Gaming Signal: Burnout Paradise Demo Impressions

Burnout Paradise Demo Impressions

So yesterday EA decided to grace us with a demo of Burnout Paradise. After waiting for around 45 minutes for the stupid thing to download (853 megs), I finally had a chance to mess around with it.

Yeah, I'm buying it.

First off, from a presentation and visual perspective, it reminded me of Need For Speed: Most Wanted, and that's a good thing. Everything is well done, slick, and really looks nice.

The game has a bit of a GTA feel to it, as, instead of using a menu to start events, you drive around town and hit both triggers at intersections to start the event there. So you are free to tear around the city, finding the hidden jumps and shortcuts, and pick and choose which events you want to try. Various points of interest appear as icons on the map which helps you decide where you want to go. I didn't find a crash event, but there is a sprint and a burning lap event to try, and you are free to find your own way to the finish, I don't think the course is closed in any way. What this means is you don't have to follow the crowd of racers. If you know of a faster way, you should follow it.

Adding a friend to the mix is a matter of hitting 'right' on the D-pad and sending an invitation. There will be many co-op events, some for as many as 8 players. Nice! Apparently you will also be able to drive up to an intersection and play with people online for that particular race. I didn't try that, even though MP is supposedly in the demo.

But it didn't take much to convince me that EA and Criterion have done a bang up job moving the Burnout series in a different, but still fun, direction.

January 2008 is just around the corner...