Need room to zoom? Then this could be the driving game for you.
Burnout Paradise
Electronic Arts
Xbox 360
3 stars (out of 5)
Take me down to the paradise city, where the grass is green and the girls are pretty. Oh won't you please take me hoooo-ooome.
Well, that was predictable. As soon as EA announced the name of the latest instalment in its wildly popular Burnout series was going to be Paradise, you just knew what was going to be lined up for a theme song.
Happily, that is about the only obvious aspect of a very smart driving game that builds nicely on the success of its predecessors.
Burnout is the leading series in the smash-em-bash-em driving genre, sitting in a nice middle ground between the ultra-realistic simulators (Gran Turismo, Forza Motorsport), the pimp-em-up street races (Midnight Club, Juiced) and those with a bit of both (Need For Speed, Project Gotham Racing).
Regular driving games might be all about avoiding crashes, but in Burnout they are actively encouraged. Taking rival cars out helps you win races, fill boost meters and take steps towards unlocking achievements.
Unlike Burnout Revenge, the very worthy title on the old Xbox, Paradise does not run over a series of levels but instead takes place in an open-world setting called Paradise City.
You roam around the city at will and come across a variety of races, events and challenges, as well as find new roads and streets that have fastest times to beat. The city is not a small place - I floundered around hopelessly for the first couple of hours - and there are endless
places to discover.
There is a nice range of races: simple post-to-post drags; Road Rage, where the aim is to take down as many cars as possible; Marked Man, a hound-and-hare bid for escape where formidable opponents chase and try to bump you out of commission before a finishing point;
Stunt Run, where the aim is to pull off as many tricks, rolls, jumps and drifts before the clock expires; and Burning Route, which can only be accessed as you unlock more cars.
The racing is as frenetic and frighteningly fast as ever. The streets are covered in obstacles that make one mighty mess of your car when you plough into them at 300kmh, and other vehicles whoosh by in a blur.
To keep track of your achievements, the game gives you a series of licences, which also help unlock new vehicles.
But it's not as simple as that. New cars can be added to your garage only when they are tracked down and taken down around Paradise City.
Burnout Paradise has raised the bar, building on the best features of its predecessors and adding a big chunk of playability through the open-world setting. It's fast and furious, and it is the best arcade-style driving game we've seen in a long time.
