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The latest instalment in Criterion’s BurnOut
franchise has arrived. BurnOut Paradise launches in the UK on
Xbox360 and PLAYSTATION3 today, and has quite a reputation to
live-up to. With each subsequent
 release upping-the-ante on the
crazed driving mechanics, speed and graphical fidelity, to succeed,
BurnOut Paradise has not only to overcome these obstacles,
creating a truly Current-Generation experience, but also compete
against the likes of
Project Gotham Racing 4 and ATARI’s Test Drive: Unlimited.
You may think that launching a such a big profile game exactly one
month after the retail hell of Christmas may be a bad idea, but
given the fact that it’s the only release on it’s two host
formats this week, and you can probably see where EA’s thinking
lies.
BurnOut Paradise changes the formula of the
series somewhat drastically. New gameplay modes and vehicles are a
given, but reinventing BurnOut’s wheel has obviously been
deemed necessary by the developers. And it’s a double-edged sword.
Instead featuring a League System as featured in previous releases,
BurnOut Paradise thrusts the player into an open-world HUB
system akin to Test Drive: Unlimited or
Midnight Club,
in which the player can select any Event of their choosing. Each and
every junction on the HUB holds an Event, which the player can
access by stopping at the lights and holding both the L Trigger and
R Trigger. Events range from Point-To-Point Races, Marked Man (in
which the player must safely make it to the designated destination
without being destroyed by pursuers) and Road Rage (a specified
number of Takedowns is required), and each completed adds a win to
your Driver Licence.
This Driver Licence is the essence of the game. When
starting-out, much time will be spent simply driving through the
streets looking for winnable Events in order to unlock better
vehicles and progress through the ranks of Driver Licence; it’s not
til an A Rank is achieved and the player is tasked with completing
all one hundred and twenty Events that the game truly opens-up.
The HUB however, is simply not as well refined as that
of
Test Drive: Unlimited. While being intricately designed
and infinitely more visually appealing than Test Drive: Unlimited’s
sun-stroked vistas, there’s often a distinct
 feeling that much of
the HUB wasn’t created for such unbalanced racing as that seen in
the BurnOut series, and the increased amount of freedom is
here the title’s undoing. Put simply, the thrills the series has
offered in the past have come from racing towards oncoming traffic
at breakneck speeds, weaving past opponents and drifting into first
on tight corners, and while BurnOut Paradise does feature
these moments, they slide into a second place behind the feel of
freedom, and sees the game shuffling back alongside its’
competition. If saying that BurnOut 3: Takedown was the
developers shifting ideas as opposed to selling-out, it would be
hard to accuse them of doing so by allowing the game to become so
open-ended; however it would be quite easy to criticise them for
giving in to a current fad. There is no ability to jump across the
HUB – even to previously visited locations – no restarts for Events
and no Quit option. The A.I. opponents will often take the most
direct route every time; whether you know that route or not and with
little-to-no indication of where is best to travel, Crash Sequences
cannot be skipped and often run for just long enough for you to lose
your momentum and passing cars can often completely disappear –
whether in the background or within imminent impact.
The Crash Junctions have become a BurnOut staple
since becoming so popular in the series high-point, BurnOut 2:
Point Of Impact, and have also received somewhat of a facelift
here in BurnOut Paradise. Instead of being a separate option,
the player simply selects the mode
 by pressing Up on the D-Pad and
then presses LB and RB to execute. Every road in the game has its’
own High Score, and must be beaten by causing as much damage to
cars, signs and buses (which add a multiplier) as possible before
hitting the ground standing. The player also has the limited ability
of bouncing their vehicle back into the air for some time; meaning
the scores can be achieved across quite a distance. This is where
the titles added freedom is a gift, and quite significantly; there’s
no Loading Times for the transition.
BurnOut Paradise retains the series reputation
for excellent visuals. A highly detailed world in which minimal
glitches occur, and locations are easily recognisable, cars glisten
and impacts cause gut-wrenching crumple effects. The lack of any
drivers in the vehicle upon impact – presumably to keep the title’s
PEGI Classification at 3+ - can be somewhat eerie, but is
forgivable. The sound quality is equally well balanced, with
perfectly pitched metal-on-metal effects and the usual selection of
EA Trax.
BurnOut Paradise is a confusing game. The
developers may have been right to want to give the player freedom;
but here, there is clearly too much. The title is less like a
virtual playground as opposed to a jigsaw in which the player is
asked to put together far too many of the pieces. While being every
boy-racers’ dream, fans of the series may turn away immediately when
realising how drastic the change is.
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