Burnout Paradise

Burnout Paradise
The European PS3 box art
Developer(s)	Criterion Games
Publisher(s)	Electronic Arts
Designer(s)	Alex Ward (Creative director)
Series	Burnout
Native resolution	720p (Xbox 360) 720p/1080i (PS3)
Platform(s)	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)	Original PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 NA January 22, 2008 EU January 25, 2008[1] Ultimate Box Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 February 2009[2]
Genre(s)	Racing, Sandbox
Mode(s)	Single-player, Multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: E10+ PEGI: 3+ (original rating) 7+ (re-rating) OFLC: M
Media	Blu-ray Disc, DVD, Download
Input methods	Gamepad, keyboard and mouse

Burnout Paradise (formerly known as Burnout 5) is Criterion Games's newest installment in the Burnout video game series. It was released in January 2008^[1] for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It was also released on the PlayStation Store in September 2008 and will be available on Microsoft Windows from February 2009^[3]. It has an open world set in the fictional Paradise City, with no loading times and no traditional online lobbies or game menus. The song "Paradise City" by Guns N' Roses is the game's title music and also featured on the in-game soundtrack.

Contents 1 Gameplay 1.1 Car types 1.2 Event types 1.3 Mugshots 2 Demo 3 Download 4 Reception 5 Expansions 5.1 'Bogart' 5.2 'Cagney' 5.3 'Bikes Pack' 5.4 'Eastwood' 5.5 Downloadable Packs for 2009 5.5.1 Burnout Party Pack 5.5.2 Trophies 5.5.3 Legendary Cars Pack 5.5.4 Toy Cars Pack 5.5.5 Boost Specials Pack 6 Windows version 7 In-game advertising 8 References 9 External links

Gameplay

According to Alex Ward from developer Criterion Games, this game is a "complete reinvention" of the Burnout series.^[4] He also said "To create truly next-generation gameplay, we needed to create a truly next-generation game, from the ground up." Despite being in an open world, the game still retains the 60 frames-per-second most Burnout games have used.^[5] Initially day and night cycles were not included in the game but a software update entitled "Davis" added this element to the game. Records will now be kept on players' drivers licenses and there will be statistics such as fastest time and biggest crash for every street in the game. Unlike in previous Burnout games, Crash Mode, now called Showtime, can now be started at any time and place in the game; though Showtime mode is rather different from the usual Crash Mode.^[6] Also, for races, players may now take any route to get to the destination. Races and other events are simply started by stopping at any of the 120 traffic lights around Paradise City and applying the accelerator and brake at the same time. Multiple settings have been confirmed to be fully customisable^[7][8]such as:

• "Boost Rules", where the player may choose cars that use the boost styles from previous Burnout games.
• Whether or not there is traffic in an online event.
• Start and finish points for online events with up to 16 checkpoints.

The damage system has also been reworked. There are now two different types of crash based on the car's condition after the crash.^[9] If the player's car manages to retain all four wheels, and not break its chassis, the player may drive out of the crash and continue playing; this is called a "driveaway". If a player's car loses any of its wheels, has the engine damaged too much from an impact, or winds up outside of the game's map, the car is in a "wrecked" state and the player will have to wait until their car is reset. Cars can also be torn into several pieces, be compressed and deform around objects as you crash into them. However, Alex Ward confirmed in the Official Crash FM podcast that cars may not be ripped in half, as concept pictures and early information had stated. There are also other cars which can be obtained by typing in a sponsor code. These only work for certain regions. One of these sponsor code cars is the Steel Wheels version of the Carson GT concept car, which features the car with an armor plate and supercharger. The code for this car could be obtained from pre-ordering the game from certain retailers. When starting the single player mode you are assigned with a learner's permit and a single car. While playing you race and win events to earn points towards a higher license, from a Learners Permit (E-class), D-class, C-class, B-class, A-class, Burnout Paradise (S-class), Burnout Elite (SS-class) up to Criterion Elite (SSS-class). After earning a new license every event that you complete is reset so you can replay the event again to earn credit towards a new license.

Cars now have manufacturer and model names, which are loosely based on real-world cars but are mostly fictional (some of the cars are even based on those from a previous Burnout game, e.g. the Hunter Manhattan is the Classic from Burnout 2). Cars may not be "tuned up"^[10] or customized apart from color changes, which may be done in real-time by driving through the forecourt of a blow shop, which will randomly assign a color to the car, or by selecting the color in the Junkyard where you select your vehicle (after taking the car through a Paint Booth drivethru at least once). Other real-time changes include driving through the forecourt of a gas station to automatically refill your Burnout meter, and driving through the forecourt of a repair shop to automatically repair your car, allowing you to extend a Road Rage or Marked Man event beyond the car's damage limits.^[11]

The online lobby system used by most video games has been replaced by a streamlined system known as "Easy Drive". While driving, players simply hit right on the D-Pad and the Easy Drive menu pops up on the bottom left hand corner of their screen. From there, players are able to invite another player from their friends list. Once friends have joined the game, the hosting player is then able to pick from a variety of events to play. There are also special Burnout Racing Team cars that you can get.

