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I Crash, You Crash, We all Crash for Paradise
By bukkhead | March 21, 2008
VIDEO GAME REVIEW: ‘BURNOUT PARADISE’
Developed by Criterion Games
Distributed by EA
Platforms: Xbox 360, Playstation 3
Genre: Racer
I got the new Burnout video game, and thought I would talk about that. I got the game on February 2nd, and have played a little each day. For those who don’t know, the Burnout series got it start when they introduced a race game that had you forcibly crashing into other cars in order to gain boost and, of course, win. Since then the game has evolved into something with even more depth and replayability.
In this iteration they’ve opened the entire city up—rather than choose which race you want from a menu, you have to drive there yourself. In the meantime, you can just drive around, looking for jumps, shortcuts, and alternative routes to use on any of the races. In addition to racing events, and road rage events, wherein your goal is to force as many competitors off the road as possible, they’ve added an even called Marked Man, where you try to reach the goal before a team of heavy aggressive vehicles total your car.
Also new are drive-thrus, such as fuel stations that replenish your boost, spray-paint centers that change your colors on the fly, repair stations that patch you up, and junk yards where you can switch vehicles. To get new vehicles, you have to win events or chase down special cars on the street and ram ‘em off the road.
One complaint that many have voiced is that there is no “start over” button—if you lose a race, you are done, wherever you might be in the city. I agree that this is a little bit irritating, but it just requires a paradigm shift in how video games are “beaten.” For me, it’s either choose another nearby event to start, or drive back the way I came, looking for those shortcuts and jumps that I might have missed.
Another complaint is that the crash events have been replaced with Showtime—at any moment, you can start a crash, and then press boost to bounce down the street, taking out cars to increase your score. I agree, this is no replacement for the catharsis of watching in intersection pile up with car after car. But it is fun, in its own right: busses give bonus points, and so you find yourself “steering” your flying wreck all over the city in an attempt to find them.
I haven’t tried the online portion yet but that’s probably where all the reply value is at. Apparently you can use the camera when playing—when you force an opponent off the road, the camera will send you a picture of their face at the moment of the crash.
And now, over a month since I got it, I am almost “done” with my Elite license, having one enough races and unlocked enough cars. All said, this game was well worth the price, and has been a satisfying experience, in three-minute bursts and after hours of extended game play. Rare is the game that affords such flexibility.
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