Introduction

The original Burnout made quite the impact when it was first released on the PS2 and Gamecube. Hi octane racing, crazy arcade physics, easy to learn but hard to master gameplay, and who could forget the crash mode all of which resulted in a successful first outing. It wasn’t until the sequel Burnout 2 was released that the series started to really make heads turn. In fact I bought an XBOX just to play the best version of Burnout 2: Point of Impact. After an awesome Burnout 3: Takedown, and the not so great Burnout: Revenge and Dominator we fast forward to the first real next generation version, Burnout Paradise.

Burnout Paradise is very different and very similar to the games previous iterations. Gone are the closed circuit courses and crash mode (more on that later) and we now have a huge free roaming space called Paradise City to wreck havoc in. We still have lots of cars to crash, familiar racing modes and very high speed gameplay and more. In fact after the well received Test Drive Unlimited was released EA was rumored to be working on its own version of a racing MMO called Need for Speed: The Island. Burnout Paradise was the result.

Gameplay and Design

Lets look a little more in depth at the new features we can find in Paradise city. So first off you have your Paradise City driver’s license you start off with a learners but as you win more events your license gets upgraded and it will peak with an Elite level license. Events are found at any intersection in the city. They are clearly marked on your GPS all you have to do is find a set of traffic lights, the event name will pop up and just perform a burnout (press L2 and R2) and you’re off. You can do these events (120 +) in order as you like. You have the standard point to point races as previous but now that you’re a large environment there is no set path. Your given the final destination and it’s up to you to get their the quickest. It’s quite daunting when you first start the game, but once you become familiar with the city and its various shortcuts and jumps the races become pretty easy. The familiar and always fun road rage is present, as its new counter part marked man where you are being chased by very fast and strong vehicles whose sole purpose is to take you out. You got to get to the finish line before the time runs out, it’s quite exhilarating. Burning route requires specific vehicles but it’s not different from a regular race. Stunt mode is also new and requires you to land as many insane jumps, barrels rolls and more to get your score as high as possible. Initially you’ll find yourself repeating events as each time you upgrade your license you can redo any event over, it can get a bit repetitive.
 
So the events themselves are pretty fun but the most important thing is the car you’re driving! There are 75 total cars to wreck in Paradise City. This time around they are broken up into specific classes, where each class is tailored for particular events. Good luck beating a stunt run in a huge aggressive SUV, you need a stunt car for that! Vehicles are unlocked by completing events, taking them out while free roaming Paradise city and more. Many of the vehicles are clearly inspired by real life vehicles. Now I’m sure actual car manufacturers wouldn’t be too happy if you were able to destroy their cars as you’ve been able to in the Burnout games. Recreations of Nissan Skylines, Audi SUVs, Ford pickups and even the 2009 Chevrolet Camaro are present.  With tons of hidden routes, breakable billboards, secret super jumps you’ll be driving around in the many cars for hours on end.