This is the official Blast Magazine preview for the upcoming Electronic Arts game Burnout: Paradise coming soon for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.

Gamers can be a fickle bunch. Change too much in a well-established series, and watch the flames arise, but rest on your laurels too much and you’ll be hearing cries of the series becoming stagnant (Madden).

Burnout Paradise, the latest in EA’s high-octane, crash and smash racing simulation series seems to be destined for controversy. On the surface, Paradise, which releases in mid-January for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 looks like a sharp departure from the series roots. Gone is the one race at a time linear gameplay in favor of a new, wide-open sandbox style gameplay. Gamers can now tool around the massive Paradise City, wrecking what they want – when they want and taking place in events at their own leisure.

While some might cry foul at the developers for taking such a large step away from the formula that made the series so popular — it must be noted that at its core — Paradise plays and feels just like the older games, only with much, much more freedom.

In most open-world games, parts of the world are locked until you complete certain missions or chapters. Not so in Paradise City. Right from the start, the entire city is yours to explore, and it is massive. While you will be able to take part in any of Paradise City’s events in any order you please, you will have to wait to unlock the nicer cars. It’s alright though, even your junker-cars can be given high-class looks by visiting one of the game’s many gas stations or body shops, which get added to your map every time you visit one.

Anyone familiar with The Burnout series knows that it’s not so much about racing as it is causing destruction and crashes — which Paradise looks to take to the next level. I’m no masochist or anything — but crashes look and sound amazing. When you wreck, a grainy, black and white filter slows down the action, allowing you to hear and see your ride bite the dust. I found myself purposely crashing to see how many different ways I could find to see new animations.

Burnout Paradise is different, but a lot of fun so far. Anyone familiar with the series should give it a look when it launches in early 2008. Stay with Blast Magazine for the review.

About The Author

Joe Sinicki is Blast's Executive Editor. He has an unhealthy obsession with Back to the Future and wears cheese on his head. Follow him on Twitter @BrewCityJoe

One Response

  1. Gus Swan

    Us ‘fickle’ Burnout fans have some specific issues with how the game plays, rather than an aversion to the idea of a sandbox style game. It has been pointed out that the map is virtually useless, and relies on the user memorising where events begin, and that if you mess up an event – which frequently happens in Burnout right at the end, you cannot just restart – you need to DRIVE right to the beginning and re-enter the race. I am suprised you didn’t find that incredibly annoying in the demo when you played it, Joe.

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