So, I've been playing a lot of Burnout lately. I'm about 15 hours in, and I'm really impressed. I've always liked Burnout, but I built a PC this gen instead of buying a console. I had to wait for about a year to get Paradise, but I'm glad I did. I'm blown away by how many good things I can say about it. I'm too lazy to write a proper paragraph on it, so here's a quick checklist of stuff I really like so far.

• Really well optimized. This game looks fantastic on all settings and manages to run amazingly smooth. After having to avoid GTA4 and Saints Row 2, it's really refreshing to be able to play Burnout like it was meant to be played.  I'm glad they took a year to work on it, because they obviously wanted to get it done right.
• Looks beautiful. I do not usually care about graphics, but Burnout looks awesome. The sense of speed in this game is insane, and the crashes make me mess my pants in more ways than one. 
• Online. This is old news to the people who have been playing it on consoles for the past year, but the way they integrate online is sweet as hell. It takes no time at all to get into a game, and the transition between online and offline is so smooth, it is crazy. The first time I went online was by accident: that's how smooth it is. The online component has a lot of neat touches too. Like the fact that when you take someone down, it snaps a photo of them and shows it to you. Also, they save all those pictures so you can look at them later. I am actually considering getting a web cam just so I can flip people the bird when they take me down. I like how the multiplayer focuses on creating a social environment rather than a competetive one. I feel like this is a game where I can just hop online and screw around and have a great time.
• Immersion. The sense of speed is great, but what really blows me away is how much stuff there is to do. I'm 15 hours in, and only 30% completed. There's a ton more content to experience, and I have barely touched Bikes and Multiplayer. I usually have problems playing long single player games, but I think I'm down for however long this game wants to be.
• Overall attitude. I love how this game carries itself. I was worried about the open city, but what it does is give you a big playground to mess around in. If you really wanted to rush through the main content, you could just go around and complete all the events, but I find it plenty fun to just drive around and break stuff. I find myself actively searching out signs and fences to knock over. It feels really weird, because the whole completionist  thing doesn't really appeal to me most times, but for some reason I want to complete absolutely everything in this game.
• Showtime. I know, I know. There are a lot of people that hate Showtime mode because they feel like the old Crash mode was much better. That's purely subjective, and while I do wish there was a crash mode, I really like this mode. I'm gonna be blunt about this. It is easy. Mad easy. However, I think that's part of the point. You can use it whenever you want, and so where and when you choose is entirely up to you. What I mostly did was use it after losing a race. You know those races where you're in the lead for the majority of the event, and then you crash 20 feet from the finish line and go home with nothing but a 'you tried' trophy? These races can be frustrating, and nothing relieves frustration quite like killing the entire fucking world.

• Dj Atomika. This guy is a fucking douche. Even when you turn him off, he still shows up at the end of every race to give you helpful advice that usually runs along the lines of "Could you please suck less."
• No custom soundtracks. This seems like a strange omition. The Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 versions both sport this feature, but the PC version either doesn't have it, or I can't find it in the menu. This really isn't a big deal though. All you have to do is turn off the in-game music and run iTunes in the background.