Criterion's decision to depart from the tried and true formula that has made Burnout a popular series among gamers world wide was a gamble, a gamble that did and didn't pay off; depending who you ask. There are many series fans who dislike a lot of features Burnout Paradise brings and many that dislike the departure altogether. Then there is the group which include myself which enjoy everything Criterion has done to transform the series into something fresh and entertaining.
Burnout Paradise is an excellently made game, but your enjoyment of this title will largely rest on how much you enjoy the open-world sandbox environment. More specifically, you'll probably either love or hate the game based on your desire to explore the city. Make no mistake about it, the main competitor in Paradise City is the city itself rather than other drivers; though that experience will change once you hop online. Master the layout of the city and learn to navigate effectively without the map and your opponents in the single player game will fall before you. However you'll need to explore and spend some time in Paradise City to become familiar with its layout. Thankfully there is more than enough stuff to do offline that will get you there.
The single player component of Burnout Paradise consists of 120 events (accessed at each intersection in the city), which include Race's, Road Rage's, Marked Man's, Stunt Run's and Burning Routes, 64 Road Rules, 400 gates to smash through, 120 billboards to demolish, 50 super jumps to land, 60 awards to complete and Showtime; Crash Mode reborn, so to speak. All this content (minus the awards) is scattered throughout PC waiting to be found. On top of that there are over 80 cars to collect by progressing through your license, taking down rivals roaming the streets, completing Burning Routes and getting all the gate smashes, super jumps and billboards in the city. Once you have finished with the single player portion you can jump online to where the heart of Burnout Paradise lives.
Online multi-player in Burnout Paradise has a lot of competitive and cooperative content available for would-be gamers. Out of the box the game features 350 online Freeburn Challenges, consisting of 7 sets of 50; one each for player sets of 2/3/4/5/6/7/8. The game creator also has the ability to setup ranked or unranked races from any point on the map that can include a number of checkpoints along the way. As of July 2008 (PS3) and August 2008 (360), the Cagney update brought 70 new multi-part timed challenges (10 for each set of players 2-8) as well as online versions of popular single player events such as Marked Man, Road Rage and Stunt Run. Each of the online events offer a different take on the core concept behind the single player version. Online is a great experience with the sole exception of uncooperative players hampering or ruining the experience for others. Something one can overcome by building a trusty list of players you enjoy ripping up the streets with.
As of September 2008 Criterion has again updated Burnout Paradise with a chunk of new content focused around motorcycles, aptly named Burnout Bikes. This update offers a new license to complete with 20 new awards, 38 new events (Burning/Midnight Rides), new roads rules for motorcycles in day and night, 4 motorcycles, 70 new online challenges (regular and timed, with 5 for each player set 2-8), a day/night cycle that includes sunrise and sunset, plus a dynamic weather system featuring fog and haze. The update is pretty robust but it is not with out its problems (I'll stay away from nitpicking).
There is not enough definition between Burning Rides and Midnight Rides, other than one takes place during the day and one at night. Scattered throughout both are checkpoint based "against the clock" races that could have served as a defining characteristic for one or the other. Those events including checkpoints are a great deal more fun and can take you all over the city. However my real complaint is all the content is far too easy to complete. Almost everything to do is on some kind of timer, but the amount of time given is far too generous. There are a few other things like no crash sequence for motorcycles, but these are nitpicks that I won't get into. Burnout Bikes is an all-around great addition to Paradise that has seemingly been overlooked for one reason or another by a large segment of online users.
Burnout Paradise isn't without its faults, but if you truly enjoy the design of BP you'll likely find few things to complain about. Other than the dreadfully horrible EA (forced?) soundtrack and DJ Atomika. At $30 retail (and soon to be PSN available) one really cannot legitimately complain. Yes as I wrote earlier there will be those that dislike the direction Criterion took with BP, but that is preference of what a person likes and not a criticism of quality. Or at least it should not be. With the largest update yet schedule to go live before years' end, Burnout Paradise is an excitedly alive game that everyone really should check out. You may or may not like what is there, but not giving it a chance is a big loss.
