Burnout Paradise

Paul takes us down to Paradise city...

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Burnout Paradise sees Criterion bet the farm on open world reality beating 'directed' experiences. Gone is the ability to restart races, gone is the split-screen multiplayer and gone is the easy to access lists of events. In their place we have a free roaming environment in which (just like real life) you have to locate and then drive to the start of each event. Happily though, the gamble more than pays off.

Players of previous Burnouts may initially balk at having to put in some extra effort to get around the city, but this pays off in terms of reality and fun and is more than worth it. Starting a race simply involves pulling up to the appropriate intersection and tapping accelerate and brake. This gives access to the usual variety of different Burnout challenges, ranging from straight up races to marked man pursuit modes where you are chased down by some imposing blacked out SUV's, Men in Black style.

Some will cite the game's lack of retry option as a big problem, however Paradise city is so well endowed with things to do it really isn't an issue. Wherever you finish there is always another event within a stone's throw. Failing that you can pick up any number of tangential challenges such as billboard busting, stunt jumps or shortcut discovery. Even when you do decide to trawl back to the start of a failed event, you invariably get caught up in some distraction along the way that turns out to be too fun to leave, and you forget all about re-starting the event.

The game also encourages your general fooling around with some stunning visuals. Not only do the cars look great off the lot, but they also deform and crumple in some of the most bone crunching depictions of car crashes ever seen in videogames. The city too is rendered in great detail and has that hand built (rather than computer generated) feel, particularly when you head out of the basin and get into the hills. The draw distance is simply stunning.

Although there is not a huge amount to pick between them, the PS3 version was the lead platform and it does show through now and then. This approach seems to have been much more successful (in terms of getting two great looking games) than it has for other developers, such as Valve with the Orange Box. For them leading with the 360 seemed to leave us with a sub-par PS3 game.

Going online with either version is simply seamless. A couple of taps on the D-Pad and you can instantly jump into a friend's city or hop onto a road rules mode where you can compete for the fastest or most carnage records on each road. This is all topped off by some inventive use of the PlayStation camera which is used to grab a pic for your license and swap facial expressions (or other bodily images) with players you have just taken down. Easily some of the best online fun for the PS3.

Although this could easily have been a hotch-potch of new features, it is able to become a coherent whole through the masterly direction of Criterion, and the marmite (love-it or hate-it) vocal work of DJ Atomica (who actually doubles as a great guide to getting on in Paradise city). There was a moment into my second day of play when I had ended up on a particular road and stumbled across a line of parked cars too tempting to pass up. They offered an ideal opportunity to practice my handbrake power parking. Having spent a happy hour parallel parking (believe it!) I noticed an open multi-story car park across the street. The next hour was spent screeching around its interior and jumping off the roof trying to nail a double barrel roll. All this fun was had in a single block of the city- take that and multiply it over the whole map and you have a lot of entertainment.

This sort of incidental fun has historically been the preserve of childhood matchbox cars and track, and it's therefore great to find a videogame that encourages such imaginative play. For me this more than compensates for any shortfall in 'directed' experience, and I'd suggest is an opportunity for the gamer to play a greater part in creating their own fun.

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By Paul Govan