Burnout Paradise, PGR4

I didn't like the Burnout Paradise demo. I despised the DJ and the open-world-style seemed overly cumbersome.

Criterion insisted - "You're Wrong! Play the full game!". Then a bunch of Xbox Live Friends picked up and recommended it (directly and indirectly).

Unable to find a copy at my local EBGames (no big surprise there - EA must be happy with sales) I ordered online. The day it arrived I played for four hours longer than I originally planned. EA/Criterion spit and polish forced me to eat crow and love it - after a short time I was revelling in the often questionable soundtrack while chasing down a f'ugly, garish SUV to add to my collection.

Yes, needing to drive back across the whole map/city to retry a particular event with a specific vehicle can become tiresome (you may not have this issue if you don't suck as bad as I do). Having said that, the large number of events (almost every intersection has one) soothes that irritant.

Navigating the race routes also takes some getting used to. There are at least four cues; three visual, one audible. However when dodging oncoming traffic at high speed with music pounding, they're easily missed.

Speaking of cues, while he remains an insufferable Douche, DJ Atomika does occasionally offer pertinent and useful tips.

Rubber-banding is extremely forgiving - it almost seems like a challenge to fail the opening events. After PGR4 it's also refreshing to compete with racers that frequently make mistakes without direct involvement from the player (in fact sometimes the mistakes are a little too frequent - try "shutting down" some vehicles and see what I mean...)

Being able to choose a vehicle that fits your preferred driving style adds a welcome twist - choose the tough but unwieldy muscle-truck to crush your opponents off the road or the nippy sports-car and hope you can outrun them? Customization is limited to paint job color - PGR4 probably allows a little more control in this respect but either way, the vehicles are gorgeous. It's a shame they get trashed within seconds of leaving the Junkyard. :-)

The camera is (intentionally?) positioned so that the road ahead is obscured, especially while cresting hills. Punch the boost, white knuckle onto the steering wheel and hope there isn't a bus coming the other way...

Online works well (at least with a good host). The open-world means that if you become bored with a certain task, you can simply explore while your fellow drivers continue to race, stunt, park, whatever!


I really enjoyed PGR4 but the Normal difficulty setting in Career was a fraction too demanding - it would have taken me weeks (more) to get to the top of the list. Also the requirement of participating in events like (Super) Cone Challenge is not something I relished. Unfortunately, resetting to Easy removed both the risk and the reward. The game became a dull time trial. I guess the failing here is mine, I just don't have enough time to devote to it at the tougher level.


On a more general trend - in-game advertising abounds for both game but is not too intrusive given the contemporary settings. CompUSA, Diesel and others are prominent in Burnout. PGR4 features ads for current movies.


Given the presence of motorcycles in PGR4 (and in MotorStorm) and their absence thus far from EA's recent offerings, my unanswered burning question is this: When will Criterion do Road Rash?! :-)