Burnout Paradise review and discussion

• Offical Homepage - Link
• Developer - Criterion Games
• Publisher - Electronic Arts
• Genre - Racing, Sandbox
• Engine - RenderWare
• Release date (PC) - February 4, 2009

Minimum Requirements :

Windows XP

Service Pack 2 or greater
CPU: 2.8 Ghz Pentium 4
RAM: 1GB
Graphics Card: 128MB with Pixel Shader 3.0
Internet Connection: 512kbps or greater


Windows Vista

CPU: 3.2 Ghz Pentium 4
RAM: 1.5GB
Graphics Card: 128MB with Pixel Shader 3.0
Internet Connection: 512kbps or greater

The game also requires your system have DirectX 9.0C. The base game itself requires only 4GB.


Introduction


It's a arcade driving game like no other.
To win - you must dominate, you have be be agressive and have rather quick reflexes.

This is the first Burnout game ever released on PC, while on consoles it has been a very popular game serie since 2002. The console version of this game has been out for a year. The game itself focuses on realistic physics and really fast gameplay in a open world with hundreds of events to complete.

As you start the game with a rather slow car, you will start building up your score for higher Burnout Licence. Remember, there is no second or third place - you either win or lose.

Since the PC version includes all the DLC thus far, it means the Day & Night cycle, weather effects and Bike's are already in the game and theres this newly released DLC called "Party Pack" which is for offline multiplayer purposes.


Gameplay

The first thing you notice after playng for a while - there are practically no loading times at all. When you first launch the game, you'll have two short loading screens but that's about it. In-game the loading screens are absent providing you with seamless gameplay.

Your overall goal is to get the Burnout Elite licence. While free-roaming in Paradise City you have the options to do diffrent events, such as :

• Stunt Run - where you must find the jumps to score points and succeed to pass the required score mark.
• Road Rage - where you must get enough takedowns without getting your own car totally totalled.
• Marked Man - where you must hurry to the finish line while there are 3-"enemy" cars tryng to take you down.
• Burning Route - you must get to the finish within the time limit. A time-trial basically.
• Race - where you must win the race obiviously.

There are also Burnout signs to destroy (120 total), Road Challanges to defeat (to complete a certain route within time limit) and to find all Super Jumps around Paradise City and to smash through all 400 gates what are usually shortcuts.

Just as Playstation 3 version had Trophys and Xbox360 version had Achievements the PC version has " Burnout Awards" what are essentially the same - you get them for doing something special or completing something.

When winning races you get sometimes a new car to cruise around Paradise City, to own it you must hunt it down and takedown it, after doing it it'll be avalible at the junkyard. Simple. There are total 75 cars to own.


Visuals


It's easily one of the prettiest car games to date, the visuals are sharp and smooth just like the game is on consoles.
A nice feature what Criterion added is SSAO - it's an effect that uses soft shadows to add extra depth. Enclosed spaces naturally receive less light than open spaces and look darker – that helps us to see how close objects are to each other. But it *will* bring a mediocre gpu to it's knees.

Comparison of SSAO off/on : Link


1) You can tell how close the building overhang and lamp post are to each other, because they cast AO on each other but not the brick wall which is further away.
2) The plant growing out of the old tire becomes more substantial.
3) The fan is clearly deep inside the box because it’s darker. The corrugated wall has real depth.
4) Even objects far away gain a level of depth...the ladder is clearly close to the water tower.
5) A wall that looks flat but isn’t gains depth as dark corners become apparent.
6) Even the grass looks like it’s got substance and depth as it darkens the ground.

Overall I cannot personally say something about visuals, as I'm running the game in 1280x800 resolution and with 30~50fps while I'm playng the PS3 version on FullHD TV with 60fps, but still - the graphics are stunningly beautiful.


