Burnout Paradise turns the Burnout series on its head by moving from closed set tracks to an open world full of events to experience both alone and in a group online.
If you hadn't noticed already, summer is here and I'm already sweaty and uncomfortable. I'm honestly not a summer person, give me rainy chilled out thunderstorms anyday compared to this sort of weather. I'm well informed in knowing that the current heatwave is affecting many countries around the world, although we were rather lucky to get a couple of thunderstorms hit the area yesterday. Being the weirdo that I am, I stood outside getting soaked and feeling like a four year old kid again who had just experienced heavy rain for the first time. Anyway, onto the item of choice for this blog entry. It's fitting that with this heat, I discuss another sort of summer related topic in the form of paradise. But this being a videogame site, I am of course talking about Criterion Games ever popular Burnout: Paradise and my general dislike for the game.
Cops n Robbers, one of the only features of NFS I enjoyed. Now before I begin my rant, please don't hate on me for having such opinions. My ramble is mostly based on taste rather then flaws with the actual game, just keep that in mind before you leave a comment telling me I should shove a bookcase where the sun don't shine. Anyways, Burnout: Paradise is of course the latest incarnation of the thrilling Burnout franchise. Beginning it's days on the Playstation 2 with the original game, it grew to become one of the most adored arcade racers about and still one of the best experiences in videogames. While some might say that Paradise is infact the best the series as ever seen, I beg to differ. Without a doubt, the most well rounded and perfect Burnout game was of course Burnout: Takedown which I owned a copy of for the original Xbox console. Now we could argue which is better for hours upon hours, but despite my dislike for Paradise. Even I can see why folks love it so, and why the downloadable content continues to attract new gamers.
Now I wish to make clear that I don't hate Burnout: Paradise, I couldn't due to my fondness for the franchise as a whole. But I find it hard to enjoy, and when I do eventually start to get a degree of enjoyment from the game. Something I hate about the game rears it head to remind me why I could never feel at home in Paradise City. It's not helped by the fact that Criterion Games felt they needed to add many of the features I absolutely hated about the Need for Speed games, the city being one of the main reasons I dislike this game. For many of you, the city makes perfect sense and I wish I could feel the same. But I grew to love mastering the more linear tracks of the old Burnout games, and understanding where the best takedown areas of each track were. Of course one could argue that that is possible with Paradise, but I find the fact that I need to look at the map every couple of seconds just to make sure I'm taking the right turn infuriating.
The city as become a bigger issue for me, and I suspect it's me only as the game seems to be doing well sales wise. I hate having to drive to events, I hate the fact that the game features no crash mode (one of the greatest modes in videogame history) and I hate how the game features a song by Avril Lavigne. Ok, the last one is a little petty of me and past Burnout soundtracks have had a questionable track or two. But still, the fact that I really should adore everything about Paradise frustrates me when I know I have such a dislike for it. I enjoyed being able to simply select a track, a car and then go racing. I enjoyed finding a quick race online or joining a crash party with Burnout: Takedown, arguably the best in the series.friends on Xbox Live. It's true that Paradise does feature a rather solid online experience, and it's definatly one of the better aspects to the game. But still, it's just not the same is it. I've already realised that I'm coming across as quite the bitter gamer, and in some ways I am. I just loved everything about Burnout: Takedown and I can't help but feel that Criterion Games have added features that dampen the thrills and spills of older games.
I'm sure some of you will provide very worthy argument on why I should be more patient with Paradise, I do own the game and I have put in many hours with the game. But I would much rather stick in my copy of Burnout: Revenge or pick up the downloadable version of Takedown through Xbox Live then spend extra cash on downloadable content I know I probably won't enjoy. I could decide to not touch a Burnout game for a good five to six months and then return to Paradise, maybe I'll suddenly see why so many of you love playing it so. But even then, I'll probably end up playing Revenge and realising why I fell in love with the franchise in the first place. I didn't wish for this blog to be filled with a list of what I hate about the game, partly because I don't really hate it. I dislike it, and just pray that one day developers Criterion Games decide to develop a new Burnout game in the classic old style way. It'll probably never happen, but a man can dream can he not. But for now, I guess I have Revenge to feed my hunger for over the top arcade action.
What are your thoughts on the ever changing Burnout franchise?
To end this blog, I thought it would be nice if I took you back in time a little with the classic Burnout: Takedown intro (one of the few intros, I never actually skipped).
(Ah, the memories)
Thanks for Reading,
Joseph Bayliss (TrueEnglishGent) (Twitter: JosephBayliss)
If you hadn't noticed already, summer is here and I'm already sweaty and uncomfortable. I'm honestly not a summer person, give me rainy chilled out thunderstorms anyday compared to this sort of weather. I'm well informed in knowing that the current heatwave is affecting many countries around the world, although we were rather lucky to get a couple of thunderstorms hit the area yesterday. Being the weirdo that I am, I stood outside getting soaked and feeling like a four year old kid again who had just experienced heavy rain for the first time. Anyway, onto the item of choice for this blog entry. It's fitting that with this heat, I discuss another sort of summer related topic in the form of paradise. But this being a videogame site, I am of course talking about Criterion Games ever popular Burnout: Paradise and my general dislike for the game.
