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I need to make a disclaimer--I have really loved the Burnout series. I love racking up points for the best "accident" and the overall feel of the game. And, this new one did not disappoint. The functionality of the game is high and I like the look of the new game. EA did a great job with this updated version.
I've also found that my family continues to enjoy the Burnout series. These games are unlike the GTA games that are filled with hardcore violence, foul language, and sexuality. Instead, Burnout will help you hone your eye hand coordination as you try to hug the tight corners. My hands/fingers get a workout with this game. I love it!
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I am a huge fan of racing games, and in particular of the Burnout series. Burnout Paradise is more open ended than previous releases, and also less fun.
Why? Where is my crash mode? I loved that single feature of the game most of all. You can make the most realistic driving environment I've played. You can use an awesome physics engine. You can put in great music and a really open ended environment. You can achieve the right blend of difficulty and measured progress. All these elements exist in Burnout Paradise.
If you've never played Burnout Revenge you'll never know that Criterion took away a little bit of the fun that made Burnout stand out from the rest of the racers. Crash mode! Bring it back or you'll never rate five stars again...
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My family is new to the world of the XBOX 360, so I don't have any experience with prior versions of Burnout with which to compare Burnout Paradise. This is my favorite kind of racing game, the kind where you can smash up your car and still keep going.
My son (10) and I did think that the car doesn't show enough damage for our tastes. We have Stuntman Ignition and we spend a lot of time trying to break the back window and have the hood and trunk fall off. It's probably not what most people are looking for in a racing game, but it's what makes it fun for me so I thought I'd note that the back end of the car always looks pristine.
We like the narrator helping us through the parts that are new to us. It's not intrusive and actually much more helpful than making you go through a formal tutorial and then letting you loose on your own. I found the controls fairly easy to use once I got used to the level of sensitivity of the left stick. We don't own a steering wheel but I'll bet that would really improve the experience.
I like this game, and would recommend it.
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This is probably the most fun racing game I've played in a long, long time. I'm pretty impressed with the wealth of scenery and all the different areas you can go through. The racing modes seem really varied and give you a lot of choices in terms of how you want to play. It's really very open and gives you a ton of options. It can be nice to just scoot around and look at what's in the game, or go on some high speed tight curve races over and through seeming obstacles, or just crash into stuff.
250 miles of road! Over 100 events? The freedom to break out of defined tracks and have at it!
I've got a lot to figure out, and I'm not sure I'll ever figure it all out, but I think this game has a lot of potential for long term interest as it has so much variety and so many options.
If you're looking for an auto racing game that breaks out of predictable tracks and courses, this one gives you a lot to work with.
It's also got online interactive abilities that some folks might like to make use of, I'm not there yet. They say more than 300 possible online challenges, so look out!
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This is by far one of the most interesting and fun games I have ever played online. Where the first few games in the series really just focused on the severity of destruction you could cause, this game adds a huge open ended map that allows and encourages exploration of the deepest sort. The element of auto related carnage is still very much a part of the game, it's just not what I would call the main focus of it. There are an obscene amount of things to see and do in this game and with the ability to play with up to seven other players over Xbox Live, the game becomes something that is quite literally insane in its overall design.
The sheer amount of things you can do in this game is just mind boggling. There are literally hundreds of events you can partake in and dozens of cars to unlock and turn into heaps of broken metal and glass. The city itself is pretty large and has more hidden passageways and shortcuts than most other racing games I've ever played. This is the kind of game I like because when a game has this much to do and this much to explore, it gives the game replay value in spades. In an offhand way, it reminds me of the snowboarding game SSX3 (one of the ABSOLUTE best games I have ever played and I say that with no exaggeration) in how much there was to simply DO in the game. This is a game that I think will keep someone who's not playing it 24/7 busy for months.
Playing this on Live however is where this game takes it to the next level. There's a seamless functionality where you can literally jump online at any point in the game by pressing the D-pad and pulling up the online options. There's something really enjoyable in working together with other players in trying to beat the 300+ challenges spread out all over the island. Couple that with the ridiculous speed and total mayhem that occurs when cars go flying into other cars and guaranteed that you along with your online buddies will be cracking up. You can race each other, create rivalries, steal people's victories... there's just no end to it. Also, now's a good time to mention the Xbox Vision camera's functionality. The game allows you to take pictures for your driver's license and also sends you a picture of any particular gamer who you've just taken down. It's great to see a game use this peripheral in such an imaginative way, something we don't see often enough except in games like the Rainbow Six: Vegas series.
The graphics in this game are absolutely beautiful. Everything from roadside details to general scenery and something small like the glare of the sun in your eyes is replicated perfectly and believably. Just on graphics alone, this game gets high marks. The sound as well is off the wall and if you're playing this late at night, your neighbors are liable to think that they might open your door to find you buried under a 24 vehicle pileup. This game sounds great and the music selection is pretty nice, even if you've heard some of the songs in other games.
I'd like to end by saying that whether you're playing this game alone or on Xbox Live, you are bound to get a healthy dose of satisfaction with this title. There is just way too much to do in this game and to me, that's better than not having enough to do.
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