Burnout Paradise brings some well made changes to the series.
Burnout Paradise is the fifth game in the highly acclaimed Burnout series by Criterion Games and Electronic Arts. The game was released on January 22, 2008, and is in my opinion the best Burnout game to date! Burnout Paradise makes many changes from the past series titles, with free roam being the most noticeable change. The same down and dirty racing style that we've all come to know and love is back and better than before as well!
Burnout Paradise's single player mode takes place in the fictional (yet almost real) Paradise City; a tropical environment with countless places to setup your opponents for destruction! At first the city will probably seem overwhelming, but after a while every shortcut and superjump is easy to remember. There are many collectables around Paradise City, including super jumps (50), smashes (400), and billboards (120). Discovering all of each of these collectables will unlock you new and stylish cars. Race events around the city are easy to find too. At almost every intersection an event can be found. Events include Burning Route, Stunt Run, Marked Man, Road Rage, and the classic Race mode. To activate these events you must simply do a burnout (how clever!) at the intersection. A few seconds later the event will start, after giving you your goal score for the event or destination you must reach. After beating a certain number of events you'll get your driver's license upgraded, re-unlocking every event again. You'll start out with your learner's permit, and over time you'll advance to D, C, B, A, Burnout, and then Burnout Elite licenses.
Burnout Paradise's online is redesigned this year, bringing new challenges (literally) and fun. Burnout Paradise online features up to 8 players. In free roam online you can mess around with your friends crashing eachother, or you can do up to 320 challenges after the Cagney software update releases this August. Challenges include meeting up at a certain destination; using boost or jumping a certain distance, and many more objectives. Online you can also setup a traditional race, or coming soon Marked Man, Stunt Run, or Road Rage match. The options are limitless in Burnout Paradise online.
Burnout Paradise adds more realism than it's predecessors, by implementing a slow motion crash cam as well as more detailed and realistic crashes. The game also adds realism by having the car's body shift forward during braking as a result of the wieght, and shift back during acceleration. The game's soundtrack also features the classic 'Paradise City' by Guns n'Roses, 'Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast' by Airbourne.
Overall, Burnout Paradise is by far the best game in the Burnout series, even with the big changes made in it compared to previous games in the series, that without a doubt pay off. I recommend this game to any long time fan of the Burnout series, or anyone who enjoys racing games in general.
