Burnout burns Paradise on the PS3

"Honey I blew up our son's Hot-Wheels "


Burnout Paradise is the latest installment to the Burnout series which also mark's the game's debut into the two next-gen consoles, the X box 360 and the PS3. This review is intended for the Ps3 version though I doubt there would be any difference in the x 360 version as well.

Let's face it, when you think and come to know the game that is "Burnout", all thoughts and knowledge of regular racing games goes out the window. The only probable similarity that this game shares to the racing genre is that you actually need to win races to progress and get License Upgrades for better cars. However,Criterion has managed to change even that aspect of the game.Further shrouding Burnout's existence as a racing game. You are required to get only ONE placing in the races to progress.That is Number 1,Champion,Winner,Numero Uno. That right,you get zilch if you come in a race in anything but a number 1 placing.

When I first started out Burnout Paradise on my Ps3,the first thign that struck me was the abrupt dumping of you behind the wheels of a crappy beat up car. No intros,no guides, nothing. You sit in the car, (or at least control it) and an overhead voice claiming himself as "DJ Atomica" from Paradise City's "Crash FM" tells you what to do to start off. He tells you to go from where you are,to the nearest Auto Repair shop to get your car fixed up.Thats about it. You only hear more from him when you actually stumble upon a race point,burning route,stunt race point,etc.

Here you go driving and you stumble on to this point and the words "Start race" appear on your screen.You go ," Hmmm,what's this?" and your FM radio suddenly booms up and says "Oh thats a race start area" . Thanks Einstein like I didn't know that already.I don't really believe Dj Atomica's a radio DJ. the guy's gotta be spying on you 24/7 if he can perk up with advice and taunts at the exact time something bad befalls you or your car.

Anyways,conspiracies aside, Burnout Paradise features quite a number of events you can perform aside from the regular race that you do against other CPU opponents.I have to say my favorite would be the Stunt runs. Where you are required to perform stunts with your car and gain points by doing barrel rolls and super jumps. Get enough points by the end of the time limit and you are rewarded with a win on to your license.

Get enough wins,your license will be upgraded,allowing you access to better cars and so on. Online play pits you against up to 15 other players in a single race and you can race,slam,take down,and smash your opponent's cars to your heart's desire.Just be sure not to get smashed back.That's not the point of the game.

The only way this game could be any better than it already is,is to include in split screen multiplayer so you don't have to have an internet connection to smash another human being at the game.Lets just hope Criterion will think about that when they release the next game.