Burnout Paradise

[Archon]

Burnout Paradise is currently available for download from the PlayStation Store for fifteen bucks. Considering how difficult a physical copy is to find (Amazon's selling for $30 + shipping, GameStop is clean out), would anyone recommend this purchase? The demo is no longer available so I cannot try the game for myself.

I owned Burnout 3 on PS2. It was only entertaining for a short while. Once I earned the fastest class of cars, the slower models felt just that - slow. The courses were straight forward checkpoint races based on continuously boosting. No knowledge of cornering or driving was required; just boosting and throwing the handbrake to drift around corners. The game had more to do with not crashing head-on with traffic than properly driving. Crash mode was awesome, but that was a puzzle game entirely separate from the main racing game. How has Burnout Paradise changed from the PS2 iterations of the series? Does the open-world environment lead to properly designed "courses?"

What makes Wipeout HD my favorite racing game is that it requires proper technique equivalent to an accurate driving simulator while maintaining the unrealistic exhilaration of hurtling through open air offered only in video games. Is Burnout Paradise a skill-demanding racing game, or is it merely a drift program offering mild and short-lived amusement?

[infoxicated]

Burnout Paradise is well worth picking up as a budget title.

Can't actually believe it's four and a half years old - I remember picking this up on launch day!

I played it through until I'd got my Burnout License, and then they released the patch that put trophies in the game so I started it again and eventually grew tired of the grind to work through the licenses again.

The trouble is, the way the mechanics of progression work can be a pain if you're on the far left of the map and you need to start a race that's on the far right to progress. It can mean a lot of driving about to get about, as there's no location skip and you can't restart an event you're already in if you're miles behind - you can only quit it.

Don't let that put you off, though - there's loads to do at the start of each license level and it's only towards the final few events to progress that things end up being a bit spread out. The car handling is great and it was such a good looking game when it launched that it stands the test of time well. :)