Car types

This article or section may require cleanup because it is in a list format that may be better presented using prose. You can help by converting this section to prose, if appropriate. Editing help is available. (November 2008)

Cars in Burnout Paradise can have one of three types of "Boost Standard", showing what a player will have to do with the car in order to build up their boost bar:

• Speed: Driving the car at high speeds through oncoming traffic and/or weaving through traffic (performing a "Near Miss" where the car avoids another by a few inches or less) builds up the boost bar. This is the only type of boost in which the boost is not available until the meter is completely filled. When it is filled, the boost bar becomes inflamed and the player may use it until they crash, let off of the boost, or run out of boost power. However, the depletion of boost power on a Speed Boost can cause a "Burnout" if the player keeps the boost button pressed after their boost bar is depleted, after which the bar refills allowing the player to continue using their boost. As long as the boost is continued to be used and the car is continuing to be driven, the player can create a "Burnout Chain" for as long as the player is able. This is the only standard that allows a Burnout chain.
• Stunt: The player can only build up this boost bar by performing stunts with the car (driving through oncoming traffic counts). However, as long as there is boost power stored, the player is able to use it. The Stunt boost is the longest boost bar initially.
• Aggression: The player can fill up this boost bar by reckless driving, such as performing traffic checks and/or takedowns, knocking over signs, performing stunts, and driving through oncoming traffic. Initially, the boost bar of these cars shows a "x2" at the end of the bar. If a player performs a takedown, the bar can be extended until the player switches cars (the only boost standard that has this ability), thereby showing a "x3" at the end of the bar instead. Like the Stunt standard, boost can be used immediately, regardless of if the player has the bar completely filled.

Cars are also rated on three merits when viewed at the Junkyard:

• Speed: How fast a car can go. The higher the rating, the higher the top speed in which a car will be able to reach without using boost.
• Boost: The cars boost power. The higher this rating, the longer the boost power on that car will last before running out.
• Strength: How long a car can go before becoming completely totaled. The higher the rating, the more likely the car will be able to survive a crash or be able to make another car crash instead of them (if a car is stronger than another, it is more likely that it will takedown the other in a collision). This rating also determines how many crashes a car can withstand in a Road Rage or Marked Man event if the car enters when it is in perfect condition.

Event types

Races, Marked Man events and Burning Routes can start in any location around Paradise City, but the destination is always one of eight: the Maplemount Country Club, the Coastguard HQ, the Waterfront Plaza, the Paradise Wildcats Baseball Stadium, the Fort Lawrence Naval Yard, the Lone Stallion Ranch, the Paradise City Wind Farm and the Crystal Summit Observatory. Road Rages and Stunt Runs have no set end destination.

• Race: Races consist of the player and at least one other car (races with just one opponent are known as 'Duels'). The player is given a location to race to. The player can take any route through the city to the location, with the aid of a flashing road names at the top of the screen when the player is advised to turn. The first to arrive at the destination wins; there are no points or prizes awarded for placing second or third, unlike most racing games. Online races can also include checkpoints that need to be crossed before reaching the finish.

• Road Rage: The player is given a target number of takedowns and a time limit. A Road Rage event is won by meeting or exceeding this target in the given time limit. A variant of this event was made available for online play in the "Cagney" update.

• Marked Man: In this event, the player is given a destination. At least one opponent is trying to stop the player from reaching the destination by scoring takedowns against them. The player must survive from start to finish in order to win (the player can be part of collisions, but loses the event if he totals the car). A variant designed for online gameplay was included in the "Cagney" update.

• Stunt Run: Players are given a target score. They must earn points towards that score by using boosts, jumps, drifts and other such stunt moves. An online version of this event type was added to the game as part of the "Cagney" update.

• Burning Route: Each Burning Route requires the player to use a specific car. Once the player is driving the required car, they race against the clock to a specified location. When a Burning Route is won the player wins an upgraded version of the vehicle they completed it with. The upgraded vehicle can boast extra boost power, more base speed or a stronger body (but usually in exchange for another category being made weaker). This event is unique in that it does not reset when the player earns a new license, because it's tied to the car used to run it rather than the license level the player is presently at.

