Let me preface this first by saying that I like my structure in racing games. I don’t get a kick out of sand-box style driving because it’s stressful and time-consuming. That might be why I always gravitate to Forza or PGR, or past Burnout games. I like to have that linear feel that allows me to more or less memorize the tracks. Dirt, Rallisport Challenge, Outrun, I can name a long list of titles that I enjoy, that restrict you in what you can actually do. I’m actually a hypocrite because memorizing tracks from any single game is almost as big comparatively as Burnout Paradise is.
Paradise really sums up the reasons for loving that open world freedom, and also for hating it though. It sets up all events at each of the intersections. It works very well. My problem isn’t that, but everything built around those events. Criterion knows exactly what they’re doing. They made a conscious decision to remove the option to restart events. They made a conscious decision to let the player find their own path to the finish line. They made a conscious decision to prioritize exploration.
When I fail a race, I have no desire to drive all the way back to try again. It’s extremely frustrating to be forced into driving four miles back to a race that I failed knowing that if I fail it one more time I’ll turn it off. Seriously, I think it’s extremely unnecessary for this. Yes, it drives the player to explore different areas, roads, and try out new things. But I’m going to explore Paradise because it’s a good game, not because I need to nail everything. Isn’t that what the smashes….billboards….superjumps….isn’t that what all those are for Criterion? Hell, I spent like 20 hours getting all those and learned that way.
My other issue goes hand in hand with no restarts. The navigation is poor. Not only is the player responsible for reading a tiny map and a crappy compass during a race event, but they also have to worry about driving 180 MPH in heavy traffic. How hard could it have been to stick yellow barriers up a couple of blocks apart? If you want multiple paths to the same goal, do it. But don’t leave the whole city open because it’s annoying. Especially online, where an opponent can take a left turn by accident, and win. You get these blinkers on the top of your screen saying "Go here, it’s quicker" but usually that’s too general, too vague, and too late. Failing the long race across the map is a game killer as far as I’m concerned. I have no desire to drive back. They’re defense is that you can just do another event where you finished. Well, I don’t want to settle for another event. I want to do the one I chose the first time. That’s why I chose it!
It’s such a great looking game too. The way they managed to incorporate Burnout into a sand box style racing game is impressive. 60 FPS, hi-res, no loads? Sign me up! The cars are cool, and the crashes are brutal.
A few other nit-pick things were traffic threading, and no crash mode. You can’t get your car between two lanes like previous versions. If I didn’t know any better I would guess the lanes were narrowed for whatever reason. And this showtime mode doesn’t do it for me. Crash mode was a puzzle system like no other. Showtime at first is quite fun. But do it on every road like I did. It quickly becomes a tedious novelty.
For anyone who thinks it’s unfair to judge the game so harshly, I would point the finger back. I played enough of IMPACT, TAKEDOWN, and REVENGE to know when something was tweaked even a little. These things are game killers for me. It’s not a bad idea to take it into a new direction. But I listen to Criterion’s weekly podcast. I can tell these guys are aware of it. They put themselves above the problems by justifying them. It comes off as rude to be perfectly honest. A sense of, "Well, if you’re not good enough then don’t play the game." They’re flaws!
I still love the game and I’ll eventually hope to 101% it. But to play online is frustrating and confusing much of the time. At the end of the day, the amount of time in REVENGE and TAKEDOWN I put in versus Paradise will be lop-sided. I’m allowed to be disappointed after sticking with it for so long. I’ve supported them since the beginning after all, and I will continue to.
But to say that Paradise is perfect is settling for what’s there. I want it to be better. It’s the same reason I’m not declaring Bioshock as the greatest game ever made. Because after the hype it’s clear what’s wrong. I think people are too easy to settle for things. Or just don’t understand. I know people that don’t care about frame-rates and AI. Those are the folks developers are banking on selling the game to because they don’t know any better. I need my sixty dollars to be worth it. I’m not planning on drinking that kool aid anytime soon. This is just a really pretty 3-D menu. IGN watermarked pics courtesy of IGN....hehe.
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