March 08, 2009

Take Me Down to Paradise City

Burnout: Paradise is a fabulous game. I'm a little late to the reintroduction and without Live Gold for the moment, but returning to it feels wonderful. And now with motorcycles!

I used to drive around Paradise City on a nightly basis about a year ago. I'm not usually into racing games, but this one is set apart from the rest. Not only is it known for crashing and destroying opponents, but this one added a new twist with the open-world aspect. You can explore the city on your own time outside of events. Then just pull up to any intersection for one of a number of event types including a regular Race, Marked Man (where you race to a location before being destroyed by some hit man cars), Burning Route (timed solo race to unlock an extra vehicle), Stunt Run (increasingly dangerous driving for record-breaking point totals of which I'm not too good), and the infuriatingly awesome Road Rage (destroy a multitude of opponents!).

Oh, and the online is indeed masterfully created. The drop-in/drop-out nature is great for quick challenges/races and easy group creation. I put more online hours into this game in the past than any other games I had. Yet I still have yet to try the online Road Rage or Marked Man late additions.

The motorcycles feel really good, but nothing too special from what I've seen offline. This resurgence into the Burnout world is definitely a hot addiction to my gameplay behaviors at the cost of my post-apocalyptic travels through the wastes of D.C.

-- "So when you say psychosomatic, you mean like he could start a fire with his thoughts?"

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