Cops n Robbers, one of the only features of NFS I enjoyed. Now before I begin my rant, please don't hate on me for having such opinions. My ramble is mostly based on taste rather then flaws with the actual game, just keep that in mind before you leave a comment telling me I should shove a bookcase where the sun don't shine. Anyways, Burnout: Paradise is of course the latest incarnation of the thrilling Burnout franchise. Beginning it's days on the Playstation 2 with the original game, it grew to become one of the most adored arcade racers about and still one of the best experiences in videogames. While some might say that Paradise is infact the best the series as ever seen, I beg to differ. Without a doubt, the most well rounded and perfect Burnout game was of course Burnout: Takedown which I owned a copy of for the original Xbox console. Now we could argue which is better for hours upon hours, but despite my dislike for Paradise. Even I can see why folks love it so, and why the downloadable content continues to attract new gamers.
Now I wish to make clear that I don't hate Burnout: Paradise, I couldn't due to my fondness for the franchise as a whole. But I find it hard to enjoy, and when I do eventually start to get a degree of enjoyment from the game. Something I hate about the game rears it head to remind me why I could never feel at home in Paradise City. It's not helped by the fact that Criterion Games felt they needed to add many of the features I absolutely hated about the Need for Speed games, the city being one of the main reasons I dislike this game. For many of you, the city makes perfect sense and I wish I could feel the same. But I grew to love mastering the more linear tracks of the old Burnout games, and understanding where the best takedown areas of each track were. Of course one could argue that that is possible with Paradise, but I find the fact that I need to look at the map every couple of seconds just to make sure I'm taking the right turn infuriating.
The city as become a bigger issue for me, and I suspect it's me only as the game seems to be doing well sales wise. I hate having to drive to events, I hate the fact that the game features no crash mode (one of the greatest modes in videogame history) and I hate how the game features a song by Avril Lavigne. Ok, the last one is a little petty of me and past Burnout soundtracks have had a questionable track or two. But still, the fact that I really should adore everything about Paradise frustrates me when I know I have such a dislike for it. I enjoyed being able to simply select a track, a car and then go racing. I enjoyed finding a quick race online or joining a crash party with Burnout: Takedown, arguably the best in the series.friends on Xbox Live. It's true that Paradise does feature a rather solid online experience, and it's definatly one of the better aspects to the game. But still, it's just not the same is it. I've already realised that I'm coming across as quite the bitter gamer, and in some ways I am. I just loved everything about Burnout: Takedown and I can't help but feel that Criterion Games have added features that dampen the thrills and spills of older games.
I'm sure some of you will provide very worthy argument on why I should be more patient with Paradise, I do own the game and I have put in many hours with the game. But I would much rather stick in my copy of Burnout: Revenge or pick up the downloadable version of Takedown through Xbox Live then spend extra cash on downloadable content I know I probably won't enjoy. I could decide to not touch a Burnout game for a good five to six months and then return to Paradise, maybe I'll suddenly see why so many of you love playing it so. But even then, I'll probably end up playing Revenge and realising why I fell in love with the franchise in the first place. I didn't wish for this blog to be filled with a list of what I hate about the game, partly because I don't really hate it. I dislike it, and just pray that one day developers Criterion Games decide to develop a new Burnout game in the classic old style way. It'll probably never happen, but a man can dream can he not. But for now, I guess I have Revenge to feed my hunger for over the top arcade action.
What are your thoughts on the ever changing Burnout franchise?
To end this blog, I thought it would be nice if I took you back in time a little with the classic Burnout: Takedown intro (one of the few intros, I never actually skipped).
(Ah, the memories)
Thanks for Reading,
Joseph Bayliss (TrueEnglishGent) (Twitter: JosephBayliss)
Yeah, I miss crash mode a lot. It was so great in its way of turning crashing into a puzzle. Showtime just isn't the same! It's just doesn't have much too it. All you do is go forward and hope for a bus to come. There's not a lot thought involved.
I love Paradise and put over eighty hours into it, but I also think Takedown was the best in the series.
I understand what you are saying and I really enjoyed Revenge, which was the first Burnout game that I played. I, however, really like Paradise better because I think it is a more fully realized game. With Revenge, at least, they really seemed to hamper you in the game by forcing you to go one way with some shortcuts but in Paradise you can choose your own way that is totally crazy and may not work but you never know until you try it. When I was going through the game, I always tried to find the quickest route on the map before the race so I would know which way to go to avoid the cars and it almost always allowed me to get ahead of everyone and win. I really also like the addition of the 'discoverables' of billboards, smashes and jumps because it helps to lengthen the game by serious amounts and I am still trying to finish all of them.
Like I said earlier, I understand your point but I, personally, think you are wrong and hopefully you can come to truly appreciate the awesomeness of Burnout Paradise.
My feelings on this game exactly. I find myself avoiding all modes bar takedown. Because apart from the mountain roads there is no actual racing or skill involved. Its just driving in a straight line trying not to hit things.
I miss the huge sweeping drifts. And like you say having to constantly check if you're making the right turn is infuriating and totally breaks up the action. And that's really it's selling point. Relentless balls to the wall action. It's a shame because it looks great and had so much potential. Fingers crossed for the next one.
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