Burnout Paradise
Developed by Criterion Games
Now Available for Xbox 360
and PlayStation 3
Car A is traveling east at 120 miles per hour. Car B is traveling
west at 140 miles per hour. When will Car A reach Boston?
Answer: never. Car A and Car B collide in an eruption of broken
glass and twisted steel, and both drivers are killed instantly—or
they would be, if they weren’t too busy being amazed at the visceral
yet majestic ballet of ruined automobiles that epitomizes the simple
fun to be found in Burnout Paradise.
The game does almost everything better than any of its competitors.
Like my ex-girlfriend, it combines gorgeous visuals and sexy curves
with horrific car crashes, and while it isn’t the pinnacle of
video-game graphics, it’s in the top three of all available racers.
The title’s best feature is its online component. Paradise‘s
multiplayer is literally a matter of pressing the same button twice,
waiting 15 seconds, then racing against internet foes or working to
complete over 200 online co-op challenges—and in hours of game
play, neither option gave me a single instance of lag.
On top of the online goals, the single-player game is surprisingly
lengthy for a racer. According to the stats Paradise has been
tracking for me, I’ve logged 16 hours in the game, and have completed
45.8 percent of the objectives. While I was originally skeptical of
publisher Electronic Arts’ claims on how much this disc actually
contains, my time spent in Paradise has made me a believer.
Since they’ll revoke my official critic’s badge if I simply blow
kisses at this game, I must add that I’m disappointed with the
soundtrack. Overall, it’s not terrible, but the best compliment I can
offer is that the pop-techno tracks that make up the majority of the
soundtrack are just forgettable enough to avoid a mention.
If you don’t like racing games, Burnout Paradise won’t
convert you. Rather, its true strength lies in its ability to take
casual racing fans, action gamers, and sports fans and turn them into
virtual racing addicts whose only goal in life is snagging another hit
of nitrous.