15 Hour Review: Burnout Paradise (Xbox 360)

Well, I have to take almost a complete 180 from my demo review of Burnout. They took a game that was getting stale, two versions past the last one that I owned, and turned it into a co-op extravaganze that really never seems to get old.

My first complaint was the collecting in the game, but it's really almost too easy to do. With 400 gates to crash through, I've found 396 of them without so much as slowing down. The problem with them and the billboards (which I've also only managed to miss a couple of casually) is that you want to stop what your doing to crash through them. It's slightly addictive.

The radio? Easily turned off, turned down, or picked through for the good tracks.

The open world with no immediate event restart? Okay, that is still a pain in the ass. I hate failing in games even if it's not caused by crappy computer opponents. I've just learned to take my failure, dismiss it and move on. How's that for learning from video games?


The only other thing I despise about the game after playing for this long is that motorcycles can't play with cars (for obvious physics reasons) and the Showtime crash mode just really isn't that intriguing. Yet.

The one thing that did truly suprise me was the online modes. I couldn't see how it was fun to just run around and crash into each other. What the demo didn't do a good job of was showcasing the challenges built into the game for groups of people to do. Obviously it's only better if you have friends willing to do them, otherwise your just sitting there waiting for WhosYurDaddy198 to finish the challenge he doesn't even know he's in.

Since I got the game for $22, it was a little easier to sink my teeth into it without much expectation. I turned around and recommended it for one person and bought it for two others (at $30 each). And not to mention the game recieved the Driving Game of the Year title from the VGAs this week. Something I would have been truly dumbfounded by if I handn't have bought it myself.