Burn, crash, speed, and racing have been in Criterion's kings in the arcade racing with their great franchise of Burnout and exclusive for Xbox 360. They're back with their new title Burnout Paradise... taking you back to the paradise city with a great soundtrack and Paradise City of Guns and Roses couldn't be left out. Every time the developers cook something up and come back with great new modes and features to make the game much better every time while introducing new gamers to the Burnout family. So if you want some carnage and pumping adrenaline, Burnout paradise is the game for you... because it will blow you out with its blazing, fast and intense gaming action while providing a very good control on the racer.

One great trademark of the new Burnout Paradise is the simplicity and the user experience in the game with the introduction of the open world. Open world enables the user to just race all the city and entering races at crossroads while removing and skipping any loading parts or repetitive game-play. If you want to enter an event you just simply stop at a crossroad and the event will appear on the center top of the screen and you just press the button and you start without any loading and menus. You can do whatever you want, wherever you want and whenever you want. The game is not so easy for the fact that you have to work hard to unlock all 75 cars in the game, but don't worry because you will not be limited on what you can do around the city with all stunt jumps and bonuses you find along the road.

The city includes a lot of ways you can either get bonuses or stunts along the way while giving you opportunities to find hidden areas which will help you get shortcuts during your racing with hidden passages, underground passes and all sorts of cool hitting spots where you can smash through billboards and other great stunts. Along the way you will find great space to make all sorts of jumps direct from your imagination. The map provides a lot of ramps and kickers on the side which you can use to make your barrel rolls and great stunt runs.

When running into a race in Paradise City there is no way that the user can cancel the race and return to the starting line so to restart the race. For some people could be a drawback but for others not. Yes there is a drawback that if you loose you will need to drive back to the starting line if you want to restart, but then again it helps you to remain motivated and not getting stuck on the same race because wherever you are you will be surrounded by races starting point so you will not have to drive all the way back to downtown or wherever for a race. The only drawback is that you cannot just quit from the race in the middle of it and you have to drive to the end of it even if you are 100% sure that you will loose. This will help you to experience a better approach to the events and decrease the annoyance fact of the game.

Paradise City is split into eastern and downtown section offering dense map details and features. Even during races which you have to go from point A to point B you have the freedom to create your own routes to the finish line. Although this is a great concept that you can pass from anywhere you want, if you don't take the route that the others take you will reduce the fun and action which the game is about. Also you must be careful not to take a different route which will make you take longer to finish and end up in a highway which takes you to the other sided of the map. Apart from this, I think this freedom in racing is great! Especially the fact that there is no set route you will not find closed roads which remove the fun and quick thinking during the game... because taking the wrong road will lead you to the last place. Another thing that helps your creativity is the lack of the route indicator in the compass which does not help you in the route, but don't panic because this was intended to be like this since it will help you to create your own routes and not relying on the compass to direct your driving. Create routes on the spot and think faster to choose the road to take.

Races are not the only thing you will get from Paradise City as the game offers the classic Road Rage where it's like a race from point A to point B but with a small difference. AI cars will try to crush you and destroy your car along the way, so you must make a survival run to the finish line because you will be constantly attacked by the two black mysterious cars.

The crash mode was depreciated from the game and replaced by Showtime events completely re-invented, the mode is still like crash mode but basically Criterion changed the name and included some cool new features to it. It's about showing and performing a great crash. Basically it's a mode where Criterion let you choose what you do and motivate your creativity rather than imposing something for you to do.

New to Burnout Paradise City is the Stunt event which is a fresh new idea in the game. You are limited to achieve a certain amount of point in a timeframe. Beside gaining points from sliding turns or boosting you will get bonus point multipliers for jumping ramps, crashing gates and barrel rolls which will give you double points. You will need to think fast to keep your bonus combo because after some time that you don't do any stunts, the bonus will reset.

The cars are brand new creations and Criterion done a fantastic job in the actual design of the cars. There are 30 new cars are all unique in looks and performance. The cars are all different from each other having performance, boost achievement and looks. About the boost, all cars achieve the boost differently depending if you make a great crash, driving on the wrong side of the wrong and other stuff which you wouldn't normally do in your normal day driving.

Paint shop you will get your car re-painted in real-time. There are all new crashes in the car system of Burnout Paradise, with crash model where the car will only stop when the wheels come off. If the wheels are still attached to the car, then you're still in business and alive for more action. During the game one cool thing is that once you earn your license you will be rewarded a car which can be chosen from the junkyard. Apart from cars that you achieve from license awards if you see a racing car streaming down the road, if you take it down you will win the car and also placed in your junkyard.

As regarding online play, the game system is quite great! Especially for the fact that to go online you don't need to go through menus and stuff... just invite friends to your game and play! Everything is changeable and manageable from within the game.

The game is a great product which runs very smoothly having great sound effects with crisp graphics running at 60fps and make the crashes really fantastic which slows the game while crumpling your car body making a great dramatic effect.

Conclusion

Burnout Paradise like any other game has its good and bad sides... but the game is a must have for the fact of the great pumping action it provides with huge adrenaline shots. The open world change was great and pretty much appreciated giving a great experience of racing and neverending gaming. This is game is a must have for fun and action!