Review of: Burnout Paradise

Author: Joe Ruffini

Title: Burnout Paradise

Platform: Xbox 360/Playstation 3/PC

Genre: Racing

               

                The Burnout series has been around for a while. I remember playing the first one for the original Xbox.  It was wildly fun and addicting. You can do race after race after race after race without even realizing it. The style of the game has changed a lot. Rather than just selecting your race on a menu, it is an open world and you drive up to intersections that have a race option. They have added a few game types over the years, and new worlds and streets to race on. You have multiple race types to choose from. There are burning routes, marked man, race, road rage, stunt run, and road rules. To start a race you have to roll up to an intersection, and the race option will appear. You have the choice to select it or not. 

                Burning routes are a specific race for a specific car. If you finish the race before the allotted time, then you get a modified version of that car.  Marked man is when you have to get to a certain point and not get your car wrecked, which is kind of hard because there are 2 heavyweight cars that are trying to wreck you so you can’t finish. Then there is the classic race which is quite obvious as to what it is. Road rage is when you have to knock out a certain number of cars or else you lose. It’s pretty fun because you can just keep going and knocking out other cars and they just come right back for you to knock out. Stunt run is pretty self explanatory. You do stunts to get points. Who would have guessed? Lastly is the road rules basically a time trial. Finish before the time runs out.

                The controls of the game can be a little clunky and bogged down, but it still provides for a fun game. Oddly enough I found that you can’t really do good burnouts in this game. Which is strange because you would think in a game called Burnout, they would program some sweet ass burnouts. But all you can do as far as burnouts go are small little peel outs or a drift. But drifting doesn’t count. That’s something completely different. But overall I don’t really have much to complain about. It is a fun game to pass the time but I wouldn’t really suggest that someone must go out and get it. It is more of a rent game than anything. 

Graphics: B-

Sound: A

Gameplay: B-

Lasting Appeal: C

Overall: B-