Burnout Paradise Comments by Kristan Reed

1000/10 for DJ atomica

NOT!

I'll be having this tyvm.

Good review. Thank christ this wasn't an instant 10.

The last comment pretty much summed up how I feel about BP from the demo. It's not everything it could (nay SHOULD) have been but what's there should fill the games drought void for a while...

This is DJ Atomica, statin' the bleedin' obvious, looking out of the window downtown at a bunch of people rear-ending each other

It is evident that a lot of thought has gone into the design of this game. I was a bit put off by EG's 8/10 but I'll try it anyway ;) .

I've got too many games to play to get invested in something like this

I'm going to rent this just for the graphics.

I've clicked straight on comments without looking at the review in order to predict the following:

There will not be a single screenshot of the game actually in play anywhere in the review.

Am I right?

Assuming the demo was like the final, you can get the DJ to shut up most of the time unless introducing new events by switching off "Tips" in the menu which is handy.

My copy should arrive tomorrow and I'm rather looking forward to it, the demo was a lot of fun just to arse about in online so having all of the city to play in should be worthwhile. It reminded me of the old Midtown Madness 3 days, which were epic.

Hmmmmm, might have to be a rental first for me too.

When you can't restart an event, is it likely to become more annoying the more you play, since when you reach the end of an event there are less available events to play? If you see what I mean...

I guess the event hang around even after you've beaten them so you can improve your rating or whatever.

R.I.P. Burnout

R.I.P. Burnout

You know what?

I look forward to the day that Burnout 2 is made as an 'Xbox Originals' download than this version to be honest.

it actually sounds quite good and like someone said Midtown Madness'ish which was cool.

shame about the crash modes as i liked them but all else sounds good.

Is it even faster than Takedown/Revenge? That's all I'm asking of it. :)

Solid game then, wonder if the wallet will allow for this purchase.

Am I the only person who thought Crash mode was a bit pony? I won't miss it.

Nice review and it touches on most of the issues that I have with the game (I have a far bigger problem with them than Kristan though and wouldn't give the game a score so high).

The open world design with wide roads, etc, has removed a lot of the skill for me and it feels far less hectic and fun, far more generic racer. That the navigation system isn't good enough (and can lead you to fail races), the lack of retart (to prevent any loading in game according to Ward, yet the pick a car screen takes *ages* to load each vehicle everytime you look at each one), that you have to trudge around to change a car, that the events wipe clean after each license upgrade means that you can just redo the same tracks and the over reliance of the world map to a) find races and b) win them (causing a horrible stop-start effect) just add to the frustration.

Yeah, it looks nice, yeah, it's smooth, yeah, the online nav is cool but I don't want to play something technically great, I want to play something great fun. Some of he design choices are bizarre and they should have been made better. It just doesn't feel quite like Burnout anymore...

100% correct, Stuart :)

PS when's WoS coming back?

MEH 7/10 if you HAVE to have Burnout again, although I think this is its fat sister.

Too many good games around to tempt me to purchase this.

Why does everything have to be an "open, free-roaming world" these days? What´s wrong with a more structured approach? I mean, open world is nice and all, but I think a more traditional menu system could be implemented as well. You know, for old farts like me.

Only five spots where you can change your vehicle in such a big enviroment, considering the type of the car is very important for your success in particular events you can't choose off the menu or restart!? It's like the developers where asking themselves: "is our core gameplay good enough to distract player from such atrocious design decisions as, let's say, no menus?" And then they went "yeah, let's try and call it another reinvention of our series!".. Was there really no one to raise his/her voice in their meetings and point out that, you know, menus and restarts are good!?

I really *can't* get over this stupid design decision and the fact that they choose to exclude "Crash Mode" because of it. They went backwards to go forward. And when the next Burnout comes along there's gonna be "Crash Mode Is Back" tags all over the boxes and posters, Grrr! Their desing philosophy can also be understood as: "leave your options open by taking tried and proven options out so you can reinstate them again."

I'll wait until WipEout HD.
Thanks for trying though.

I really hated the demo, and TBH this review does very little to reassure me. One to avoid methinks.

if videogaming is to progress as a medium it needs developers to take design risks. I for one applaud Criterion for having the balls to radically alter a series that wasnt necessarily broken. Sure it may not be to everyone's taste but if you want the old Burnout experience why not play the older games?

Tbh I was pissed off with the demo when there was no restart but then once i played online I forgave them it was just so much fun driving around like a maniac and trying to find how to smash through the billboards.

In a world of 'me too' fps copy cats and yearly incremental sequels this may not be the Burnout that everyone was looking for but it looks like a breath of fresh air to me

@Daymare - I can *kinda* understand the decision. They are discouraging the annoyance of repeatedly playing the same race over again and again until you beat it (which has been the sort of thing that has made me stop playing games like this in the past). But still... not sold on their solution for it either... will probably rent it for a weekend and see if I want to play it anymore after that

What about Offline Splitscreen Multiplayer? Has that been dropped?

