"Take me down to the Paradise City, aaannnddd I crashed again...": Some Thoughts On Burnout Paradise

My feelings towards this game are oddly mixed. 

Sometimes, it's one of the best racing games I've ever played with some of the best driving physics I've ever experienced. Other times however, Burnout Paradise becomes increasingly frustrating BECAUSE of its physics. Sometimes, you'll be driving a battered car along a cliff, fly off the edge of it, slam into an invisible wall - and still not crash at all. Then later, you'll be in that same car, fully healed and tuned up, lightly scrape against the edge of a car and get completely wrecked in an instant. In short, the unpredictability of the physics of this game is simultaneously one of the best and worst things about it. It can work in your favour one moment and be at your detriment the next. In all fairness though, it does keep the game exciting and, in turn, keeps you on your toes.

Graphically, the game is mostly nondescript - it's rather grey with toned down colours, for the most part. I suppose that makes sense for an industralised city like the one depicted in the game, but I think it still stands to reason that the game isn't really a feast for the eyes. It must be said however that some graphical effects, like the screen-shake when you accelerate faster and faster and then activate your boost, do a lot to enhance the feeling of speed and since this game is all about speed and going fast, that gets a big tick from me.

In terms of sound and music, the selection of licensed music on offer is greatly varied, and actually provides a surprising dynamic to Burnout Paradise - sometimes you'll be rocking out to Avril Lavigne's Girlfriend (Yeah, yeah, I know, I know...), flying through billboards and off ramps, smashing through fences...and then you'll be driving along solemnly to Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, giving the game an almost dream-like quality. It creates very unique and very different moment-to-moment gameplay experiences. Also, the sound effects are exquisite with throaty engine sounds packing a lot of punch, the squealing of tires and little details like the backfire from an exhaust pipe really help good racing games to set themselves apart from other run-of-the-mill racing games and I think they're fantastically well done here.

Speaking of moment-to-moment gameplay, the vast majority of your time spent with Burnout Paradise will be with the many missions dotted about at every intersection, which could be either a Race (Meh, kinda boring), Burning Routes (Eh, they're OK, I guess), Stunt Run (Ooh...), Marked Man (Ooh!), and my absolute favourite: Road Rage! Road Rage is where Burnout Paradise is at its best for me. With the high detail and aforementioned unpredictability of the physics, slamming cars off the road and watching them tumble end over end in delightfully over-the-top ways is seriously good fun and can potentially create fanciful scenarios in your head...well, at least it did for me (maybe you're in a Mission: Impossible film being chased by henchmen or something...while listening to Avril Lavigne).

There's also variation in the car types. There are three main ones: Race, Stunt, and Aggression cars. For me, the aggression cars are always the way to go: they're still fast, they do stunts pretty well and can also take one hell of a beating before completely wrecking. The others were far too prone to being smashed up for my liking, but nonetheless may suit a high risk, high reward play style...or maybe they're just for those people that want to go really, really, exceedingly fast...and then crumple into a wall at 300KM/h.

Overall: And that's really the meat and potatoes of Burnout Paradise: player freedom. I've ignored pretty much every race event and enjoyed all the others, because the game allows you to do that. Just pick the events you want to take part in and built up your license points, unlock more cars and just enjoy burning rubber around the streets of Paradise City. Though I do have to say that the core gameplay can be rather repetitious. After all, it's composed of only a handful of events which you will be playing in slightly different configurations many, many times. For that reason, it's a game I'd only want to play in short 1-2 hour sessions rather than playing for hours on end...otherwise, I'd think I'd burn out too quickly (heh heh).