Not your father's Burnout
Criterion decided to go in a different direction for Paradise. Instead of a grinding progression of event after event, you are dropped into a city.
Paradise City. Every junction is a new event, which you start by parking up and spinning your wheels, and they end at one of eight places, at each compass point. Explore the city, get to know the shortcuts, get to know the dodgy corners. Take every event as it comes. How to progress is entirely up to you. Fail an event? Start a new one that's around where you failed, or trek back if you want.
But I liked Revenge! They've changed too much!
Well then, no-one's stopping you playing Revenge. Some of the major features that you might miss are the lack of a Crash Mode and the lack of local multiplayer. But this is an entirely different game, and works as a whole very well. The open world setting also means that grand prix lap races have been axed, as well. Traffic Checking now works much better - instead of firing cars all over the road like a pinball machine, it'll now depend on your class of car a lot more. You can still send them careening in a 4X4 if you
want, though.
What you
won't miss is Stryker, the obnoxious DJ wanker.
Spoiler:
You now have DJ Atomika, fresh from Radio BIG and slightly less obnoxious and wanky.
No local multi? I had so much fun with my friends in Crash Mode!
It does suck a little. But trust me, once you get stuck in, it won't matter at all. The philosophy behind Burnout Paradise was that you should never see a menu if at all possible, and
never be removed from the gameplay. What little menus are required you can pull up with the d-pad, and you can hop straight into online without a hitch. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Unfortunately the nature of the open world means that it would be a massive drain on the system to have local multiplayer, and would mean that the locked 60 frames-per-second that is necessary for such a twitch-based game would have to be compromised. Crash Mode as it was in previous Burnouts doesn't fit this open-world, do anywhere setting. By its nature, it's very constrained.
There is a replacement for both of these, though - Showtime, and a very robust set of online features.
What else is new?
There's a handbrake. Miss a turn in a vast city and you're suddenly lost. Hit the brake and scream round and you're suddenly back on track. Or if you want, just find another shortcut to the finish line. Or quit out of the event and find some parked cars, and
Power Park into the space. Up to you.
As well as Race and Road Rage, there are a few new events.
Marked Man is a race from a junction to a finish point, and is kind of a mix between Road Rage and Race. You don't need to get there first, but you do need to get there - as unmarked black cars are all trying to ram you off the road. Get taken out too much and you fail. Survive to win.
Stunt Run is best described as Tony Hawk in a car. It sounds awful, but the only thing that really affects this is the combo mechanic. After doing any type of stunt - a jump, a flat spin, a barrel roll, whatever - you'll get a multiplier and some points. Drifts and boosts will gain you points. Almost everything will gain you points. And you'll also get a 'timer pie' at the top of the screen. This gives you five seconds in which to do another stunt. Fail to do so and you lose your combo. Do so, and refill your timer pie and keep your combo going! Fail to get the requisite amount of points within the time limit and you fail.
Fail.
Showtime is the reimagining of Crash Mode for an open world that I mentioned earlier. Hit R1 and L1 together (or RB and LB) and you'll launch into the air, bouncing your car along the street. A dollar damage amount for hitting other cars and billboards, and multipliers for buses, as well as boost for multiples of 5 crashes. Run out of boost, show's over, and your total is calculated.
Road Rules exist for every road in the game. They all have names and they can all be owned in two ways - a Showtime score beginning on that road, or the fastest time set on that road (a Time Road Rule). The game will automatically compare your scores to those of your friends and let you know if one of them beats your score. Beat a friend's score online in the same match, and you get to send a
Mugshot to them, mocking them.
Mugshots can be taken if you have an Xbox Live Vision Camera or a PS3-compatible USB camera (like the Playstation Eye). Get taken down by someone online? You've got three seconds to give them the finger before it takes a snapshot of you and it pops up on their screen. Great little feature and an opportunity to try on lots of pretty hats.
Freeburn is new to Burnout. It sounds like what it is. Just open up your 'Easy Drive' menu, which pops up in the corner of your screen while you're driving around, and select 'Online Freeburn'. Bam.
You're now in an online game with some other people.
Yes, it's that seamless.
You are driving around the same city, with the same level of detail, in the same place, with virtually no lag and no frame drops. Except you now have seven other people somewhere else in the city. It's very impressive.
