The Best Racer out for PS3 just got a whole lot better, adding motorbikes, Trophies and hours of gameplay for free!!!
(more on that later).
Needless to say Burnout fans will be suprised by how different the game is, but how familiar it still feels in your hands. The races are no longer linear, there are no circuit races, which some may view as a pity, only sprints. This means you can get to your finish line whichevery way you choose. Although there is a handy map in the corner, unless you have a massive tv, this is pointless and its probably better to follow the indicators in the top of the screen telling you when to turn.
The game starts off with you going straight to the junk yard to pick up your first ride, you can't choose what ride you start with, but you pick up new cars so quickly in this game you won't be playing with it for very long. At first the game is a bit overwhelming, no area is blocked off from the start. You drive around, stop at any set of traffic lights and hold down the accellorator and the brake for a race to begin.
Before long you've earned your first proper licence, this resets all the races you've completed, ramps the difficulty up on it a bit, and then finally gives you a new complimentary car as a way of saying congrats, you've got this far.
The graphics in Burnout Paradise are second to none, its is absolutely breathtaking the first time you crash, slow-mo, wheels break off, the glass shatters into tiny fragments as the windscreen is thrown forward, i almost had a tear in my eye (of joy) this thrill never really fades away, even in the middle of a race you don't mind when you crash because its so damn unique and awesome looking every time.
Burnout has a wide variety of races, sprint, road rage (where you have to take down other cars), stunt run, burning routes (you have to complete a sprint with a certain car within a time limit, if you do you unlock the upgrade of this car) and marked man. Marked man is by far the most challenging, where you have to make it from A to B without being taken off the road by drivers who are trying to total you. Its difficult and requires you to use your wits, but it is extremely satisfying when you do make it to the finish unscathed.
You also get new cars in a variety of ways, some come when you get your next licence, some come when you win a race. But by far the coolest way to get new cars is when you are driving to a new race, a fast car will come along and drive past you, you have to shut it down (crash it into a wall or car etc) and then the car is delivered to your junkyard. Cool idea, and its extremely well implemented, making you sure to swear everytime you miss it and it gets away, but cheer when you actually do it because it gives you a feeling as if you worked for this car, it wasn't just given to you.
Paradise City ( the setting of the game hence the name Burnout Paradise ) is huge, there are 4 different areas (there are meant to be 8 so to speak but there are really only four areas where the scenery differs); there is uptown, where you can find the promenades, downtown, where there is a heavy traffic flow, the country club area, lots of long winding roads, with modest amounts of traffic, and the mountainous area, where again long winding roads with tiny amounts of traffic.
Criterion games recently introduced several patches to make the game even better. Motorbikes have been introduced, they handle like a dream and although as soon as you crash the driver dissapears, eliminating the fun in crashing motorbikes, its still awesome to drive and have their own set of challenges. There is now also day and night, at night time visibility worsens but to compensate there is less traffic on the roads. Its a cool feature and races really feel unique between day and night time.
The online is quite good as well, although its confusing at first, you can eventually create your own races, and jump into someone elses Paradise city and crash into them if you want to, or you can try and go up the world rankings, i remain unranked due to the fact i usually don't go online on a game untill i have completed the single player. I decided to go on however just to test it out, the game has very little latency online and the bits you notices are hardly race changing, more like the car in front being a few centimetres further ahead.
There are only two gripes with this game that i can really moan about. The DJ, who provides the music, and gives advice, he is criterion games attempt at reaching out to the teens and frankly it doesn't work, he's sarcastic comments only infuriate and his grating voice makes you want to mute the game and miss out on the brilliant sound effects in the game.
My other gripe is the lack of good music for a racing game, although personally i like any music, in games like need for speed its nice driving along to metal and stuff like that which Burnout does have, its just its also accompanied by Girlfriend by avril Lavigne and Mozart's 5th, it just doesn't feel right to be driving along crashing into other cars with classical music going on in the background.
If you are a racing fan, or even just a casual gamer that wants a game where he can feel like he's going fast. I would get Burnout Paradise, it is by far better than the other racing games for the PS3, the only game coming close to it being Motorstorm. Its graphics, great gameplay and wide range of things to do within the game Makes Paradise City the place to be for racing this year.