. And sad, because the graphics and crashes are great (however the crashes are way too drawn out, especially since you will be so unfocused that you will crash a lot and just want to get it over with)

The takedown events are actually the only part that feels somewhat like the fun bits of the old burnout games. They don't require you to go in any specific route, so they are a lot less annoying. Unfortunately they took out the crash events of the old games and put in a much lamer showtime event which takes away all the skill and precision of the crash events with a stupid car that bounces around on other cars.

Overall this game is a huge wasted opportunity. They tried to shoehorn an open ended environment into burnout without thinking at all about the gameplay mechanics. It didn't work.

Games like GTA have solved all of the problems that this game has by putting a ribbon on the road to follow or arrows at the top saying where to turn. I'm not sure why they decided not to do that, but it was stupid. It turns this game from a fun racing game into a tedious map reading excercise.

Taking out the crash events and replacing them with showtime was also a terrible move.

Overall, if they had put 10% of the energy they put into the graphics into gameplay it would have been a fun game.

You may think I'm just complaining because I'm bad at this game. Well I've always been good at burnout and this is no exception. It's actually pretty easy compared to past burnouts. I pass 90% of the events on the first try, but am always annoyed in the process. On the takedown events I routinely double or triple the required number. The point here is that it's not challenging, it's just irritating.

As it stands it is by far the worst entry in the burnout series. They have stopped thinking about how to make a fun game and focussed solely on the flash.

I am a big fan of the Burnout series. The first one was good, and I thought it couldn't get any better. Then the second one came, and it blew me away. Then Burnout 3. Then Burnout Revenge. With ever game, the series got better and better. Has Criterion's new Burnout game, Burnout Paradise, continued the trend of the series getting better with every game?

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Story: There is no real story in this game, so I'm not counting this in the final score

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Graphics: This game really shines in the graphics section. Not only cause it runs at a smooth 60-frames per second, but because the crashes are phenomenal, the car details are astounding, and the city and environments are amazing. Brilliant job here, Criterion. This game is one of the best looking racing games on the market.

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Audio: The Burnout series has had impressive audio, and this game is no different. The sound effects are astounding. Crash you car and you'll wonder if there was a car crash outside your window. Everything in the sound effects department is great, and will blow your mind.

Now for the soundtrack. This is where the audio stumbles. The soundtrack is mediocre. Criterion has put a whole bunch of songs on this soundtrack that don't fit Burnout at ALL. Listening to Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend" is like stabbing razor blades in your ears. And you're listening to that song while you're PLAYING BURNOUT!?!?!?!?!? That is cruel. There are a few bright spots, however, that keep the soundtrack from becoming terrible. There are some pieces that were borrowed from the first two games that are definitely note-worthy (no pun intended), and "I Wanna Rock" by Twisted Sister and "Paradise City" by Guns n' Roses definitely stand out. But it's hard to forgive some of the other songs in this game. At least you can import some songs from your PS3 or Xbox 360 to fit your style.

All in all, the brilliant sound effects overcome the mediocre soundtrack, but it's hard to forget the first time you hear "Girlfriend" start playing in the background

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Gameplay: This is a Burnout game through and through, but there are a lot of new features in it that adds some new flavor to the mix.

First of all, the biggest new addition - Burnout is now in an open world. This works in Paradise's favor, since the open world is brilliantly designed, and is actually believable to be an actual city. You'll see elevated train tracks you can ride on. You can go through alleys and run over trash cans. There is a lot of detail. The city is basically your playground. You can free ride (or freeburn as it's known in Burnout) throughout the entirety of the city from the get-go, from the downtown district to the mountain roads. There are also a lot of things to do in the world. There are billboards to crash through, smash gates to run over, and super jumps to, well, jump.

There are also, of course, the life and soul of Burnout - events. Go up to any intersection of the world and press the two shoulder buttons to start an event designated to that corner. There are a big variety of races. There is Race, Road Rage, Marked Man, Stunt Run, and Burning Route. There are a total of 120 events on the map, and it will take you a while to complete them.

Here is another complaint about the game - navigation can be a pain. Especially during the races. See, there are no arrows on the track telling you where to go (unlike previous Burnout games), meaning you can take whatever route you want to get to the finish line. This is both good and bad. The good is that you get a great sense of freedom in races because of this feature. The bad is that because of this, you need to constantly pull up the menu every five seconds to look at the map to make sure you don't take a wrong turn. Because of this, you crash more that ever. This makes crashing infuriating at times, which is a shame too, since the crashes look so awesome. Eventually, you do sort of memorize the city layout, which can make races a lot easier later in the game. Still, it would have been better if there had been more ways of navigating than popping up the map every five seconds. It would have also been cool if they had made a GPS system like in Fuel (see my review for Fuel, PS3 version), which had arrows on the top of the screen indicating where to go.

