`Burnout Paradise` Retrospective

21 Apr 2008 at 18:36:39 by Paul Younger

It’s been out a couple of weeks now, tearing up tracks on all types of consoles, but has ‘Paradise’ burned out?

Excited as I was to get the game, I was a little dubious, a little bit apprehensive. I had read our preview of the game, I had seen the screenshots and I had already made up my mind that I was going to love the game. It looked pretty, it sounded like it would be fun and I was determined to get into the driving seat and tear up the virtual, open world that the Criterion boys had created.

And the intro was something else, introducing the game in the only way you’d expect it to be introduced. Blood pumping, adrenaline flowing and sexy looking. The game was revamped, no doubt about it, but I was to be disappointed when I hit the accelerator to turn on the engine on my heap at the junkyard. The first thing I heard was the voice of a familiar DJ, Atomica, the moron from SSX 3 (and other games), a game I adored on the PS2. Now I must admit, this alone put me off, and I knew as soon as I heard the voice of DJ Atwatica, the gameplay was going to be tainted. Even after turning the tips off, I could still hear his annoying commentary every time I lost a challenge.

And the resemblance didn’t stop there. The whole concept of an open world is great, the idea that you can stop at any set of lights and race, take down or run from other vehicles is brilliant. The map is huge, and it does take time to learn the shortcuts, the roads and the rest, which isn’t a bad thing, but it’s a bit of a drawback. Unlike previous ‘Burnout’ games, it’s really hard to have an idea of where you are in the game and what it is you should be doing. I’m not talking from a hardcore gamer point of view, but rather from that of a ‘Burnout’ fan perspective. I want those tracks that you do again and again, the races that teach you the tracks, I want the crash events which have gone from the game, I don’t want to forget where an event I haven’t completed is because I can’t the set of lights it was at, I don’t want to have to find an auto repair centre just for the sake of not getting the ‘damage critical’ warning one crash sooner than I would have done, I don’t want to paint my car if there is no point in doing so. And I don’t want to be playing SSX in a car.

"I adore the cinematic effects"

I think my major qualm with the game is the fact that it’s trying to be something that it blatantly isn’t. It’s not an arcade and it’s not a simulator, but it’s trying to incorporate aspects from both and it just doesn’t work. It should have stuck to what it did best, arcade racing and ridiculous crash events without losing the beauty of traffic checking, which was introduced in the later games.

There are things of the game I do like, like the photo jumps and the petrol stations for boost, I think there should have been a lot more of those dotted around the city. I love the fact that you can drive on the train tracks and I adore the cinematic effects. I think the idea of an open world is great and I know the game plays well online, but in order to stand a chance you have to know the roads inside out and all the shortcuts that go with each route. As a single player, before you throw yourself onto a network of established and committed drivers online, the game just does not have the longevity to keep you hooked. I found myself driving around and finding all the jumps I could and crashing through as many barriers as I could. I had no inclination to carry on with the game, especially to the soundtrack of Atwatica and his annoying comments and voice (even though, as I said, I had turned him off I could still hear him). I didn’t see the point of stunt runs, I wasn’t on a skateboard, and I didn’t want to spend my time trying to get to a junkyard to swap a car in order to come back and do an event with a relevant vehicle.

Over the last few weeks ‘Paradise’ has been dropping in the charts and there is a reason for that. I think deep down, ‘Burnout’ fans are a little disappointed. I know I am.

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