Criterion’s uber-awesome Burnout Paradise was a lot of things to a lot of gamers—including an expansive open-world drive-fest and the source of more than a year’s worth of free and paid DLC. But the glaring lack of the fan-favorite Crash Mode left a bitter taste in some gamers’ mouths, akin to discovering that the Everything Pizza you’d just ordered had somehow arrived without sauce. After all, the Burnout series has always been about creating as much spectacular vehicular mayhem as possible, and not being able to bounce and aftertouch your wreck around the environment while stacking up collateral damage just seemed, well, wrong.

Enter Burnout Crash, a digital download that’s literally all about the sauce. And the silly. While it’s best consumed in small bites, this a game that speaks to the seven year-old in all of us—you know, the one who loved to create 20-car Hot Wheels pile-ups in the driveway.

Unlike every other Burnout game you’ve test-driven, Crash abandons the series’ third-person perspective for a top-down view. Gameplay doesn’t even involve using a gas pedal: You steer into a busy intersection, crash into cars, then smash the “A” button to create huge chain-reaction crash-explosions and maneuver your wreck to derail the rest of the traffic. Each time your crashbreaker meter tops out—like every few seconds—you can launch another explosion.

Each intersection has three different play modes. The most straightforward is Road Trip, which finds you trying to prolong a single crash by bouncing around the area until five cars have managed to escape the carnage. Rush Hour is more straightforward, challenging you to rack up the highest crash score within 90 seconds and rewarding you with a satisfying nuclear explosion when time’s finally up. Pile Up, meanwhile, is all about economy—you need to build up the biggest pile of cars with a limited stream of traffic. Every car that escapes drops your inferno bonus multiplier, which means you’ll score far less at the end when it’s time to set all the buildings on fire. Rush Hour is easily the most user-friendly of the modes, and the place where it’s easiest to pick up stars that unlock new cars and stages.

Burnout Crash sports a glove compartment filled with goofball touches, and sounds are a big part of the fun. No, we’re not talking about the melodramatic announcer, whose cries of “COOL!” every time you set off an especially explosive crash wear thinner than ten-year-old tires. It’s the musical touches that really amuse, starting with the game’s theme song– The Primitives’ “Crash.” Salt ‘N’ Pepa’s “Push It” plays when you fill up your crash meter enough to unleash a bulldozer. Smash the gold car that’s hidden somewhere in the buildings that line each level and you’ll be treated to a snippet of Spandau Ballet’s (yes, Spandau Ballet) “Gold.”

Special features and super events can be unlocked at each intersection by filling your crash (not your crashbreaker) meter, and these are also hilarious and clever. A phalanx of good cops might show up to block off a traffic escape route. The ice cream truck, complete with musical jingle, might freeze traffic solid, giving you the chance to make Honda-flavored ice cubes. Pizza trucks patrol certain levels, and if you can destroy them, you’re rewarded with a Wheel of Fortune minigame that yields a bonus effect. (“It’s like roulette, but with cheese.”) If you can jack your score high enough, Mother Nature might even lend a hand to the destruction with a timely tornado or a blizzard.

As you unlock new cars and new intersections in ways that’ll seem second nature to any Burnout fan, the difficulty begins to ramp up like an overpass in Charleston, challenging you with civil engineering wrinkles that’ll have you desperately sliding your car around trying to cover two-lane divided highways and roundabouts. No matter what kind of traffic flow you’re facing, landing a score high enough to score you a precious star or two involves blowing up the buildings and surrounding landscape, not just the cars.

It’s possible to play against friends (and strangers) using the game’s Autolog feature, but just like the traffic on I-90 tends to be a little on the dead side at 4 am, there are times when scaring up opposition is as pointless as crashing your car into a house on the way to the intersection. There’s even a Kinect mode here—or, more accurately, Kinect party mode, that lets two teams of players use their hands and legs to see who can post the highest score in Rush Hour mode. It’s a nice idea (and probably one that was heavily pushed by Microsoft) but it comes off like a ‘and-now-how-much-would you pay?’ add-on that isn’t nearly as good as advertised. The central problem lies in controlling your car after unleashing an explosion–which is, of course, the key to staging the pile-ups that rack up points and keep the action going.