"They are discouraging the annoyance of repeatedly playing the same race over again and again until you beat it (which has been the sort of thing that has made me stop playing games like this in the past)."
On the other hand, that was what kept me going for another go, again, and again, and again... (and even to place myself closer to the telly).

Cool! Will be picking this up around payday - enjoyed the demo - hopefully I can get internet sorted soon to smash and crash some EGers! Not too unhappy about losing Crash Mode, it was never my favourite, although I'm genuinely disappointed that aftertouch seems to be a thing of the past, I always liked being able to get the last laugh after slowly maneuvering my car into the path of some poor so-and-so!

EDIT: Yeah, is there splitscreen? I hope so! :(

Write out one hundred times:

"I must not confuse REIN with REIGN"

@daz_john_smith
I would like to know this too. What single machine multiplayer options are there - if any?

@Rev Stu Cambell
Screenshot wise absolutely correct, but they have stuck in a number of gameplay videos which is nice.

Hats off for the great V8 noise if nothing else.

So where now for the arcade racing genre? Think the barrel is just about scraped. I have hopes for GRID and love GT5 Prologue (on Jap import) but the days when i loved Screamer, Burnout even Outrun are a warm memory. Is it me or has the law of diminishing returns started to take hold?

What is the deal with that Power Parking? I tried it 4 or 5 times in the demo, got a lucky 100%, and there didn't seem to be any incentive to ever do it again. Do you have to try parking in different spots around the city or something?

After playing the demo I think this is a fair score. I shall be picking this up on Friday. :)

Ha, ha! The screenshots are ace! This seems to be an ongoing "insider joke" in racing game reviews but I completely agree that tilting the image makes it much more awesome!

Amusingly, the Edge review (9/10) describes DJ Atomika as "likeable".

Hopefully this will arrive tomorrow or Friday morning. First act when I put it into the drive - turn the built in music and (hopefully) Atomika off OFF OFF.

fightman3b, mate... punk IS dead.

You cant win! Never satisfy gamers who get tired of the same old game updated/repackaged every time or you take the game in new direction too far and get pillored!

I m one who admire Criterion for trying and certainly will be giving this a good go, as EG even said there is fun to be had!

If I can't shut that annoying prat of a DJ off completely, then no sale for me. It's THAT annoying.

I'd gratefully appreciate a comment to that affect from perhaps the reviewer.

oh, regarding Kristan's "old CRT warhorse" comment, I'd really advise against it. Playing the demo in SD was extremely frustrating, as oncoming walls, ramps, cars etc. can't be spotted against the general grey mush until you're about to hit them at 150mph. Far more playable on a big HD set.

"They are discouraging the annoyance of repeatedly playing the same race over again and again until you beat it (which has been the sort of thing that has made me stop playing games like this in the past)."

It's nice to be discouraged not to do this or that but they are forcing us to play the open-world-do-anything-go-anywhere-be-free game their way which is kind of contradictive to me. And you're going to be repeatedly play same race over and over again one way or the other, if it's a hard race and you'll want to finish the game - the difference here is, you will leave the hard races for later (and get a better cars for them), but when there's going to be only hard races left, no restart option is just going to bug you even more.

It does have to be said that this kind of design is going to bug some people more then other, since our gamestyles differ, but I presume it's going to annoy alot of people. It seems to me, when they decided they're going down this route, game developers didn't ask themselves one of the most important questions in game design: "is this feature fun?" Loading screens are not fun, I agree with them on that, but that's more of a hardware limitation, which should get straighten out when the next generation of consoles come out.

Hmmm.. umm.. hmm..

Will play demo and decide...

Probably a purchase for me though

Turn off tips in the main menu and he stops piping up.

After a fair bit of digging found that offline the game is single player only. No split screen, no hotseat ... hence for me no fun and no sale. Big pile of cock.

What is it with racing games not allowing a retry of races? PGR4 had this same annoying feature in its career mode.

"There will not be a single screenshot of the game actually in play anywhere in the review."


Its a racing game.. what do you expect? Them to use actual in-game shots and not replay screenshots? :-)

Besides, we all know that gamers just play racing games to wank over the graphics - so the only reason to own a game like this is to watch the graphics on the replays while having a good hard hand shandy... Apparently


(erm.. for the hard of thinking.. kryon, etc.. i'm not being serious... Although after reading kelly_h's "I'm going to rent this just for the graphics." I'm not actually sure any more..)

Another thing worth noting about CRT play is the fonts are tiny.

There will not be a single screenshot of the game actually in play anywhere in the review.

Am I right?

Well done. Plenty of links to gameplay videos though.

@krudster

How often did you use or have to use the map?

Not all that much - because of the way the roads intertwine and overlay one another, it's not always that useful. I think the best way to get any good at the game is trial and error and simply memorising it. Luckily it's not that big a city, so after 4 or 5 hours you really start to get a feel for certain areas.