The "Retro Game Reviews" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
The main menu loads to the sound of Guns N' Roses 'Paradise City' and it all looks to be business as usual.The world tour rankings system of the previous Burnout game have been replaced with a driving licence system.You start with a basic licence and car and have to win races and complete challenges to get a more advanced licence rating and better cars.This all works fine to be honest as do the car repair shops (to repair your smashed up vehicles) and paint shops where you can change the colour of your car.The 'Nitro boost bar' is the same as in previous versions which fills up the more dangerously you drive.The slow motion crash sequences with metal crunching and glass shattering are as great as they always have been.
Apart from these pretty straight forward features this game is a big change in direction for the Burnout series.Criterion Games (The Burnout series developers) have taken some pretty huge risks and changed the Burnout we love.Gone is the 'Crash Mode',The split screen 2 player races and infact there are no local multiplayer games at all.I loved playing the Burnout games with my mates when they called round.Party games in the old crash mode were a riot after a few beers as we battled to create the ultimate motorway pile ups !.
The gameplay area is fully unlocked from the start and you are free to explore and race wherever you please within the massive 'Paradise City'.You start a race by pulling up at traffic lights behind cars and pressing the brake,then the gas.You have a starting point and a finishing point and you have to determine the best way to get there via the use of a map located in the bottom corner of the screen.I cannot believe that at some point in the games development someone didn't pipe up during a Criterion Games company meeting and say 'I am not alone in thinking that this is a rubbish idea ?'.Because if they didn't they should have !.
While the graphics are superb,with excellent detail,run at mindblowing speed and without any hint of slowdown they cannot mask the fact the game simply isn't that much fun to play.This system of point to point racing has so many fatal flaws it was impossible to make this the game it could and should have been.The first problem is that it is virtually impossible to read the map while driving at what feels like 200,000 MPH !!!!.The second you take your eyes of the screen you're heading towards the scene of a monumental accident!.If you don't read the map and take a wrong turn (easily done) its game over,The other cars have dissapeared into the blue yonder leaving you frantically looking for the correct path which you're never going to find in time.Also if you fail to get placed in a race or fail to complete a challenge you cannot simply retry them.You have to consult your map and try and get back to where ever the hell it was you started from !.
Online,'Burnout Revenge' was a real blast but sadly for 'Burnout Paradise' it is yet another area of missed opportunity.There are basically 2 kinds of online player I found playing on this game.The ones who obviously have no lives as they knew the entire racing area off by heart and were gloating at us 'noobs' who didn't have a clue where the hell were supposed to be going!.Then us 'noobs' who were all frustrated as hell playing it and were all complaining about how much less fun it was to play than 'Burnout Revenge'.
Overall,I suppose there are 2 ways you can look at 'Burnout Paradise'.One is that Criterion Games didn't play it safe with yet another straight rehash of the previous Burnout games.They took the risk to try something totally different.I can sort of subscribe to that line of thinking,but for me the end result was that they simply removed all the fun from my favourite arcade racing series.They replaced it with something that was more infuriating than anything else and for that reason I wouldn't recommend it.
A HUGE disappointment 4/10.
> You obviously have no idea of how to play a good game. There is
> nothing wrong with Burnout Paradise. So you have to return to
> another area to redo a race or event, boo hoo you actually have
> to do some thinking.... I guess you x-box players don't like to
> do anything complicated. As for the crashes they have just
> replaced it with Showtimes, which it just a crash that is
> upgraded. As for the complaints about people online... it's
> simple, play with friends only, and it is a blast to sit down
> have a few beers, chat and crash each other, or do events
> together... When you are doing races or events you don't have to
> look at the map, there is a compass above your car to watch or
> just keep an eye on your blinker, cause it will actaully show you
> which way to turn, or have not figured that one out yet??? So
> before you go running our mouth off about how bad a game is you
> might want to actually play the whole damn thing cause you
> probably just tried acouple things and then gave up.... cause if
> you played more of the game and stopped complaining about the
> changes you would actaully have a good time...
Hi and welcome to the forum.Actually I did try to get on with this game and really didn't like it as I said in my review.Its just my opinion,if you like it and think Criterion made a jump in the right direction,then that's your opinion.I can't remember another game which created such a split reaction between players.All the guys I used to play Burnout Revenge with hated it with a passion and I have to say i'm with them.I respect Criterion for not playing it safe and trying something completely different with the Burnout franchise,its just I didn't think it worked.You obviously don't agree and that's fine,Please feel free to write a review of the game yourself,look forward to reading it.
Just watched Yahtzee's review it was class.
You may like what Yahtzee Crowshaw has to say about it :P
Burnout Paradise
The main menu loads to the sound of Guns N' Roses 'Paradise City' and it all looks to be business as usual.The world tour rankings system of the previous Burnout game have been replaced with a driving licence system.You start with a basic licence and car and have to win races and complete challenges to get a more advanced licence rating and better cars.This all works fine to be honest as do the car repair shops (to repair your smashed up vehicles) and paint shops where you can change the colour of your car.The 'Nitro boost bar' is the same as in previous versions which fills up the more dangerously you drive.The slow motion crash sequences with metal crunching and glass shattering are as great as they always have been.
Apart from these pretty straight forward features this game is a big change in direction for the Burnout series.Criterion Games (The Burnout series developers) have taken some pretty huge risks and changed the Burnout we love.Gone is the 'Crash Mode',The split screen 2 player races and infact there are no local multiplayer games at all.I loved playing the Burnout games with my mates when they called round.Party games in the old crash mode were a riot after a few beers as we battled to create the ultimate motorway pile ups !.
The gameplay area is fully unlocked from the start and you are free to explore and race wherever you please within the massive 'Paradise City'.You start a race by pulling up at traffic lights behind cars and pressing the brake,then the gas.You have a starting point and a finishing point and you have to determine the best way to get there via the use of a map located in the bottom corner of the screen.I cannot believe that at some point in the games development someone didn't pipe up during a Criterion Games company meeting and say 'I am not alone in thinking that this is a rubbish idea ?'.Because if they didn't they should have !.
While the graphics are superb,with excellent detail,run at mindblowing speed and without any hint of slowdown they cannot mask the fact the game simply isn't that much fun to play.This system of point to point racing has so many fatal flaws it was impossible to make this the game it could and should have been.The first problem is that it is virtually impossible to read the map while driving at what feels like 200,000 MPH !!!!.The second you take your eyes of the screen you're heading towards the scene of a monumental accident!.If you don't read the map and take a wrong turn (easily done) its game over,The other cars have dissapeared into the blue yonder leaving you frantically looking for the correct path which you're never going to find in time.Also if you fail to get placed in a race or fail to complete a challenge you cannot simply retry them.You have to consult your map and try and get back to where ever the hell it was you started from !.
Online,'Burnout Revenge' was a real blast but sadly for 'Burnout Paradise' it is yet another area of missed opportunity.There are basically 2 kinds of online player I found playing on this game.The ones who obviously have no lives as they knew the entire racing area off by heart and were gloating at us 'noobs' who didn't have a clue where the hell were supposed to be going!.Then us 'noobs' who were all frustrated as hell playing it and were all complaining about how much less fun it was to play than 'Burnout Revenge'.
Overall,I suppose there are 2 ways you can look at 'Burnout Paradise'.One is that Criterion Games didn't play it safe with yet another straight rehash of the previous Burnout games.They took the risk to try something totally different.I can sort of subscribe to that line of thinking,but for me the end result was that they simply removed all the fun from my favourite arcade racing series.They replaced it with something that was more infuriating than anything else and for that reason I wouldn't recommend it.
A HUGE disappointment 4/10.