Burnout Paradise (PS3)

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Customer Reviews:

• 
  2008-05-23
  By Mr. D. Lakins, UK Nottingham
  The idea of a free roaming racing game seemed inevitable what with the success of grand theft auto and other similar titles. Burnout, known for its high speed city racing and cringe-inducing crashes, was a good place to start. Burnout Paradise - the 5th instalment of the Burnout series - is absolutely brilliant.
  
  Paradise city is your open world in which to wreak havoc. The massive city is separated into a number of different areas, each varying from built up streets to open mountainous roads. You move throughout these areas seamlessly, with no loading screens or menus, which is quite an achievement, considering that everything looks magnificent.
  Aside from the detail on the traffic, everything is polished to digital perfection. The cars gleam elegantly, the background is atmospheric and inspiring... and the crashes are superb.
  
  Before I talk about crashes though, here are some details on how the game actually plays. You start with one car and are let loose into the city. From the off, every single inch is reachable; no invisible walls or unlockable areas. You then make your way around the city, and at pretty much every junction there's an event, you simply pull up and hold R2 + L2 and you're taken into it. Straight into it. No Loading. The events include races, stunt runs, time trials, crashing into people and avoiding crashes. By finishing these events you upgrade your licence and unlock new, awesome cars. It's a simple enough system, and thanks to the genius flow between free driving and taking part in events, it works brilliantly. You always feel like you're working towards unlocking something.
  
  So what is there to unlock? Cars, of course. 75 in all, and its surprising how different each model is to drive. For example, the Hunter Vegas is a very fast stunt car that handles corners terribly, whereas the Krieger Pioneer feels extremely heavy to drive but takes corners very well. The cars are also customizable, though this isn't really an in-depth system that allows you to change your cars stats, just a simple changing of paint jobs.
  
  Aside from the open world, the other factor that takes Burnout above other racing games are the crashes. Whether it be seeing someone you're racing with suddenly smash into something and fly off into the background, or if you're having your own crash, they're amazing. Speaking of the latter, the effect it awesome, with all the music stopping and the only sound being the very detailed crunch of your car turning into a cube, spinning through the air in slow motion.
  Crashes happen often, what with the fact that things start to get really fast, and just looking down at your mini-map for a second can easily lose you a race. This, in a way, is one of the games weak points, in that it gets extremely frustrating trying to see where you're going when you're going so fast, and it's best to just hope you're heading in the right direction or follow other cars (there are no markers - it's an open world after all). But then again, that's just the kind of racing this is, and it means you have to put hours in to get to know Paradise City, which in time you most certainly will.
  
  One final way Burnout has revolutionized racing games is with its online play. Once again, no lobby's or loading screens, you just say you want to go online, and before you know it a bunch of people pop-up on your map. It's something new, and definitely something that will be used in games from this point onwards. Racing with friends allows you to complete online only challenges, as of which there are over 300. These range from racing to seeing how many cars you can barrel roll over... great fun!
  
  In presentation, the game is very similar to EA's skate. The stats screen is detailed and let's you see how much of everything you've done, which is great for people who want to finish it all.
  
  So what's wrong with this game? Not much at all. When you lose a race you carry on from exactly where it ended, making restarting it a pain, but there are so many other races on the way back you'll be tempted to start another. Perhaps a more in depth car customization would have been good for car enthusiasts, but it doesn't really feel like the game is missing out on much.
  There's so much that will keep you playing this game, from breaking through all the billboards to the excellent multiplayer. This is a racing game like no other, and deserves to be bought.
  
  9.5
  
  
  
• 
  2008-05-25
  By P. Stokes, Essex, UK
  I've been a master of all the series so far and have marvelled at the quality that each offering made to take it to the next level. Paradise is an interesting offering for next gen consoles. Open city (GTA style) and open levels. You decide at any given moment whether you complete races, stunts and takedowns. In between it allows for collecting items around the city including jumps, sign destruction and shortcuts. The only reason this didn't get five stars was the lack of crash mode. Criterion have substitued this with a 'Showdown' mode. You drive fast, hit two buttons and try and crash into anything that moves for points. I would have prefered the old style levels where you knew what you had to try and hit to complete the level. It would of also looked awesome with the graphics this title possesses. Online mode for me is a bit hit and miss. Sometimes too many things to aim for can make the gameplay a bit messy. If you're a fan, buy it. If you like GT, then this isn't for you.
  
  
• 
  2008-07-09
  By S. Pritchard, london
  Why does this game feel so empty?
  I've played many a burnout game beforehand.
  It took me a while to figure out why.
  
  A Lack of structure.
  Its bereft of different things to do
  Its missing features such as Crash mode, something i loved.
  Its also missing aftertouch badly.
  For some reason the streets feel lifeless, maybe because it feels like theres a lil less cars, not as much other damage to cause and enjoy.
  
  A fine online mode and the excellent graphics save it...
  well almost, they need to destory the "DJ" who almost ruins the experience for me... he needs an off switch.
  
  Still a fine game though and with great updates planed so its well worth it for the right price.
  
  
  
  
  
• 
  2008-07-12
  By Peter Stroud, London
  Simply fantastic. The sense of speed is amazing and drifting feels so satisfying. Challenges are great and there are loads of things to do in Paradise City besides just racing. Online mode is extremely fun and the developers create some fantastic updates for you to download for FREE, for example, the update on thursday brought custom soundtrack to the game aswell as loads more cars and challenges. An update coming next month will include MOTORBIKES, pure bliss.
  Excellent driving game with fantastic developer support.
  
  
• 
  2008-07-29
  By Wael M. Hazzazi, Saudi Arabia
  I bought this game and didn't start playing until six months after the day I bought it, I didnt think I will get into and I kept leaving for later...One day I was really bored and didn't have anything else to do, and that is when the addiction started...
  
  This game is perfect, first of all the offline mode has alot of things that will keep you busy, the races, the challenges, the speeding, everything...then if for any reason you get bored of the offline mode, go online, that is when another addiction will start...there are around 350 online challenges and another new 70 online timed challenges...that is alone will kee you busy enough...
  
  There is also another cool new feature which is playing your own soundtracks in the game, you can also check your progress online through the developers website...there is also the new trophies system which will be retroactive meaning that whatever you finished you will be rewarded for without having to play through it again...
  
  one last thing I liked about this game is if you are intoo collecting stuff such as the billboards, jumps and smashes and u have a few of them left for you to collect, you can upload your saved file into the developer's website and they will generate a map for you directing you to where are the left items for you to go and collect, and this feature is only for the PS3 version of the game...so enjoy that PS3 lovers...
  
  I will give this game a 5/5 stars rating, it deserves every single star...