Settings

At Configuration Tool you have the possibility to change resolution, number of monitors, add anti-aliasing, change quality level, use webcam and set up speakers.
While in-game there are some more options. (Such as Shadows, Detail and SSAO)

On my laptop with specs in signature, the game runs quite well on these settings :

1280x800 resolution (Native)
Highest settings
Motion Blur set on Always
SSAO set to off

And my fps is around 30~50. Usually it's around 45~50 but in downtown when there are alot of cars around you and you drive at high speed you can sometimes notice small frame drops (to 30's). Leaving that aside, it's a very well optimized port.

Sound

Another thing why Burnout Paradise is highly praised. The soundtrack has over 40 songs and the sound effects in the game are excellent.
The main theme is "Paradise City" by Guns and Roses.

You can find the full track-list from here : Link


Overall

Criterion has done a wonderful job bringing a Burnout game to a PC, it includes all the DLC released so far and will be updated with future DLC aswell, it runs just fine even with mediocre computers and they have added some nice features.
One reason why Burnout serie is so popular is because the crashes, they are being shown in slow-motion and with great detail and physics.
Theres also online-multiplayer, if you're positive about your driving skills then you can try to race/road rage/stunt-run with other drivers around the world to test your skills.

Few screencaps from Gamespot.

Image 1

Image 2

Image 3

Few gameplay videos from YouTube.

Gameplay Video 1

Gameplay Video 2

Grab the demo right over here.

Link - Thank RaYYaN for this!

 

I guess I'll buy it once it hits steam. I stumbled upon this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytQAXOIgshI
I don't know what were the specs of that Precision but it looked fairly smooth looking forward to it.

 

Will it be available through Steam?

 

Pre-ordered it yesterday, not released here untill the 20th(apparantly) but according to Wolf04 it's very well optimised

 

It was a dissapointment compared to burnout 2 and takedown

 

It's just a little diffrent.
Free-roaming isn't Burnout style, and neither are Bikes .. but the day & night cycle, weather effects and great visuals with acceptable physics make it up.

Rumours are, that the next Burnout will be more like Takedown/Revenge. (But it'll be console exclusive, like the rest of Burnouts)

 

I see it today, think Im going to buy that look very very nice

 

SSAO KILLS my frames on my 7811FX, haven't tried on my main computer yet though.

 

Should I make a new thread for a review, or post here? : o

 

Post the review here man

I love BURNOUT!!!!!!!!!!!!
PLayed em' all from 2 onwards except this (no 360/PS3)

Can't wait to get this, hadn't realized it was out.

It also looks like it will run maxed out on my rig.

Thanks for the specs, and starting the thread akuma (+rep )
Also, how does it run on your rig

 

You can add the review in your first post, and when you do, PM me and I'll change the title to "Burnout Paradise - Review and Discussion", or whatever you want

 

Alright, added review to the first post.

 

ZOMG, I completely forgot about Burnout. Hopefully, it will run alright on my laptop.

 

I played all of them and this one was dissapointment for me.
It's a different style then the previous ones. I guess if I didn't play the other ones before this I would probably dig it.
It's still a great game but it might b a dissapointment to fans of previous titles.

 

I was going to thumbnail your big image, but I see you just added a link for it

Nice review btw!

EDIT: The yellow text is impossible to read without highlighting it. Try changing it to a different color.

 

Alright, thanks! ^^

Another thing to note when installing the game is, that there is a Trial Mode avalible. Great for those who want to borrow someones copy to see if the game runs fine on their computers.

 

Thankyou for the review

Is there a demo for the pc (can't seem to find one)
Will it run on my ati mobility radeon hd 3450 with a whopping 2.0ghz core 2 duo t5800
This is the studio 15.

 

Anyone with a XPS M1730 I can say this game runs at all High settings 4xAA 1920x1200 60fps.

SSAO definitely kills the performance. But other than that all other graphical options on the highest 60 fps 1920x1200

 

Yup, highest settings (no SSAO) with AA @ 1680x1050 60fps all the time.

If I turn on SSAO and turn off AA with highest settings it became 18fps all the time. lol yea right

 

Wheres the demo?