Now you're in Freeburn, try out some Freeburn challenges. There are fifty two-player challenges, fifty three-player ones, and so on, up to eight-player, for a total of 250 challenges. These range from 'Everyone get 200 yards of drift' to 'Jump over each other while barrel rolling' to 'Crash into each other while airborne over the broken bridge'. And it's a ton of fun.
For completionists, there's a ton of
collectibles. 500 gates, 200 billboards, and fifty jumps to find. Stuck on any of 'em? On PS3? Lob your save on a USB stick and use the
Save Game Analyser, which will tell you where all the ones you need are located. And if that's not enough, there's eighty or so cars to collect - you'll see them boosting around the city like a maniac, and if you take 'em down, they're yours.
Oh wait, there's more - each car has a different
boost type. Aggression cars tend to be heavier and gain more boost from Oncoming and Traffic Checking (and can earn more boost in total), Stunt cars get more from... stunts, and Speed cars earn Boost like Stunt cars but can only use it once the boost is maxed out. Use all of a Speed car's boost in one go and you'll get a Burnout, and it'll refill part-way - all the way if you've done enough boost earning while losing the first lot. Keep doing this to get a Boost Chain and boost constantly.
I want to get involved, and get up-to-the-minute info!
Then check out
the official website. They also have a podcast that they release every week or so, called Crash FM.
Here's the RSS feed.
Criterion also runs contests for game content - some of the new stuff coming soon is community-created.
--
Didn't this come out already?
Paradise has been out for a good while. You might already have completed it to 100% - or
101%. But on July 10th, the 'Cagney' update was released through PSN, and Xbox Live gets it on August 4th, which adds more
stuff. On September 18th, the Davis Bike Pack will be launched. Which adds even more.
Cagney:
Spoiler:
I'm here to crash cars, not win Oscars!
No, no. Cagney is the codename for Criterion's first substantial batch of DLC (what they call 'Game-Changing Content,' or GCC), out on PS3 and 360 right now. This adds a bunch more functionality to the game that was not available at release - for free!
- Online Road Rage, Stunt Run, Marked Man
- 70 New Freeburn Challenges, including time limits and challenges with multiple goals
- At least two new vehicles (One very fast and heavy, but with no boost at all)
- At least five new paint jobs for your car, including two created by members of the community
- Rebalancing of ranked races
- Custom Soundtrack support on PS3
- Bug fixes and improvements to the UI and certain behaviour balancing
- Always recording Time Road Rules
To get the update on PS3, simply pop the disc in while online. Your system will tell you there's an update available, and will download it. On 360, first go to Xbox Live Marketplace and download the Burnout Paradise Cagney Pack. Once it's completed, load up the game while online and it will prompt you for a Title Update. Once it's done you're good to go.
A full new single-player mode for motorcycles, with a male or female rider, including against-the-clock events and races.
A fully customisable day/night cycle that traffic adheres to - if it's night, there's a lot less of it, and so on. If you want you can sync it to your system clock.
Dynamic weather. Watch it on Dead Man's Edge on a rainy night.
70 Bike-specific Freeburn Challenges - bringing the total to 490.
Did I mention that it's
free?
Kotaku have the official Criterion trailer
here,
Eastwood (expected Autumn/Fall 2008):
Registered User regular
Posts
Where did these ones come from?
PSN:RevDrGalactus/Steam
@gamefacts - Totally and utterly true gaming facts on the regular!
I recommend that you do.
EDIT: Looks like Microsoft found some bugs in the 360 version of Cagney. Current working date for release is July 24th. The PS3 update is out now in Japan, and will go out 9AM GMT in all other regions. I've updated the OP.
@gamefacts - Totally and utterly true gaming facts on the regular!
That really sucks, I love how it's now gonna be 2 weeks late for 360, the joys of MS certification.
AND SHE WOULDN'T GIVE IT TO ME
I suppose this is too late, but I wouldn't bother. It's out now in every region for the PS3, so just grab it.
@gamefacts - Totally and utterly true gaming facts on the regular!
Ehm, if they found BUGS in the update and are now fixing them, I will gladly wait a few days.
