Burnout Paradise (Xbox 360, 2008)

If you played and enjoyed the past Burnout games, then you may want to rent this one first. Burnout Paradise is a very different experience than its predecessors. If you don't like it at first, give it another chance. When I first picked this game up, I hated it for the first 20 or so minutes. But after a while, I got used to it and now I consider it to be a great racing game.
One very new feature which could take some getting used to is the open world gameplay. Unlike all the other Burnout titles, this one does not have a menu where you select races or enter events. Instead, you are placed in a completely traversable city which you must explore to "find" events. This isn't a difficult task, however, since every intersection in the game provides a new event. When you choose to enter a race or any other type of contest, you begin immediately with nothing more than a quick briefing about the route. There are no loading times or waiting around to choose your car (you do that at the Junkyards located around the town). Unfortunately, though, these new open world races take some getting used to. Since the environment is left totally accessible, you will often have to make your own way to the finish line. There are no glowing arrow "walls" to guide you this time. Instead, you get a map and a compass that points you in the right direction, and suddenly this racing game is now one half driving and the other half navigating. You'd think some of these highly decked-out cars would include a GPS or something, but it's all left up to you. Also, this means that whether or not you win the race, you will end up at the finish line and you'll have to make your way back to where you started from if you want to retry. And with the lack of there being a way to keep track of your travel, this can lead to a lot of frustration.
Burnout Paradise does not include the series' famous Crash mode. Instead, the game invites you to turn any ordinary traffic accident into an all-out pile up mini game. You have the option to initiate "Showtime" mode, which puts your crash into slow motion and allows you to direct your flying chunk of metal into the next big group of cars, similar to the "Aftertouch" feature in some of the previous titles.
I haven't been able to try the online mode yet, so it would be best to find a different review if you're interested in the LIVE aspect of Burnout Paradise.

To sum it up, Burnout Paradise is a very different game from its predecessors, but if you want something new out of the series and you like games with open world environments (GTA games), then you will probably like this game, too.

Graham :)

The game burnout paradise starts out really fun and easy. Then you start to notice that the map is almost impossible to understand, and if you look at it for just a second while drive you will crash. The selection of views are very annoying, you are either in the car are right on the bumper. Either way it hard to see especially when driving fast. Don't even think about winning a bunch of races and stunt missions until you have memorized every street, building, ramp, shortcut, and jump in the city. The best way to upgrade your license is to do marked man, road rage, and burning routes. This will work until you get a class A license. The game also starts to lose its fun once you get your B license. The level of difficulty increases dramatically and the games sound track and DJ start to get really annoying.

The good thing is the game is 100% free roam, there are about 76 cars to win(by the way stunt and aggression cars are the best), and you can choose to do any mission whenever you want and you can stop that mission whenever you want just by stopping your car for a few seconds. If you lose the mission you don't have to do it again you can just drive around or do another mission. But if you lose and you do want to do it again you have to turn around and drive about 5-6 miles just to get back to that missions start point. But the graphics are good, the animation is good, and every car does drive different.

And just so you know the game does not really teach or show you how to do anything. But if you do something important than the games DJ will tell you what you did after you figured it out by yourself. I went online to find out what I had to do a lot since there is very little instructions.

Warning: Don't play this game for more than 5 hours or your eyes will explode.
(Not to be taken literally)

Ive been playing on my xbox all the burnout series up to the revenge which is on both systems 360 and orginal xbox have that title but I just been waiting to get some money to buy the system to enjoy this title and its everything I wanted in a burnout title. Now in 360 I can create my own music playlist from my computer networking to my other pc I can play mp3 off my pc. But the music and DJ in game is awsome and then the multiplayer games that you get with game are cool you can meet other players online and do challenges beat your other 360 users for best jumps,barrel rolls spins, air time ,burnouts best boost times Play the single player and go to the intersections to find races,burning lap , road rage , stunt challenges with time limit to meet a certain win score , and u get to win new cars as you get new licences.

Burnout Paradise, as the previous in the series, is an awesome racing game to play. The city is big and the different events are fun.

I like that the revenge events are more reasonable in difficulty than in Burnout Revenge where it was nearly impossible to take out the other cars.

I am having a blast jumping through the billboards, over the super jumps, and generally driving around.

If you haven't gone down the railroad tracks you are missing one of the most fun features of the game. The bridges that have the drop down track in the middle are like driving your car on a roller coaster!

There are a couple of things I am not so wild about, but none are "game killers".

1. The mini-map is too small. Maybe it is just me, but by the time I look at the map, I have crashed.

2. The different modes have to many different ways to access. It would have been easier if all of the events at a corner - Time record for the St., race type, crash total, etc. were just in a list that you could click on which one you wanted to try. The location of the "regular" race type for the corner is OK, placed over the mini-map, but it could have just been longer, listing the different option for an intersection.

3. Having to exit the junkyard to fix your new car and then going right back to the junkyard to change the paint or finish. Why? Why not also have a fix option there or use a garage instead of a junkyard? OR, why not be able to fix and change your paint at the auto repair if you are not in the middle of a race? (Note: I do love being able to run through the auto repair and boost/gas stations during a race though...)

Overall, I really love playing this game. If you want to just drive around jumping stuff and trying out the dirt track, and other "mini-race" areas you can. Or, if you want to spend a few hours beating all of the races and upgrading your license you can do that too.

I would give the game an 8.5 out of a ten and highly recommend it for all "non-realistic" racing game lovers!

"Techie" Teri
(Xbox Live: Rdy2Run)

This is a game of true excellence. The gameplay is very new for the Burnout company, but they took a shot and were really accurate on the dartboard. People complain of the lack of customization, but that's actually the best part! On Need For Speed you customize a car so it's perfect just like all the others. Having a perfect car is screwed and flaws present an even bigger challenge. Unfortunately, the challenge of this game is not one to be the greatest. I am a great racer and halfway to an Elite License(The "I beat the game" mark) but I know that there are better racers out there. The challenge is great (My friend barely got an A License=not that far) and can barely get any farther. I must say the 3 new classes are also great, and the fact any car can compete in any competition. People also of the same tracks. When you come back to it with a new car and new competition, it is a new track, and this method lets you "get in the know" with the city. All else i can say is, I salute you, Burnout, your game is the racer of the future. I hope to see sequels. So, Burnout, do not let us, the players of America, down...