Overview
Burnout Paradise is a worthy addition to the Burnout Franchise, they key difference is that it's a far more open ended wander around town to find events game rather than just a list of events like past Burnout Games. It's a fast and furious Playstation 3 racing action game that I highly recommend. This game has also been released for the PC and XBox 360 but I haven't played these versions.

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Review
The burnout series of games were always based on high speed arcade style racing - if you're after a simulator this is not the game for you. They have added features like crash mode where you cause an accident with as much damage as possible and races where your objectives include taking down other cars in various and interesting ways.

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Burnout Paradise changes the experience, the previous games were basically lists of events - races, crashes, takedown races, burning route, etc. In this game you drive around the city looking for fun things to do - you can unlock significant parts of the game, like super jumps, billboards, etc without ever taking part in an event.

Another important factor is the tutorial system, it's one of the best going around - it guides you in how to play and what to look for without nagging or limiting your options.

One niggle is that the game is really easy early on - you'll find yourself completing every event first time until you have progressed significantly in the game - after that it gets harder and from that point on the difficulty curve is about right.

When you're driving around the city you start to realise that it looks REALLY good, this is one of the games on the PS3 that is graphically impressive and makes a good demo of what the system can do.

There are various events around town and you find them by cruising up to an intersection at which point if you spin your wheels, you start the event. Races, stunt runs, marked man, road rage races there is a good variety of events to compete in and they are all fun in their own way.

In addition to this each stretch of road has it's own time and showtime record - showtime is the replacement for Crash mode and it's a different animal entirely, your car virtually stops and you have to bounce it along the road and collide with as many other vehicles as possible, buses give you multipliers and it's a strange mode - sometimes it feels like a boring grind and sometimes it's a tense enjoyable "how long can I keep this going?" experience.

There are 75 unlockable cars in the game and you unlock them by completing various objectives and then, in most cases, they go flying past you while you're driving around the city and you have to chase them and take them down to earn them! It's as much fun as it sounds. There is also an unlockable souped up version of most of these cars which you unlock by doing a burning run specifically for that car.

One definite downside for me is that there is no local multiplayer in the game - there is a party mode DLC you have to pay for coming out (or it may have just come out) but initial reviews of that indicate that it's not as much fun as the original burnout games were on the PS2 playing split screen with your mates.

One huge upside is that the PSN multiplayer is awesome - there are a stack of trophies based on doing various things with friends online, the system for interacting with others is one of the best implementations I've seen on the PS3.

This game is available as a PSN download - and there's an upcoming version which includes a whole stack of DLC. This is also a frequently updated game and it can be a little frustrating to have to wait for a 350mb download before you can play! But on the plus side you get improvements to the game like motorcycles and the ability to restart an event without driving back to the intersection (which wasn't in the original game). It has been a well supported game with a stack of free content added to it as well as the DLC you have to pay for.

Score

Rating: A-

Good
- Excellent arcade style racing.
- Open city environment looks great and is a new way to get your burnout kicks.
- Great PSN multiplayer implementation.

Good&Bad
- Frequently updated game but the download wait can be frustrating.
- Showtime Mode.

Bad
- No offline multi-player.
- No crash mode.
- Too easy at the start.

Supported Resolutions
720p, 1080i (HDTV)
480p/576p (EDTV)
480i/576i (SDTV)

Mr Staypuft
Old School Gamer

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