Are you really telling me that them having found and now fixing bugs is a BAD thing? You would rather get a buggy update? Really?
The joys of PC gaming.
Oh wait.
PSN:RevDrGalactus/Steam
new menus/intro screen/news screen are all very nice. the new weekly events and such look fun too. custom soundtracks are just awesome, though its kind of a shame it doesnt do it like the music in the real game (fade out when you crash etc). also the music volume goes up to 11, i dont know if it was always like that or what but it gave me a chuckle. new paint jobs are cool. looking forward to the new cars, i guess theyre unlocked through special events (the olympus is something this weekend for example). i really like how road rules are always on now, so you can get time road rules while youre just messing around without having to actually activate it. havent tried the new online modes yet, but im sure theyre awesome. hopefully tonight, hit me up PA dudes. i'll be around.
so yea, this patch is great. bring on the bikes!
edit: oh shit the citizen has sirens now. yesssssss.
edit edit: being able to crank NWOBHM while smashing into things at extreme speeds makes this game approximately 100x more radical. to the max.
AND SHE WOULDN'T GIVE IT TO ME
we need to get some big PA games going this weekend. tonight, tomorrow night... all the nights. it must be done.
AND SHE WOULDN'T GIVE IT TO ME
xwonderboyx is me PSN.
XBL - Follow Freeman
Between this, Bad Company and Civilization I think I can kiss my free time goodbye.
Great mindless fun.
http://www.suboptimist.com
PSN : Bolthorn
edit: apparently this weekend is not when you can get the olympus.
AND SHE WOULDN'T GIVE IT TO ME
any 360ians want to get taken down?
Well it's Microsoft Certification, so even if it's a bug than it will be 6 months before we get the update.
I am in for playing on the 360, I can't wait for the update.
I thought it had custom soundtracks on the 360, I believe it's a requirement
AND SHE WOULDN'T GIVE IT TO ME
That's the custom soundtrack capability built into all 360 games. In most games (if not all) it mutes the in-game music.
Yeah, it covers up the music, but it leaves the sound effects and the voice-overs (fuck you, DJ Atomika. Seriously, shut the fuck up. I know I lost that event. Asshole). The only difference between that and the in-game radio is that it keeps playing when you go to the Junkyard screen.
I think that's exactly what you'd want out of a custom soundtrack anyway, so it doesn't really make sense to complain about a lack of custom soundtracks when it's right there and it works.
Hmm, I did not know that. I'll have to set it up the next time I play.
Also, I was disapointed to find out that the Cagney release was not today as I'd thought. Back to Gears of War, I guess.
Season's greetings, Satan!
I'm up for racing online anyway, 360 handle is on my sig.
Also I'm just going to throw in the mandatory complaint. No crash mode!?...Really?
PSN:Hakira__
I chimed in to add that, while the above is true, a couple of other people and I have noticed a couple of lacking features the OST has over the customs in this game. One: right bumper to skip tracks are disabled for customs, and two: no title display / artist info on popup.
OK, you say, but that's the nature of running music from the dashboard, right?
To that I would cite an example of another racing title that did feature those things for the customs. Released a while back for 360, Flatout: Ultimate Carnage by Bugbear Entertainment has what I mentioned. Although I understand if Criterion simply handed over all music controls to the dashboard rather than attempt to figure out how to control / display the customs, I'd like to see a little consistency.
you can skip tracks on the ps3 version, i dunno about the 360 one though. true about the lack of artist/title popping up but i know all the music ive got on my ps3 so its not really a thing for me.
also getting the pcpd special is kicking my ass at the moment, ive been trying for the past hour or so.
AND SHE WOULDN'T GIVE IT TO ME
As I said though, 360 version has its in-game song skip button disabled for custom soundtracks.
Notice anything different in Cagney? I think a certain real-life automaker had some objections.
PSN:RevDrGalactus/Steam
There is consistency. You pointed out an exception.
Season's greetings, Satan!
i finally got it. i went oncoming the entire way to keep the burnouts coming and jumped up out of the underground on that one superjump ramp, for added fanciness. you just cant crash at all, which is hard when a stiff gust of wind will wreck the wtr.
AND SHE WOULDN'T GIVE IT TO ME
http://www.criteriongames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=929