The Kinect controls require you to move your foot/leg in the direction you want your car to drift, but not only is this dreadfully imprecise (especially if your car drifts into the confines of the buildings surrounding the intersection), but it’s actually counter intuitive. Depending on which of several action-control options pop up in the slot machine minigame you play before the crashing begins, you may have to jump into the air or perform a soccer kick to trigger the explosion meter. Now imagine trying to do that, then drift your car quickly in the other direction. Great for party laughs, maybe; deadly for scoring actual points.

With Burnout Crash, Criterion has driven a simple concept a long ways down an entertaining and oftentimes funny road, even if it’s best driven and enjoyed in short bursts. Don’t look now–you’re gonna crash!

Pros:
+ Making cars crash and stuff go boom is always fun
+ Easily mastered controls
+ Goofball touches keep the action light and laughable

Cons:
– In larger doses, the three types of play modes run out of gas
– Halfway through, the difficulty curve becomes brutal
– Kinect Party mode is more trouble than it’s worth

Game Info:
Platform: Reviewed on Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade; also available on PS3 via PSN
Publisher: EA
Developer: Criterion Games
Release Date: 9/20/2011
Genre: Arcade / Racing
ESRB Rating: E10+
Players: 1-2 (online), up to 14 in Kinect party play
Source: Review code provided by publisher

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With that as an introduction, you might expect to hear about a glorious history of me playing racing games through the years … but alas, it hasn’t happened. While I played a couple of race games on the Mac, including the controversial Carmageddon. But it wasn’t until I picked up Outrun Coast-to-Coast for the PSP a couple of years ago, followed by Test Drive Unlimited for the PC and PSP, that I started getting back into the genre. My first Burnout game was Burnout Dominator for the PSP – that’s right, I didn’t even get the first PSP release of the franchise!

Why the long intro? Because Burnout Paradise seems to have caused a rift in the fanbase (cue ‘disturbance in the force’ jokes). Many lamented the loss of the ‘restart race’ option, others lamented how much was happening to make the game more ‘accessible’ to newcomers, still others felt that the core game was shifting away from the fans.

Fortunately I don’t really care one way or another about how the game is positioned, just whether or not it is any good. That might sound odd coming from someone who seems to spend too much time in every review putting things in context, but think of this: Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box is the first time the series has come to the PC.

And what’s more, rather than getting a stripped-down port of the console game, we get all of the add-ons and fixes and even some new stuff! Now THIS is the way to bring a franchise to a new platform!

Since the majority of fans of racing games have long since moved to consoles, I will assume basic familiarity with the genre, and with the Burnout franchise. Let me sum it up by paraphrasing from ‘Better Off Dead’: go that way, really fast; if something gets in your way, CRASH IT!

Burnout Paradise has changed up just about everything in the game. First off, the ‘Crash Mode’ has been replaced by Showtime, which is similar but less challenging and can be engaged any time. In fact, the entire game is played in a big open city called ‘Paradise City’ and similar to Test Drive Unlimited you can actually spend a huge amount of time just cruising around doing nothing. But that isn’t where the game shines – it is all about getting into fast paced action and either crashing yourself or taking out opponents.

Once you get your learner’s permit and a starter car, the first thing you realize is that the game has specific behavior it rewards: driving fast, dangerous, and aggressive! You earn points by driving in ‘burnout’ mode and getting boosts and chaining them up by refilling your meeting while still riding on your last burnout. A simple way to do this is to drive into ongoing traffic really fast without crashing. You also engage in one of several event types: Race, Road Rage, Marked Man, Stunt Run, Burning Route, Burning Ride, and Midnight Ride. You earn loads of points by succeeding at these events.

