My Burnout Paradise Review

Being a huge fan of the Burnout series, I was super excited about this game, but for some reason, didn't buy it until it dropped in price. I heard mixed reactions on this game, but I'm always one to make my own decisions. This Burnout is very different than the other titles in this series.

First off, the game is set in an open world. No more menus to choose your races, you are able to start an event at any intersection in the game. It's a great way to familiarize yourself with the map and know the ins and outs of each shortcut. And a lot of shortcuts there are. You will find yourself looking for every single shortcut, smashes, billboards, and super jumps in this game (Or maybe just me, because I'm an achievement whore). The graphics are amazing in detail, and the controls are very smooth. This doesn't mean that I have a few gripes about this game though.

There is no retry option if you fail a race, so if that race took you to the other side of the map, you now have to drive all the way back to do it again. It's not too bad until you are almost finished with the game; thats when it starts to become a pain. They replaced the Crash Events from previous games to a new mode called Showtime. On any street you can activate this mode to start bouncing up and down the street, crashing into cars until your boost meter runs out. Personally, while this mode is fun, it doesn't compare to the old Crash Events found in the other Burnout's. And then there is DJ Atomica, the voice in the game that randomly tells you how you are doing. It's a feature I wish that could be turned off, cause he starts to get really annoying.

Overall, this is a great game to pick up, and at $30 brand new, I believe it's a must buy. But there will be some fans of the series that will be turned off by the drastic change in this series. Maybe a demo or rent is in line first if you are not sure.