Take me home to the Paradise City (Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box (PS3))

Member Name: Phantom_Wombat

Product:	Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box (PS3)
Date:	28/04/09 (77 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The free run of a huge city in some very flash cars.

Disadvantages: The bike experience isn't quite there. Other driving games offer more variety.

== Introduction ==

Burnout Paradise was one of last year's big hits; the latest in the long running Burnout series it expanded on its largely track-based predecessors to give you a whole city - free of any distractions like police or pedestrians - to drive around in with plenty of other cars to race, dodge, or crash into. Whilst the latter is usually seen as a bad thing that you're penalized for in other games, the Burnout series turned that on its head here and comes positively rewarded. This Ultimate Box packages up the original game with the downloadable content of Bikes and Party into a single game.


== Gameplay ==

Playing the game can be as simple as freely driving around the city and exploring it's nooks and crannies if you want to be. To spice things up a bit there are numerous events that take range from straight races to avoiding or actively trying to damage as many cars as you want to. The latter is what gives the game its reputation and you can rack up some horrendous bills; if you've ever wondered why your car insurance comes with a limit of a few million pounds for third party claims this game might give you a little insight as to why.


There are a huge variety of cars you can choose; nothing quite out of the real world although a few resemblances relatively easy to spot. The main thing though is that each car is modeled for deformable damage; a glancing blow against a wall will leave you with a dent but slam into another car head on and your car will crumple up badly. As such, the knack to the game is inflicting as much damage onto other cars as you can without taking too much of your own; you can do this by ramming them into the scenery or causing them to spin out, for instance.


Driving about the city has a downside though; it's hard work racing with only a small moving map at the bottom of the screen to guide you, and you'll really need to put some time in learning things at street level to get the most out of the game, which might disappoint more casual players. Only meticulous preparation will win you races, and it pays to do them time and time again to get it right.


As is the usual with driving games these days, there's also an online mode andBurnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box (PS3) this is where the game really comes alive as up to eight can battle it out together with also Freeburn Online, an ongoing sandbox mode. Sadly it's missing the two player mode of the earlier Burnout games though, which allowed two players to duel away at the one console, which takes the edge off a bit.


The added content in the Ultimate Box mostly consists of free updates. There are a few bug fixes and there's a bikes pack that sounds interesting but doesn't totally work; they're very fragile and don't take much crash damage which might be realistic but rather works against the ethos of the game. They can go into a few places that cars won't though and an added set of events try to exploit this. With rather more to it is the Party Pack which offers a huge bundle of single player missions and also redresses the balance of a lack of multiplayer with some new events that allow up to eight to compete at a single console, albeit by handing over the controller rather than all at once.


== Graphics & Sound ==

Graphically, it's great, but then again racing games need to be these days. All the cars and Paradise City itself, however, is beautifully rendered with a huge level of detail and the realistic damage modeling works very nicely with spectacular crashes from which your crumpled wreck might just manage to limp away if you're lucky. You can also watch them again in slow motion from a variety of camera angles. There's great audio effects too and a suitably rock and roll soundtrack including, you've guessed it, Guns n' Roses Paradise City.


== Longevity ==

There's a lot in here; just exploring the city will take you a few days and learning all its streets to the extent you can race through them without needing to consult the map at all would probably take a matter of months. Added replay value comes from the online modes and racers with obsessive compulsive disorder will find plenty of optimizing to do with the events. As such, it's more a game that you're going to want to buy to get the most out of rather than merely rent for a week or two.


== Overall ==

It's clear that a lot of effort has gone into the game and if you're prepared to put the time in to learn the city streets it'll be rewarded with a great experience. It's not quite up there with GTA IV in terms of mayhem or Forza Motorsport 2 in terms of realism. It's also something of a departure from previous Burnout games with the switch over to free play and that might alienate some old fans.


Still, it's got its own style to the gameplay and that's enough to make it well worth a look even if you've got a whole bunch of other racing games that you like; especially so, given the learning curve. If you're a hardcore racer you should consider adding this to your collection, but if you only one the one racing game this probably isn't it.

(Also posted on Ciao by Phantom_Wombat)

Summary: Well worth a look for hardcore racers