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With most racing games chasing the realistic approach that the new consoles allow (yes, even Need for Speed attempted it with Pro Street) it’s still nice to see that some of the developers aren’t ‘lemmings’ and aren’t follow everyone over the cliff to their ‘death’. Since its creation, the Burnout series has taken the typical, realistic approach and spun it in on its head. This was one of the first games to actually promote ramming your opposition off the track (and even included it in as game mode in later editions.) Each subsequent game has been tweaked and changed, but always improved. Burnout Paradise, the fifth in the series, takes it where it’s never been before; a free roaming game world. While this may not sound like a huge innovation, it’s the way that Criterion Games have implemented it that makes it so credible. So grab your driving gloves and get ready to hit paradise.

From the moment you start Paradise you’ll see that Criterion Games have done a bloody good job of using every inch of the city, showing off some the best detail you’ll ever see in a game. It’s not only limited to a static sense but includes the way that the cars and environment are affected by you driving 100mph into them (but more on that later). If you’re new to the series then the objective of Burnout was to compete in certain events, i.e. races. Winning the events would grant you rewards like unlocking new cars or events. This is where Paradise differs from its counter-parts. After a small introduction about what to do and help to complete your first race that’s about it; it’s completely down to you on where you go do and generally what to crash into.

There’s a lot to see and do in Paradise city. There are different ‘shops’ varying from gas stations, which refill your boost bar, to repair shops that repair your car after it has become battered and bruised. Finding everything in Paradise city will take you a while. On top of finding the main challenges there are also so many things that you can do in freeburn mode (free roaming). To start any of the events you just pull up to any intersection (there’s an event at every single intersection) and hold the two trigger buttons (in the Xbox 360’s case) and the event will load. There are only four different types of events, but they’re very well done.

Race mode is basically what it says on the tin. You and 7 AI opponents race from one point of the map to another. Criterion has made it so every single race event will finish at one of eight points on the map. The aim of this is so that you won’ be constantly checking the compass or map. The races have no barriers so if you know a shortcut you can leave your adversaries for dust.  You can follow the AI who use to the roads to get used to the general routes. What it really does it reward the player if you learn the city. That doesn’t mean you should attempt to remember every road and fire hydrant, but the general outlay of the map.  

If standard racing isn’t your cup of tea then you’ll want to head over to Stunt mode. It allows you to show off your knowledge of the best areas to do tricks in the city; from jumps or mega drifts. It all counts towards your score which is multiplied by undertaking bigger stunts. You’ll get a set time to get your best score. The best idea is to explore the city before starting stunt events and plan which route you’ll going to take. Road Rage is a classic Burnout mode that has always been a joy to play. You’ll get given a set number of cars to take out within a time limit and every car you takedown gives you an extra 5 seconds. Finally is Marked Man, a variant of a game type of the ‘old school’ pursuit mode. Instead of you being the predator, you are now the prey, and have to make you way from one point to another without your car being totally destroyed. Once again knowing the city is vital to know which routes are the quickest as well as where all the repair stations are just in case you get into trouble.

With the events comes the biggest flaw with Burnout Paradise. There is no restart event or quit race button. It is possible to stop your car and wait 5 seconds and it will stop the event, but we want a button that does it straight away! Criterion Games said there is no restart as they didn’t want any menus or loading screens and that they wanted everything to be done within the car. While the direction it’s been taken is perfect there are some ‘gaming-musts’ that should be supported. You can argue that you can just start another event at another intersection but there are two expectations to this rule; Burning Routes and the Time Trials. These are unique to a certain set of traffic lights which means that if you fail there isn’t just one around the corner.  If a retry button was needed, it would be for these two events especially.

While we’re on the subject of the game’s negatives (it does have some), we might as well address the issue of the DJ. Hands down is one of the most annoying ‘characters’ seen in a game, especially with his words of ‘advice.’ I know I have just lost the race you idiot I don’t need you telling me twice!  Once you finish a race you get the DJ telling you that a new car has been spotted around Paradise City. Instead of having the car delivered to your junkyard unlocked you have to find the car and then take it down to own it.

Concerning cars, there are 3 different styles of vehicles to help you in the different events. At the beginning it really doesn’t matter which vehicle you use but in later races you will have to start choosing your cars carefully. The three types of vehicles are Race, Stunt, and Aggression. They all have different styles of play and different ways on how the boost bar works. Race cars are slick and fast racers; they’re quick off the mark and reach ridiculous speeds when you hit the boost but are paper thin and fail at Road Rage and Marked Man events if you don’t know how to use the boost bar effectively. The boost bar is a single use boost which means that once you’ve pressed boost you’ll have to wait until your bar is full again to use it. Many old school Burnout fans will remember this and instantly start chaining boosts together by using drifts and oncoming’s to recharge the bar while boosting.

The Stunt cars are more enjoyable to drive as they can take hits but still have a good sense of speed. They’re obviously to be used in the Stunt events as well as Road Rage and Marked Man. These are the ‘middle of the road’ vehicles. Their boost bars can be used as much as you want and can be stopped and started without the need to recharge. They’re also very agile and can do most of the tricks that you can pull off in the game.

Aggression cars are all about brute force, as they can take a lot of damage as well as having a lot of weight to bash and generally cause pain to your opposition. While they are the slowest, they’re perfect for Marked Man events and their speciality Road Rage. The boost bar allows you to use boost at anytime. Unfortunately you can also lose some of your boost bar when crashing and getting wrecked.

 As well as unlocking new cars through completing events or upgrading your driving licence, you can also unlock upgraded versions by winning Burning Routes with specific cars. These are timed runs in a certain car, no opposition, just you the clock and your knowledge of the city. If you complete the Burning Route you unlock a different version of the car you completed the burning route in. Aggression cars are also perfect for ‘Showtime’ the replacement to previous Burnouts Crash Mode. At any time you can enter ‘Showtime’ and cause a pileup which tots up the price of each car crashed. You can bounce your car (to a stupid amount of times) into oncoming traffic to notch up the points.

All this becomes irrelevant when you finally enter Multiplayer. This is where Burnout Paradise really shines. The game has been crying out for freeburning online and Criterion have finally given it to us. There are challenges to complete cooperatively or you can try and beat your friend’s records; best drift or longest oncoming. If that’s not your cup of tea you can do a race off the fly with the other 7 people playing online. You can play ‘tag’ or just wreck everyone in sight. There possibilities are endless for imaginative games and getting online has never been easier. Hit ‘Freeburn Online’ and you’re instantly taken into an already running game.

The game sticks to 60 frames per second with not even a hint of sweat. From the car crunching sound effects to the beautiful beaches the game reeks of beauty. The engine runs flawlessly offline and online. There’s so much to do, the average player will never actually come close to 100%. It’s a game created in such a way that you can spend 5 minutes or 5 days in. While it has its niggles, it’s the breath of fresh air the series needed. The community might have divided by Paradise, but sit back and acknowledge it for what it is; the best Burnout in years.

Score: 9/10

(Xbox 360 Version Reviewed. The game is also available on PS3).

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