Backstory

Before this game, I had not finished any racing games. I had not played any other Burnout games, and the only Need for Speed game I had played is Underground 2, which I got very close to finishing but ended up soft locked (due to trying to have a separate performance car and “decorative” car, and not allocating my money correctly to the point that I ran out).

That being said, I have finished many open-world, “movement”-based games as I will call them–games like Super Mario 64, Super Mario Odyssey, and even games like Batman: Arkham City and Sony’s Spider-Man. I consider these games “movement”-based because unlike games like the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (which I am also a big fan of, and have finished many times), these games make moving around the open world itself feel good, satisfying, and a game within itself, if not the core gameplay.

I consider Burnout Paradise one of the best of these open-world, “movement”-based games. In my opinion, it should be up there with Super Mario Sunshine as a classic in the category.

The Good

To start, the driving model in Burnout Paradise feels very good in my opinion. If I am correct in understanding the lingo of the genre, it has brake-to-drift driving where the vehicles are incredibly light. This makes the movement very light and fun, resembling more a platformer than a hardcore racer.

This works great with the game’s map, as it is filled with billboards and secrets that encourage you to explore and try for difficult jumps and tricks. That combined with the game’s stunt gamemode, which was difficult for me at first, but then became incredibly fun and rewarding, made me appreciate the game’s uniquely light movement and large amount of areas around the map to pull off barrel rolls and flat spins.

Adding on to this great movement system and map to accompany it, the game does crashes incredibly well, as, from what I have seen, is true for the other Burnout games as well. This makes failure feel punishing, but not in an overly frustrating way. It is incredible to see how much the cars will deform and deteriorate in this game, especially for one for the seventh generation of consoles.

On another note, the game works great for short sessions, as the gameplay is broken up into short 5 minute segments, whether with races, stunt runs, road rage, or any of the other gamemodes. This makes me think this game might be one of the best racing games on the Nintendo Switch, as I just imagine it working very well on a portable device.

Overall, it’s an undoubtedly fun game, and it was very easy for me to play it enough to “finish” it, by getting the initial Burnout license. It does the open world very well, and it feels very freeing and fun.

The Bad

This game has a few problems. For one, the races are too open. Instead of having to stick to a specific path like Need for Speed, or having to go to certain checkpoints, the races just have a start and an end with you deciding the path. This is fine, but checkpoints would allow me to focus more on racing and less on driving the best path. In the Big Surf Island DLC, the races use checkpoints, so I believe the developers saw this as a problem to improve upon as well.

One thing the game does not tell you, is that a lot of important controls are within a menu controlled by the d-pad (or for keyboard players, the numpad). Controls like retrying an event, for example. I did not know this until later into playing the game, but it saves a lot of time. Also, if you stop completely during an event, you will end the event (also saves time when you know you will lose, or win).

I also do not like that 100% completion of the Big Surf Island DLC requires engaging in multiplayer challenges. This means that once the multiplayer elements shut down, 100% will become impossible, which is a shame.

I do not like the “Road Rules” system. Getting the best time on a road is fun, but repetitive. Winning showtime road rules, though, is frustrating. This gamemode needs some work, as it feels like a lot is based on the luck of how many buses spawn.

Lastly, I wish the game was not locked to 60 fps.

Final Thoughts

This game rocks. It feels good just to boot in, drive, and explore the map, and that’s the most important thing in an open-world racing game. To me, the game is very underrated. I would recommend it to anyone who likes video games, at least to play it enough to get to the Burnout License.

Next game I plan to finish: Need for Speed Heat!