b1Alright!! It’s Friday!! And you don’t care what you read at work as long as the day goes by real quick, am I right?

Well from now on every Friday I’ll be ranting about video games and I’ll try and tackle key issues surrounding our industry as well providing you with some heavily opinionated takes on different games.

So then, today I’ll be taking a closer look at what I think is the most value I have gotten out of a game since F-Zero GX…

BURNOUT PARADISE!

Its sort of funny now that we look at the current next gen racers, a number of  years ago we had so few big budgeted racers to pick from. Aside from the Project Gotham Racing and GT series gamers who wanted a causal and very arcade foray into racing had nothing but the Need for Speed and Midnight Club series.  And I won’t be counting all the wonderful kart racers or fantastic Futuristic racers here.

Well what else was there on the consoles? Sure the PC has always had some of the best racer sims available and countless cool arcade imports to toy with. But us console folks were entering a scary time. The over-customization era presented within the NFS series was beginning to get a bit on my nerves with titles like Juiced and the * Gasp* return of San Francisco Rush.
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Arcade racers veered away from the core fundamentals of racing and the basics of what made a racer fun…they instead dived into the over saturated ooze of customization and neon urban culture -what was once inspired by The Fast and the Furious films.

In comes a game that I believe to be a spiritual successor to the once exceptional San Francisco Rush series, Burnout.
Its beginnings were shaky, but then the sequel proved that a fun arcade racer was finally emerging with a new angle.
The sense of speed, destruction and overall chaos/exhilaration was second to none. Very reminiscent of good old car chase movies and Japanese arcade racers.

Now I was ridiculed by my RACER FANATIC friends for choosing to side with Criterions racing game. It seemed like the game was about crashes and driving like a maniac… it seems a little crazy…stupid…too buck wild…not for me.
But I kept playing every title of the series, and lo and behold I and millions around the world grew to love and see how this title will change things… FOREVER.

After the third game I was convinced that nothing could top it… in came Burnout Revenge.  Now as far as closed track racers were concerned Burnout Revenge nailed it.  Yet no one took notes.

b3The launch of Paradise city was scary at first, an open ended burnout? Online sandbox game play? Paradise was my first game for the PS3 and till this day I play it and am astonished at how much life I have gotten out of this one title.

Not only did they attack the sandbox game design pioneered by other games, they perfected it with a diverse land, simplicity in offline to online game play, achievements, and overall structure and game advancement goals.  While I saw the once famed NFS series do nothing but implement a good dosage of horrible story into my racer, with ridiculous scenarios and horrible characters.

I can’t think of any title where I’ve driven around the open world exploring shortcuts, finding collectibles and trying to get the edge on the best areas to take jumps from. I’ve drifted down free style with my buddy on one of its most twisty roads, taken stunt runs on an aircraft field, raced, crashed and achieved take downs. Seamless games play online and off.  Heck me and my buddies still try to outrace each others time record for the various roads we lay claim to. So far I rule the freeways with an iron grip… but Tito won’t let that stay for too long

I mean a good game is not hard to appreciate.  So I wasn’t a tad bit surprised to hear the Burnout devs working on a new NFS project while NFS Shift tries to redeem the series.

Burnout took out an entire array of cheesy racers with licensed cars with its evolutionary design.
I dare you to try the fastest car in the game and not be amazed by its sheer dedication to its core values as a fast and furious (no pun intended) racer.

You don’t have to be a fan of racing to appreciate a good racing game. And that’s what I realized.
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I challenge you to find something from this generation that has given out more free updates and paid DLC to extend the life and fun factor of the game.  They even updated the filters, road textures, lights, color filters, vehicles, game assets… Take a screen grab of the game from launch and compare it to where it stands today.

So what am I going on about? We as gamers need to play more games and start supporting such studios. I hate that I had to pay 3 bucks for 3 costume unlocks in Street Fighter 4…

In this modern age of DLC where I was once worried that everything would be micro transactions I am glad to see Criterion dare everyone else to do better.  Gaming may be a form of entertainment or a past time but it need not be a passive experience.  With titles like Blur on the way,  seemingly heavily influenced by the sheer chaos of burnout while claiming to offer something more,  it makes me smile that we are seeing constant evolution in every genre of gaming.

This is one racing game you must buy. In times where I have to second think every game I buy because of its replay value, burnout paradise is the only title that has given me value for every penny spent.

Be marveled at the sheer size and scope of the game. Enjoy the robust online challenges and single player achievements. AND MAKE WAY FOR BIG SURF ISLAND.

To put it simply I’m proud to have been a burnout fan from day 1, seeing the potential of the series finally being realized. Have such a studio that doesn’t treat me like a chump and actually gives me reasons (most of them free) to keep playing. Providing a return to what made these racing games so fun while astonishing us with what has never been done before. So I urge you to try and encourage you to buy Burnout Paradise, don’t let this gem pass you by.


In the end it has taught me that the core foundations of what makes a good game never change- it just has to be tremendously fun.






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