The other events fare better, since they don't require as much navigation as the races. Stunt Run is an all-new game mode introduced in the game, and it is very fun. There is a timer. You must do as much barrell rolls, flatspins, and other tricks as you can before the time runs out. This events forces you to use your knowledge of the city to your advantage. Burning Route returns from the previous games, where you must get from point A to point B as fast as possible. Marked Man is another new game mode in the game, and it, as well as Stunt Run, is a great new addition to the franchise. You must get from point A to point B without getting taked down by the other cars pursuing you. This is a great new addition that requires skill. And last but not least, there is Road Rage, returning from the previous games better than ever before. Road Rage plays by the same rules as Road Rage in Burnout 3, only this time it's even more chaotic. Wherever you go, you'll have up to 10 cars raging past you. You may go wherever you want in the city, taking down rivals to get as many takedowns as possible. This is by far my favorite mode, since it gives you an adrenaline rush.

There are a lot of vehicles to "unlock" in this game. I put unlock in quotes because you don't just unlock them - you take them down. See whenever you complete X number of events, you are told that, for example, the "Hunter Spur" has now entered Paradise City. You must take this car down to earn him. This is a lot more realistic than in the previous Burnout games. You can be trying to get a billboard when you see a guy going 200 mph fly right past you. You then get in an all-out pursuit. When you take him down, you are told that the "Hunter Spur" has been delivered to the junkyard (the junkyard is where you go to change your car). Then, you go to the junkyard and try out the vehicle. It's a neat system that injects life into Paradise City.

There are a huge variety of vehicles. There are 78 vehicles to unock, and each one is seperated into three vehicle classes - Stunt, Speed, and Aggression. Stunt cars are great for the Stunt Run events, as well as collecting billboards and going off jumps. Speed cars are great in the races, mostly because they're light and fast. This comes at a downside, since you can only use the boost when the boost bar is full. Aggression cars are perfect for the Road Rage events, since they are aggressive and are strong. However, don't expect to win any Stunt Runs in these vehicles.

One of my favorite parts of Burnout Revenge was the crash mode. It was a unique puzzle, where you had to ram into an intersection and cause as much havoc as possible. It was very fun, if not completely addictive. Unfortunately, there is no crash mode in Paradise, as it has been replaced by "Showtime." Showtime is an event where you press R1 and L1, and your car crashes, only you have control over it. You must bounce your car (using the boost in your boost bar) towards the traffic, causing mayhem. There is no real strategy to Showtime, unlike the crash mode, which makes the mode feel like a mindless rampage instead of a puzzle. But that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Showtime can be pretty fun at times. Unfortunately, the mode seems to be based more on pure luck rather than skill. You can get a lot of multipliers and cars to hit in one event, but then the next, there is little to no traffic. Again, the mode is still fun, but it'll never replace the true crash mode.

The game experience is very long, and will take you several hours to collect all the collectibles, win all the races, and get the Elite licencse. The experience may get a bit repetitive after a few hours of play, since it may be a bit grinding to spend hours finding billboards, smashes, and jumps, as well as winning events.

But that's where the online comes in.

The online is brilliant. Totally brilliant. It is seamlessly integrated into the offline experience. The way the entire online experience is set up is really cool. By pressing right on the D-Pad, you open the Easy Drive menu. In this menu, you get to create your own online game, join another player's game, create your own race, and a whole lot of other things without even having to turn off your engine. This is a neat system that really integrates into the overall experience.

The actual online play is brilliant, too. There are literally hundreds of online challenges to participate in with your friends. These range from simple (meet in the parking garage on 4th Street) to complicated (get an near miss in the air while jumping off the ramp on Elm Street). Some of these have time limits, which means you have to hurry up to complete these objectives. There are also online Races, Road Rages, Stunt Runs, and Marked Mans. These are variations of the offline modes, and it's a blast.

Overall, the gameplay has done nothing but improve upon the past games of the franchise. The open world gameplay was a great choice, and the sheer amount of content here will blow you away.

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Lasting Appeal: There is quite a lot to do in this game. There is the easily up to 20 hour long offline experience, then there is the online play you may want to spend 100 hours on. And then (there is always more isn't there?) there is the huge amount of DLC to buy in the Playstation Store, which range from new online modes and new vehicles to entire new sections of Paradise City to explore. There is also a DLC pack which allows you to ride bikes around Paradise.

Overall, this is a game you will spend a lot of time on.

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Overall: This is a racing fan's dream come true. There are over 120 events, 500 online challenges, 78 vehicles, and a lot of DLC to buy. Sure, the offline can get repetitive after a while, but that isn't a gamebreaking issue, as the rest of the game is spot on. Go buy this if you're a racing fan - Paradise City is open and waiting.

The following is a rating system. It is on an out of 10 scale.

Story: N/A
Graphics: 10
Audio: 8.5
Gameplay: 9.0
Lasting Appeal: 9.5

Overall Score: 9.25 or 4 5/8 stars

EDIT: I have popped in the game, and the navigation isn't as hard as I remembered. I use the minimap and compass to navigate now, instead of popping up the map every five seconds. I have found it easy to do so, and my problem with the navigation is no longer present.

This is a great game for anyone who loves car racing games. The free roaming is one of the best things you can do with game. Do whatever you want and go wherever you want. The jumps and stunts are fun. You can do barrel rolls off jumps or perform flat spins of jumps to. Its a fun game!