burnout paradise review

Burnout Paradise Remastered, a lazy reissue

Burnout Paradise has been out for 10 years now. Yes, it puts a little slap behind the ears, we will not lie. But since it is easier to rejuvenate a game than our bodies, do not complain too much and contemplate the one that stands today before us: Burnout Paradise Remastered. Are a few scalpel and collagen shots enough to make a relevant purchase in 2018? Answer in the large block of characters included below.

ALWAYS ALSO FUN

It only takes a few races to understand it: Burnout Paradise is still just as fun, 10 years after the original game was released. We thought that, perhaps, after Forza Horizon 2 and 3, its open world would have gotten a bit old and to tell the truth it is nothing. More compact, more concentrated, the open-world of Paradise always surprises as much by the success of its level-design. The map is full of secret passages, shortcuts, roundabout paths, springboards, which we sometimes take in total improvisation, sometimes because we begin to know the best deviations. And it works extremely well: these incessant changes of direction clock the races and as much to say that the rhythm quickly becomes untenable for those which would have a little weak tension. If the AI is still not very combative, the game goes terribly fast and the slightest late decision is sanctioned by a violent crash. As a result of which one constantly feels very pleasant rushes of adrenaline. The races are always so crazy, for sure!

If in terms of level-design, Burnout Paradise Remastered always plays at the top of the basket and has nothing to envy to the top names in the genre, several elements smell a little like mothballs. At the time, fans had judged that the open world was useless, and that it slowed down the action of the player: condemned to have to go from objective to objective by the terrestrial way, the player cannot select a run from the map and launch it automatically. In 2018, inevitably, this annoys a little, especially since the game menus have not changed and still offer little flexibility. We would have liked the developers to add the possibility of teleporting from one corner to another of the map, it's undeniable.

REMASTER BUT NOT TOO MUCH

It is easy to agree, Burnout Paradise Remastered is entertaining, without surprise. This being a question arises: why invest today 40 € in a title which, ultimately, is not much different from the original version, published 10 years ago, remember? Certainly, the game has a nice smoothing, and we are told about 4K, however in reality, only cars and vegetation seem to benefit. The rest is crisp and (almost) smudge-free, but the display distance is just right, and the yellowish tint from EA racing games from 10 years ago is still there. It is as if Paradise City is constantly bathed in a fine cloud of pollution, which is not really pleasant for the eyes. Without being ugly, this remaster otherwise deserved more work and it is hard to see how to recommend the purchase of this title to owners of Xbox One, who can already play the original game via the backward compatibility of the console; PC side, the software has been modded and patched dozens of times by the community, often resulting in much better results. There are still PlayStation 4 players who can let themselves be tempted by the one that remains one of the best arcade racing games of the last twenty years.

THE COMPLETE TEST OF BURNOUT PARADISE, BY RIVAOL (01/23/2008)

Difficult not to draw the parallel between Burnout and Need For Speed as Paradise re-uses with more or less success key elements of the other franchise of Electronic Arts. In this new opus, the player sees himself propelled in a fairly large city which shelters a mine of tests of all kinds. Paradise City is however not that different from the environments already covered in Revenge and Dominator in particular, and does not even deprive itself to repump a little of Need For Speed Most Wanted. If the resolutely innovative discourse of the developers suggested that this Burnout would take advantage of the transition to new generation consoles to take some risks at this level, the reality is quite different. But this visual deja vu, sublimated by an engine already perfectly well in his sneakers, is not necessarily to displease the faithful of the series, little inclined to brutal changes. And when the technical power follows, via a rather stunning animation speed and an extremely advanced damage modeling, we can only bow and enjoy the landscape. Between two crashes.

A landscape that is both urban and rural with an eastern side of the city crisscrossed by a multitude of large intersecting avenues and a greener western part, made up of tortured and endless roads. It is in this universe that the player will have to, using a female voice-over very Needforspeedesque, provoke his opponents by stopping at traffic lights. A bunch of tests await him at these crossroads. A maximum of them must be won in order to develop a license which will successively know several licenses symbolizing the level reached. The real novelty of this Burnout is therefore the opening to "GPS" races in which no fixed route will be imposed on pilots. It is up to them and them alone to choose the route to take to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible. This goes hand in hand with the disappearance of invisible side rails. Big black dot on the other hand to this choice to take again the concept of Need For Speed, the game does not include any GPS. Logical data in racing (despite the presence of some indications on the direction to follow) but radically disorienting in exploration mode. A Mini-Map is good for the meeting but only covers a limited part of the map and the back and forth between the game and the pause screen will be numerous and mandatory to check the effectiveness of the route taken . Not everyone will have the patience to drive long minutes between each race, knowing that a simple touch at high speed with a third-party vehicle may be enough to send you into the background.

