Burnout’s latest installment of their racing series takes a hard turn into the sandbox world. With a whole new city to explore, there is plenty of room to get your fast paced, adrenaline pumping, and stunt driving madness fix. So get your boost finger ready and let’s go for a ride through Paradise City.
Overall: 8.8
Presentation: 9
This is not the first racing game to open up a city for a sandbox experience but BP does it well. With plenty of city to explore and races to run, the game does well to present plenty of variety to be had. The game combines the feel of Burnout that those familiar to the series will still have but with an added free roam Need For Speed type of environment.
Graphics: 8.5
The game looks top notch and even if you crash there is an enjoyment to watching the cinematics take place as your car parts go flying all over the road. For the most part though, most racing games do well on graphics but with BP the detail to the city will leave you gawking with every turn. With the lack of any evidence of actual humans in the game, it gives it a city run by cars feel which is rather lame.
Sound: 9
The sound quality is top notch. With the engine shifting gears, the squeeling of tires, and the crunching of metal, the sound quality adds to getting the heart racing as you avoid the traffic of the city. The soundtrack is well picked for the most part with the exception of Avril Lavigne’s “Hey Hey, You You, I don’t like your girfriend” nonsense which sticks out like a Prius in a Nascar race. Seriously, who decided that one?!?
Gameplay: 8.5
Pure fun! If you are a fan of the Burnout series, expect more of the same fast-paced fun you are used to. You’ll also find yourself taking advantage of the sandbox environment alot of the time instead of always doing races. The online feature is another added bonus where you can work with other drivers to fulfill challenges, race, do takedowns, or just chat while you drive around the city looking for gates and billboards to smash, etc. A couple of annoyances about the game are glaring though. For one, if you do not place 1st in a race then you have to travel all the way back to the beginning to do it again. Plus, it can become quite frustrating how easy it is to take a wrong turn in a race because of your dependence on a small GPS map that shows you where to go, yes you are racing through a crowded city at amazing speeds but you have to keep taking your eyes off the road to see the layout of the race…insane.
Replay Value: 9
There is so much to do in this game that it can be overwhelming in the beginning. There is definately replay value to the game especially if you have friends who own the game too. The challenges and achievements will take a good bit of time but more enjoyment will come from smashing a friend’s car into a wall or incoming traffic.
If you are a Burnout fan, this game is worth a buy. If you are an arcade style racing fan, give it a try by rent before you decide for yourself if it’s worth a purchase. But overall, this game is definately worth playing.
Tags: Reviews
Do it, do it! I am not a huge race game fan either, but Paradise is a really fun game because if you get bored you can always smash cars up. And there’s something about firing the game up and hearing that first riff of Paradise City,
how bout a burnout night since some of us have it now?
I ran out and grabbed this over Christmas, and have not been disappointed at all! Great title!
I’ve been interested in this title for a bit. I am also not the biggest racing fan, but I am a fan of the Gran Turismo series and enjoyed Burnout 2.
I hear this game is pretty sweet and I almost want to buy it just to support the developer, since it seems they really give back with quality, free, DLC.
I enjoy all the other aspects of BP more so than the actual racing. Doing challenges online together is rather sweet.
We could do a Burnout night this Friday if there is enough interest.
In retrospect, this is probably a game I didn’t give enough time to get the hang of. I was such a fan of the old school Burnouts, that the whole open world idea turned me off. I had it for PS3, but if I can find it cheap, and enough members are playing, I’ll give it another shot on 360.
i should be on friday tocks. verkk has the game so he’ll be happy if we get a bp gamernight
I just got it too. Fun fun. Worth the $30. I think I can play Friday.
Thanks for good info