A major difference in Burnout Paradise is that you can start an event anywhere. Rather than having to go to a designated spot to initiate a race, you just stop at any traffic light and press the accelerator and brake simultaneously to start a race event. Although I would normally separate out my thoughts for multiplayer, there is no need – simply press a button to pop out a menu and join in with folks from your friends list. It is much simpler than an online lobby system and works quite well.

As you are ready to progress, you can choose cars best suited to your driving style – do you prefer Speed, Stunts or Aggressive driving? Each of these classes fills your boost meter more quickly when driving according to the preferred class.

Technically the game is stunning – they went out of their way to take advantage of high-end PC hardware, but as a result be warned that the game isn’t all that friendly on lower end hardware. It will run, but my experience trying to install it on an older laptop was that the default settings were terrible and resulted in glitchy performance and crashes. It ran quite well once I tweaked the settings manually, but really shines on top-end video cards.

The controls work perfectly – I chose to kick back with my X360 wireless controller, but my older son liked the visceral ‘in your face’ feel of being close to the screen and using the keyboard and mouse controls. Both work perfectly well – which is illustrated by the fact that I tend to be a keyboard & mouse guy and my son is more of a console gamer and neither of us were out of our element.

Of course, no Burnout game would be complete without a large, high-quality soundtrack: Burnout Paradise has a few dozen licensed songs that satisfy most tastes in rock music, from stuff like Adam & the Ants and Jane’s Addiction that I liked to Guns N Roses and Soundgarden for my kids. Environmental sounds are also superb – from crashes to tire squealing to engine roar and more, the game wants to be played loud on a good surround system!

I cannot overstate how pleased I was that EA and Criterion included just about EVERYTHING that has been released for the game since it initially launched on console – patches, minor and major add-ons and party packs! There is just a TON of content included in the box.

My expectation was that this would be a reasonable but not great console port with wonky controls and too many glitches, and probably wouldn’t include much aside from the original game. Boy was I ever wrong! The game worked perfectly on two modern laptops, delivering 60+fps performance at high resolution on each. Even the lower-spec laptop I mentioned before ran the game nicely once I tweaked the settings. The title couldn’t be more fitting – this is one Ultimate box of Burnout-style racing, one that PC racing gamers should rush out and get today!

Pros:
+ Gorgeous graphics
+ Massive open areas
+ Loads of options on how to play
+ Multiplayer is a blast

Cons:
– Too much taken away from core game

Game Info:
Platform: PC
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Criterion Games
Release Date: 02/03/09
Genre: Driving, Racing
ESRB Rating: E-10+
Players: 1-8

Come this fall in the US, Burnout Paradise, which has already dropped in price to $29.99 for both PS3 and Xbox 360 at retail stores, will also become available in digital download form via the PS3 PlayStation Store at the same low price. Burnout Paradise‘s PSN release will include all of the game updates released to date and arrive just in time for the next big update that’s scheduled to add trophy support and motorcycles. Kudos to Criterion Games for not only exploring new avenues to get Burnout Paradise into gamers’ hands, but also continuing to enhance the game so extensively post-launch without greedily nickel-and-diming its fans.

Fiona Sperry, Studio Manager for Criterion Games, said, “Our mission at Criterion is to provide the most entertaining gaming service possible. In order to do that, it’s key that we have the ability to deliver content to players in ways that work for them – through quick and easy download or via traditional bricks and mortar. For us, the fun is in playing the game with friends and constantly discovering new surprises in the world. Download packs with meaningful new gameplay are the perfect way for us to keep entertaining fans and keep them playing, even months after launch.”

This year’s first big week of game releases has another entry to watch for with EA today announcing the retail debut of Burnout Paradise for PS3 and Xbox 360. The all-new open-world Burnout is on store shelves now in North America for $59.99 and is due out in Europe come January 28th. A playable demo is also available on the PlayStation Store and Xbox Live Marketplace if you’d like to go for a test drive first before laying down the 60 bucks for the full game.