The list of events for this Burnout Paradise is not surprising and does not mark a major development within the series which used to cross a course with each episode. On the map, the color of the icons allows the player to quickly identify the nature of the race: Classic Race, Road Rage (succession of takedowns), Tracking (the player is followed and attacked by competing vehicles and must arrive in one track at destination), Cascade Sequence (the objective being to chain jumps, skids, boost, destruction of signs ... Within a time limit), Burning Course (crossing points to pass with an imposed vehicle). In parallel, Chrono and Crash Challenges await the player on each street. Manual crashes now benefit from the "Showtime" function which more or less replaces the CrashBreaker system. If there is no longer any way to detonate your vehicle in the middle of a rough traffic, it is possible to steer it, as it was already the case before, but this time, giving as many impulses as necessary for the carcass of the car. As long as the player manages to hit enough traffic vehicles, he can continue his crash and thus raise the rating of the damage inflicted by the carnage. A principle which, let's face it, has a slightly twisted side and does not have the charm of a crash caused by a calculated trajectory or a Crashbreaker explosion triggered at the most opportune moment.

But Paradise City is also a set of services, the Drive-In. For example, during a race or in the exploration phase, the player will be able to fill the boost gauge of his car while passing by a service station or repair his bodywork by using a siding, without even having to stop. Painting workshops also allow you to change the color of your body. Finally, the cars unlocked during the game must be scrapped. Why shipbreaking, and not in a beautiful concession filled with brilliant models of cleanliness? Because in Burnout Paradise, the "normal" state of a car is that of decomposition, made of scratches and crumpled sheets. Precisely, to unlock access to these cars, the player will not only have to win a certain number of races but then, make a takedown on the car in question after having located it in Paradise. In other words, it is better not to let the opportunity slip away once the racing car is under your nose. But the fairly low level of difficulty of the game avoids disappointments and no feeling of frustration emanates from races or duels. Once acquired, the car is therefore stored in a list which will extend up to 75 models offering particular types of boost and distinct characteristics in terms of speed, boost precisely, and power.

The title gameplay developed by Criterion is very close to that of Dominator. In reality, if not the presence of a handbrake useful for abruptly changing direction and the famous Showtime, we find the same sensations and the simplicity of access dear to all Burnouts. The principle of takedowns has not changed and is even simplified as it takes just a small stroller to send a competitor waltzing against a wall. Note, however, that collisions with traffic forgive less and less, regardless of the size of the car. The driving side is therefore not neglected. And knowing how to drive, you will need it if you want to show off your talents on Xbox Live or the Playstation Network, to taste multiplayer. The absence of a local multi will force the most keen to connect to the net and participate in Freeburn online or in a whole bunch of classified or unclassified races as well as a host of challenges (300 in total). Up to 8 players can compete in multi to push the pleasure a little further. And fortunately because the 120 solo tests are finally done fairly quickly and suffer from a certain repetition. A defect common to all Burnouts that the most assiduous will be able to ignore by trying to unlock everything that can be. And the list is particularly long.

The notes
+ Positive points
Still as impressive pileup
The level-design of open worlds, with all its shortcuts and alternative paths to discover
Driving hyper fun arcade
The vintage soundtrack, a pleasure for the ears
DLCs are included

-Negative points
A lazy remaster, especially considering the price
Navigation is even less pleasant than 10 years ago
AI is not really pugnacious

Burnout Paradise Remaster has lost none of its madness and it hasn't aged a bit ... at least in terms of playing pleasure. For a "remaster", the touch-up work is rather light and cosmetic surgeons have had a light hand on the scalpel. Certainly the game is more fluid since it goes to 60fps, but the image processing is quite uneven and offers little gain compared to the original version. A title to reserve only to those who no longer have the opportunity to play Burnout Paradise, therefore.