After the "Burnout Bikes Update" (formerly called "Davis"), two new events were added that are exclusive to the motorcycles:

• Burning Ride: Same as a Burning Route but for the motorcycles. However, some of these are now timed checkpoint events wherein the rider must ride through a set number of checkpoints before the time limit expires. These checkpoint events also do not have to end at one of the predetermined endpoints in Paradise City (they can terminate at intersections).

• Midnight Ride: Same as a Burning Ride but takes place between the in-game hours of 8PM and 8AM.

Mugshots

A "Mugshots" camera feature is available in the Burnout Paradise versions for the PlayStation 3 (using the PlayStation Eye, the PlayStation 2 EyeToy, and other compatible webcams) and Xbox 360 (using the Xbox Live Vision).^[12] When a player is taken down, they have their photo, called a 'Mugshot', taken and shown to the aggressor, and vice versa. These photos can then be saved to the console's hard drive.^[13] You receive "Mugshots" for taking down an opponent, an "Event Mugshot" for taking down an opponent during a "Ranked race" online, a "Smugshot" for beating an opponent's fastest Road Rule time, and "Photo Finish" for wining an Online race. Both versions allow cameraless persons, or those who do not wish to use their real face, to use their Gamerpicture/PSN avatar.

Demo

A demo featuring a Hunter Cavalry, a Nakamura Ikusa GT^[14] (only available in the Japanese version of the demo, but available in the full game), a stunt run, a race, a time trial activity, 4 player online capability, and 9 online challenges (three each for 2, 3, and 4 players) was made available on December 13, 2007 for both PlayStation 3 via PlayStation Store and Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Marketplace.^[15][16] On January 4 through January 14, Criterion raised the maximum number of players for the online Freeburn in the Paradise demo to 8 players (which has since returned to 4 players). With it, a total of 13 new Freeburn challenges were made available for players to attempt – 3 challenges in 5, 6 and 7 player sessions, and 4 new challenges for those playing in 8 player sessions.^[17]

Download

On the 25th of September 2008, Criterion announced that Burnout Paradise was now available for download on the PlayStation Store. Upon installation and first execution, all updates would also be downloaded and installed, allowing the player to have the latest version of Burnout Paradise (version 1.50 at present). It has all normal PlayStation network downloadable content rules present (can be installed on 5 registered system etc).^[18]

Reception

Reception
Review scores Publication Score 1UP.com 9/10 Edge 9/10 Electronic Gaming Monthly 9/10 Famitsu 36/40 Game Informer 8.5/10 GamesMaster 90/100 GameSpot 9/10 GameTrailers 8.8/10 IGN 8.8/10 Official PlayStation Magazine (US) 5/5 Official Xbox Magazine 9/10 Official Xbox Magazine (UK) 8/10 X-Play 4/5 GamerTV 9/10 PSM3 89/100 GamesTM 7/10 Giant Bomb 5/5

The game has generally been received very well, earning (among other things) the Editor's Choice in GameSpot. Metacritic gave it a 88 out of 100 for the Xbox 360 release^[19] and 87 for the PS3^[20]. Game Rankings calculated an 89% for the Xbox 360^[21] and an 88% for the PS3 version^[22], However, many of the reviewers have made the point that veterans and newcomers to the game may find the large open world "daunting" at first. One of the issues raised by reviewers is that there is no option to restart a race or event. Instead one must either fail the event, or cancel the race by pulling over and stopping for a few seconds, and then return to the specific place on the map to try that particular race or event again (the latter method not being explained at any point in the game or the manual, only in a trailer for the game). Criterion responded to this criticism by stating that they don't feel that this is a problem and that adding a "retry" option would introduce loading screens, which they "hate with a passion"^[23].

Expansions

On the official Criterion Games forums, creative director Alex Ward has stated that new cars are in the works. These cars will be available as free downloadable content. He has also stated that the first of what is to be several islands to be added will be made available as part of an update. The first island is called "Big Surf Island". Bridges extending from the main section of Paradise City will connect to these islands, offering "a new type of gameplay".^[24][25][26] Forum posts from Ward also alluded to the possibility of underground sections and further online content (including adding sirens to the police vehicles, and horns to the others, which would be used online in some form). Altogether, this expansion project has been collectively referred to as "Freeburn 2.0".^[27] Each update has been given a codename, including "Cagney", "Davis" and "Eastwood".^[28]

'Bogart'

Gaming site Kotaku has listed some of Burnout Paradise's new expansions. The update codenamed 'Bogart', fixed several glitches and was scheduled to be released on April 24, 2008.^[29] However, it was made available to Xbox 360 users on April 18, 2008 and to PlayStation 3 users on April 24, 2008.

