PS3 Review – Burnout Paradise
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The title Burnout Paradise came out in January 2008 and was quickly accepted as one of the best racers so far this generation. Not only did it provide the intense 60FPS racing experience that Burnout fans have come to love, but it also provided some new direction as well. It’s been over a year now, and the game has not only gotten new DLC, but it has also become a downloadable game on the PlayStation Store at the price of only $19.99.
At its core, Burnout Paradise is a traditional arcade racing game. You can expect to drive your car at insanely fast speeds, launch off dozens of jumps, and crash frequently. It’s from there though that the similarities quickly vanish. Burnout Paradise is one of the few racing games to feature a fully rendered sandbox environment. From the very beginning, you are allowed to drive up to any of the game’s hundreds of intersections and hold down both the throttle and brake buttons simultaneously to enter an event. There is a traditional race mode, a stunt mode, several crash related modes as well as an individual race designated to every car. Unfortunately, the crash related modes become boring quite quickly, but the trick and racing modes seem to never get old.
The sandbox environment and intersection concept are very interesting and create a dynamic and non-linear racing experience. The first thing worth pointing out is that all races end at one of 8 points of the map. Due to this you’ll find yourself driving on a few of the roads in every race, and unless you miss a turn, you will likely avoid many of the game’s roads. However, the city is very large and varied, so this never really poses a problem. One very noticeable thing about the game is that it sports full damage modeling. When your car crashes in Burnout Paradise, the car reacts very similarly to how a car really would. After a crash, as long as your chassis is still intact, you are able to drive away from the crash. The high-speed racing and damage modeling make for a terrific fast-paced racer.
Inputs in Burnout Paradise are very responsive, and each car has a unique handling model. Some of the heavier cars are very slow to turn, but on the plus side are very durable. However, some of the faster cars with low durability contain some of the best handling in any racing game to date. Racing is as simple as using R2 to accelerate and L2 to brake/reverse, but learning to drift around corners takes some practice. This is a Burnout game, so expect to spend a lot of time navigating tight turns while racing at ludicrous speeds. Thankfully, the controls are spot-on, so with a bit of practice you’ll be flying around corners like never seen before.
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20 Responses to “PS3 Review – Burnout Paradise”
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September 9th, 2009 at 9:35 PM
Great timing, just last night I started thinking about getting this. Thanks!
September 9th, 2009 at 9:45 PM
Get it! It’s absolutely amazing and fun-filled!
September 9th, 2009 at 9:56 PM
it is a good game and amazingly enough it’s doing a great job of producing content a year after it’s release
September 9th, 2009 at 10:15 PM
@BlingOnMyWrist
I’m not much of a racing fan, but after playing Burnout Takedown, yeah, I have to get this.
September 9th, 2009 at 10:33 PM
An incredible game, incredibly supported by Criterion. By it cheap, and support them by purchasing all DLC. You won’t be sorry.
September 9th, 2009 at 10:55 PM
Great review. I have it and it’s so worth it.
Just one thing…you hardly talked about online! That’s where this game shines. There are over 400 challenges!! It is an absolute blast to play online.
September 9th, 2009 at 11:28 PM
this is by far my favorite racing game ever…..big surf island was well worth the 14 dollars too……i strongly suggest getting this game
September 9th, 2009 at 11:45 PM
Umm.. took a bit long to review this game huh?
09/10/2009 at 10:05 AM
Sometimes games get overlooked and this game was released before PSLS was even around, so better late then never.
September 10th, 2009 at 1:43 AM
I also wanted to call attention to the DLC and overall support Criterion has done with Paradise. Simply put, Criterion wrote the book on how to properly implement DLC. That book is called Burnout Paradise.
If you decide to purchase Burnout Paradise please buy it new at retail or via PSN and XBLA instead of saving a buck by purchasing a used copy. Criterion Games earned it.
September 10th, 2009 at 5:06 AM
@Mitch Cumstein
That’s the plan. You can’t beat the convenience of having games right there on the hard drive.
September 10th, 2009 at 7:49 AM
Ordered this game a week ago, hoping it will arive today!
Amazing serie and I can’t wait to go out and play this game!
September 10th, 2009 at 8:33 AM
Owned this game since release and still play it all the time. Anyone wants to play online hit me up – PSN ID same as here. By the way, yeah the announcer is annoying but this game is also one of the few that actually allows you to use the music on your hardrive…. soooooo crank up the tunes and turn down the sound effects and you won’t hear the announcer. If you do it right you can still hear most of the other sounds that matter like your engine and you crashing.
September 10th, 2009 at 9:17 AM
2008 GOY in my opinion. Dev of the year also. The game was already great when it was released. Criterion added al type of FREE DLC to make it even better. you can spend months playing this and NOT have to download the priced DLC. This is the way gaming should be
September 10th, 2009 at 10:11 AM
I agree with the review. It’s one amazing game.
September 10th, 2009 at 10:57 AM
To anyone who is even remotely considering this game, I say get it. I am not even a fan of racing games and I love it.
September 10th, 2009 at 12:15 PM
agree, one of my favorite games. the motorcycles are great too, go buy it if you don’t know what I’m talking about.
September 10th, 2009 at 2:55 PM
Nice review… I ought to get back into theat game and get my $’s worth.
September 10th, 2009 at 4:22 PM
1 question , How does the Delorean drive?
November 3rd, 2009 at 9:41 PM
@R2D2^^
didnt you have the game? its free.. unless you DONT own the game.
the game has alot of replay value but the game is from 2008 late review.
December 3rd, 2009 at 8:46 PM
Luckiky this is on the Dead Space(tm) disk, otherwise I would have never played this (or BF:BC 1)