Xbox 360
It was always going to be hard for Criterion Games to produce this fifth installment of Burnout and still make it fresh. Speculation ran rife as to how it could be done and thankfully, they have done the series proud once again. It's bigger, faster, meaner and more challenging than before, yet is sure to divide fans like a car ripped in half by well-placed t-bone at 200mph.
It's the same old Burnout career format - win races, move up a class, unlock some new stuff and so on. Only now the carnage takes place across an entire city, which is fully available from the start. It's daunting due to it's sheer size, yet encourages casual exploration. Right from the first second, you are given the choice to tackle the game at your own pace. What you do in Paradise City is entirely down to you.
Some may find the scope of the game intimidating with a lack of obvious signposting, others will relish finding little shortcuts here and there in the form of subtle back alleys or cunningly-placed ramps. To start an event, players simply burn rubber on the spot at one of over fifty junctions. You can take part in simple races from point a to b on the map, road rages where you must cause other players to crash, marked man, where you are hunted down by armoured cars and must make it to the finish line in one piece and stunt runs which encourage insane driving.
Of all the modes, races can be surprisingly taxing, with the less than effective radar providing little clear warning of which turn-offs to take. Miss a turn as a result of this and you will probably never recover from it. You must also finish 1st in every event to win, which is infuriating. Even more annoying is a lack of a 'restart event' option, meaning you must drive all the way back to the starting point on the map to retry the event.
This aside, Paradise is a ballsy title, graphically stunning, from the mountain ranges to the bustling shopping districts each area has identity and character. EA trax return to annoy and irritate (Avril Lavigne, what in god's name are you doing in a Burnout game!?), yet there are some nifty tunes from earlier in the series that will raise a smile from die-hard fans.
Crash mode is a funny thing, it doesn't progress career mode this time round, rather, it is a hi-score challenge. Slamming both bumpers at once will enter the new Showtime mode, which sends your car hurtling through the air in slow motion, the aim is to rip through as many cars as possible, keeping the clock and combo meters rising. If your wreckage stops, a tap of 'A' will send it careering through the air again for a limited time. Pure genius!
So it's Burnout Jim, but not as we know it. This will surely put some fans off for life, but the majority will continue to love it's unique brand of mayhem and gusto for many sequels to come.
