Burnout 3: Takedown was without a doubt the previous peak of the Burnout series. Burnout Paradise blows it out of the water. Completely abandoning the setup of the previous game's races, Paradise features a totally open world in which you simply pull up to intersections to begin races. The game's core mechanics remain, and the arcadey feel of the driving is fully intact. Though the main complaint lodged against the game is the lack of a restart option, this ends up not being a problem, since as soon as a race ends, there's another event waiting right in front of you. Paradise does away with the Crash Mode of previous installments, and puts Showtime mode in it's place. Although the bowling-type strategy of Crash Mode will be missed, Showtime's crash anywhere mentality is still a welcome change. The game's online modes are completely meshed together with the single-player game, meaning that at any time, you can open up your game to any players, and they can drop right in. Multiplayer even features a near endless set of challenges to be completed, ensuring great replay value. Burnout Paradise is without a doubt the best Burnout yet, and maybe the best racing game on the 360.