 

The game reeks of console port. Not seeing anywhere to change settings, such as SSAO. I haven't even figured out how to exit the dang thing without hitting alt+f4

 

haha just press Esc and then hit F2 twice.

 

Please guys answer me where can i find the demo?

 

Wow f2 twice. Way to complicated for my liking. SSAO really does take a major hit on frame rate. vSync has it locked at 60fps, so I"m not sure what I'm really getting with SSAO off, but on, tanks me down to 29-30fps. Way not worth it in my book.

 

I got this game but facing a problem. The graphics is just similar to gta like cant see road..everything is messed up and cant play coz of mixed graphics. Help me out wid this. I have 8800msli,x9000 xps m1730

 

What is SSAO?

 

Ambient Occlusion. In a nutshell, it acts similar to ray tracing, but with the alpha channel only. An object will be brighter if next to a white wall with light reflecting off it, whereas an object will not receive as much 'bounce' light if its next to a dark wall. It tries to mimick how real light casts and bounces.

 

Be patient. I'm pretty sure there is no demo.

 

may be they use something like ALT+Q (or shift+Q) like resident evil

 

Yeah it´s strange that SSAO works great in Crysis but dips like crazy in this game with it turned on. However the image quality is not drastic between on and off.

 

Are you able to use the Xbox 360 controller?

 

Thanks for that dude

You max it at 1280x800, and my specs are similar to yours so I should be able to max it

W00T W00T!!!!!!!!!!

I'm pretty sure that you can
Most racing games are crap with a keyboard

 

A demo was confirmed in December I think, and my version of the game can the option either to put in a CD key, or install a trial version.

Perhaps it just hasn't hit download outlets yet.

 

Yeah I use my Logitech Chillstream controller. Much better than the regular 360 controller and looks almost the same

 

Where did you get yours? I had one for my old xbox and that thing was awesome! I can seem to find one for the 360

 

I really wanted to get that, but amazon shipping to where I live is shaky + customs is a pain so I went with the normal one

Still I have a chillstream for my PS2
But had no converter to put it in my pc

 

For all those looking for a trial/demo of the game, you can download it from here

http://nzone.com/object/nzone_burnoutparadise_downloads.html

Maybe a mod or the Op can add this into the first post, so that everyone who opens the thread can find a place to download it quickly

Hope this helps

 

Added to 1st post. Thanks. ^^

 

No worries

Glad I could help

 

Hey Akuma. Is your XPS overclocked?

 

Yep, a little. (600/1200/800)

By the way, I found out that I can put Anti-Aliasing to x4 and the framerate stays the same but picture quality is much better.

 

Am installing it right now, lets see how it realy is...

 

THANKS MAN really apriciate it. How long is the demo period anyone know?
I have been looking for this for a while. I will give you +1 rep if I knew how to lol.

Anybody, how does this run on the dell studio 15 with 256mb ati mobiltiy radeon 3450 and 2.0ghz t5800 core 2 duo.

 

Should be just fine with medium settings on 1280x800.

To give rep, click on the scales, type something and press "Add to reputation".

 

OK THIS IS VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY IMPORTANT ON INSTALLING THE DEMO

Make sure you extract the rar to a folder if you dont and hit setup.exe in the rar file later on you would get an error while installing.
I learned the hard way.
So again just install it to a folder then run setup.exe and it works.

 

OK just finished the trail version, it runs awsome on my 3450. I ran it on 1280 with medium setting and 4x aa with 20 fps which is playable in my book.

 

The Chillstream I have is for the PC, don´t think it is compatible with the 360.

Actually I haven´t even tried for my 360 yet to connect it

But for games like Burnout and GTA IV it is great to have.

 

Burnout is gpu dependant. It really makes my gpu work a lot not my cpu. I guess thats why the lowest standards are a pentium 4 2.8 ghz.

 

Can't wait to try it

Have an exam 2moro so it will have to be sunday

Glad to hear it is well optimized, for a second I was scared it might be another GTA IV

 

I can confirm, that X360 controller works just fine with this game. I'll try with Sixaxis and DualShock 3 later.