“Burnout Paradise is the natural evolution of the franchise as we wanted to give the player full control to create their own personal Burnout experience,” says Alex Ward, Creative Director at EA Criterion. “The city really comes alive when players get together with their friends online, aggressively blasting through the streets at insane speeds to see who is king of the road. The team at EA Criterion couldn’t be more happy and excited to be delivering a truly next generation Burnout title.”

EA has announced the complete soundtrack for Burnout Paradise today. Fittingly, the headline track is none other than classic Guns N’ Roses hit “Paradise City,” with 39 other artists rounding out the high-intensity, adrenaline-charged soundtrack, including Alice In Chains, Avril Lavigne, Depeche Mode, Faith No More, Soundgarden, N.E.R.D., Twisted Sister and more. Continue reading for the full soundtrack list, and if you haven’t done so already, fire up your PS3 or 360 and take the new demo for a test drive. Burnout Paradise hits retail on January 22, 2008.

“Burnout is one of the world’s most popular racing franchises and demands a soundtrack that matches the game’s intensity at every level. We believe we’ve crafted a truly volatile mix of rock’s most dangerous tracks — beginning with the iconic ‘Paradise City’ — for an audio fuel as explosive as the game itself.”

ARTIST SONG
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Adam And The Ants, Stand And Deliver
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Agent Blue, Snowhill
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Airbourne, Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast
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Alice In Chains, Would?
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Army Of Me, Going Through Changes
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Avril Lavigne, Girlfriend
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B’z, FRICTION
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Brain Failure feat. Dicky Barrett, Coming Down To Beijing
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Brand New, The Archers Bows Have Broken
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Bromheads Jacket, Fight Music For The Fight
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Depeche Mode, Route 66 (Beatmasters Mix)
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Faith No More, Epic
———————————————————————-
Guns N’ Roses, Paradise City
———————————————————————-
Innerpartysystem, Heart Of Fire
———————————————————————-
Jane’s Addiction, Stop!
———————————————————————-
Jimmy Eat World, Electable (Give It Up)
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Junkie XL feat. Lauren Rocket, Cities In Dust
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Jupiter One, Fire Away
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Kerli, Creepshow
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Killswitch Engage, My Curse
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LCD Soundsystem, Us V. Them
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Make Good Your Escape, Beautiful Ruin
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Maxeen, Block Out The World
———————————————————————-
Mexicolas, Come Clean
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N.E.R.D., Rockstar (Jason Nevins Mix)
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Never Heard Of It, Finger On The Trigger
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Operator, Nothing To Lose
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Permanent ME, Until You Leave
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Saosin, Collapse
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Seether, Fake It
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Senses Fail, Calling All Cars
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Showing Off To Thieves, Everyone Has Their Secrets
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Skybombers, It Goes Off
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Soundgarden, Rusty Cage
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Sugarcult, Dead Living
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Swervedriver, Duel
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The Photo Atlas, Red Orange Yellow
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The Pigeon Detectives, I’m Not Sorry
———————————————————————-
The Styles, Glitter Hits (J.J. Puig Mix)
———————————————————————-
Twisted Sister, I Wanna Rock

“We have been working towards Burnout Paradise for quite some time. Next generation consoles have opened up a raft of new gameplay opportunities and the Criterion team has leapt at the chance to innovate and raise the bar to an all new high,” said Pete Hawley, Executive Producer, Burnout Paradise. “There are going to be some big surprises and a lot of new features but the core of the game is still pure Burnout. Instant accessibility will be reinforced by innovative online capabilities which will see Burnout Paradise smash racing conventions.’’

Info on the game beyond this is still scant, but along with the announcement EA and Criterion have released a trailer, a few screenshots and the official boxart, all of which can be found below.

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