Burnout Paradise Game

Yeah, a game post.

This game's been out for a while, but it's one of my favorite racing games yet.

It's Burnout Paradise, which I've talked briefly about before on February 22nd in the posts Idiots and Wondering.

Burnout Paradise is a fairly recent (early 2008 release) racing game by Criterion Games. It's as fast paced as all the other Burnouts, and has great new features, and brings back some old ones.

Paradise is an open-world race track -- a whole city that is completely open from the start. It features a downtown beach area, a trafficy downtown city area, a pleasant suburbs styled district, twisting mountain roads, and other things that differ into distinct sectors.

You start out in a favorite car, a stunt-class car.This car is the Hunter Cavalry. It's a great beginner car because of it's lowish speed, but good handling and it's good for jumps. I, personally, wanted an aggression car so I could do the Road Rages, but that's just me.

Classes differ between emphasis on the strength of the car (how resistent it is to wrecking in collisions), Agression Class, the agility of the car (performs jumps, barrel rolls, and handing too), Stunt Class, and the speed and boost based structure of the car (cars go faster, in general, than other cars), Speed Class.

Stunt class is, in my opinion, is the best class, tied with aggression. It balances handling, boost, and speed, with strength. Agression is my other favorite, and even though not all of the cars are fast, they make up for it in sheer power and strength. Aggression cars can smash into many things and are not very easily broken. Their momentum can be devastating to you and oponents: Crashing t-bone style into cars barely slows you down, but roads that take sudden right turns (city streets) can easily wreck your car. I don't see the point of Speed Class, they're just slightly faster, more fragile, cool looking cars. Nothing more. Maybe something less.

Events:

First, there's my favorite, Road Rage. Goal: Takedown the set number of opponents without totalling your car or running out of time. "Takedown" means basically to smash the opponents into walls, other cars, traffic, anything! I like I-88 and the twisting mountain roads for this the best.

Stunt Run isn't my favorite because I haven't found enough jumps in a large area, yet, but it's fun never the less. Goal: Get the target amount of pointsbefore time runs out by doing Barrel Rolls, flat spins, super jumps, and much more. More linked stunts, higher your combo, higher your score.

Marked Man is a fun one too. Goal: Get to your destination before the other cars smash you to bits. I always drive aggression cars,preferably fast ones. You don't smash as easily, and you get there quickly. Always a good thing. And don't try fighting back unless you have a very heavy car.

Race is fun, but a bit annoying. All you've got is a compass to find your way to the destination, so you have to check your map a bit much. Although, following the pack (other racers) is good, then blow past them in the last third. Watch out for the other fast cars though.

Another thing is Burning Routes/Rides. If you get to the destination before time runs out, you'll get a cool new surprise. In the good way.

Other

Freeburn: aka free rome, free mode, open city.

Junkyard: Where your cars are stored. Like garage. New cars must be fixed before you race them.

Gas Station: Refills your boost bar. Helpful in races.

AutoRepair: Repairs your damaged vehicle. Useful in Road Rage.

Paint Shops: Get a quick new paint job, drive thru style!

Car Parks: Loads of fun for Stunts and when you're bored.

This post might've made you think the game's cool, but look it up on youtube and IGN, and you'll see why people love it.

YouTube - IGN.com - IGN.com (videos)