'Cagney'

The "Cagney" update was released on schedule on July 10, 2008 for PlayStation 3 and on August 4, 2008 for the Xbox 360. The update introduces three new Freeburn multiplayer modes: Online Stunt Run, Marked Man and Road Rage. Online Stunt Run involves up to 8 players simultaneously competing for the highest stunt score within 2 minutes, however this mode can last for much longer, as long as a player is still chaining stunts the run will continue. Road Rage features two teams; One must race to a checkpoint, the blue team, and then to the finish line. Meanwhile the others, red team, try to stop them through takedowns. As long as one blue team member is active then the road rage can still be won for all blue team members. However, in road rage blue team members that have been taken down turn gray, these members can try to take down the red team in order to allow their surviving team mates win. Marked Man is like a game of tag, with one player as the Marked Man who cannot see the other players, has no boost and has a slower car. The Marked Man will get 1 point for survival and the other players 1 point each for taking him or her down. But the Marked Man also gets chaser points; these are awarded in the case that the Marked man fights back with a takedown, and the Marked Man is awarded with 2 points. In addition there are 70 all new online challenges. These new challenges are different from Free Burn challenges, they are Timed challenges. A Timed challenge will feature two parts; first part is usually all players gathering at a point of interest. The second part is usually timed and an objective must be met by all players, like jumping a ramp for instance. Custom soundtracks and 1080i support were added to the PlayStation 3 version.^[30]

Criterion have said that they will aim to add "many more" online modes in the future.^{[citation needed]}

'Bikes Pack'

On April 23, 2008 it was announced that motorbikes and night-day cycles would appear in the Bikes Pack (formerly known as the "Davis" update), along with tailored locations, challenges and game modes.^[31] Criterion Games announced on August 5, 2008 that the update would also feature a new dynamic weather system, two starter bikes in the player's junkyard, 70 new bike-only challenges, and special "Midnight Rides" challenges that appear only at night.^[32] The Bikes pack was released on 18th September on both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

'Eastwood'

New levels released as islands bridging to Paradise City were announced on April 28, 2008 as a part of the "Eastwood" update.^[33]

Downloadable Packs for 2009

In late October 2008, Criterion Games announced four extra downloadable packs that would be released in Spring 2009. Starting on the 31st October 2008, Criterion are going to announce what the new packs will contain, one by one, every week.

Burnout Party Pack

The first update was announced as the "Burnout Party Pack" and will launch in February 2009.^[34] It focuses on single-console multiplayer gameplay, offering a Freeburn Challenge-like setting but for people playing on the same console, passing the controller around to complete challenges. In addition, Criterion announced "Burnout Paradise - The Ultimate Box" that will launch around the same time. It will contain the game and the Cagney, Bike and Party packs all in the same package as well as "a mountain of new refinements."^[35] Unless the Island pack is priced at its release, the Party pack will be the first Burnout Paradise update pack that will require a fee to download.^[36]

Trophies

On September 25, 2008 another update was made available which introduces support for PS3's trophies. Criterion Games originally stated that the trophies could be awarded retroactively to players who had already made certain achievements however when the update was released they stated that this had proved to be impossible and that users would have to start a new game in order to achieve some of the goals^[37].

Legendary Cars Pack

On November 7, 2008 an announcement was made through the Crash TV podcast about a new pack called "Legendary Cars Pack". The pack will feature four brand new cars available through the PSN or XBOX Live as Paid DLC. Information beside the names of the cars was given only for the first of the cars, the Jansen 88. This car is able to leave fire tracks when full boost is used and is also able to retract its wheels in order to hover. Both its features and appearance are a homage to the Back to the Future trilogy.

Toy Cars Pack

On November 14, 2008 Criterion Games announced via their website that a new downloadable pack called 'Toy Cars' would be available in 2009 as part of their 2009 updates. The site didn't mention a lot about the pack, only that 9 vehicles would be in the toy cars range.^[38].

Boost Specials Pack

On November 21, 2008 Citerion announced via thier website the next item available for download in 2009 - the Carson Extreme Hotrod. The car was described as the fastest car in the game. The article also stated that the vehicle dynamics system had been rewired so that the new car handles, boosts, and drifts more realistically than any other car in the game. The article mentioned that this car was the first of two to accomodate the re-imagined Burnout Boost system, this is shown off by the blue flames in the pictures of the car.^[39].

Windows version

On May 9, 2008, Criterion officially announced Burnout Paradise will be coming to the Windows platform, a first for the series, with extras including new multiplayer content and community driven content.^[40][41]

In-game advertising

Beginning on October 6, 2008, in-game billboards featured ads for US Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama. Electronic Arts confirmed that the Obama campaign paid for the advertisements, marking the first time that a US presidential candidate has bought in-game advertising.^[42] The Obama campaign ran only on the Xbox 360 version of the game.

References

External links

• Official developer web site
• Official publisher website
• Wikia has a wiki on this subject at Burnout Paradise Wiki

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