Burnout: Paradise

I've recently downloaded the demo from Xbox live and although graphically it looks good Im not really sure if I want to drive around in a sand pit just like test drive & need for speed. The thing I have loved about previous burnout titles was the instant high octane pick up and play arcade action. I know developers keep trying to raise the bar but I dont really want to have to drive between events when all I want in an arcade racer is to select the next event from the menu and get straight into the action........At present the jurys still out im afraid!

burnout games used to be great. too american, crappy music, but high speed adrenaline pumping fun all the way through, just one amazing race after another. all they had to do on next gen was keep the graphics to the lush standards we expect, add a few cars and a game mode, and i'd have bought it. instead, someone had the bright idea to make it free roaming. free roaming, in a soulless town with a stupid name ripped off a song, a town with no people and about 3 cars. the only function of the town, despite what the intensely irritating american on the radio says, is to make the game last longer by making you drive between races. i bought the previous game for instant action, not to drive constantly back to the start of a race when i fail, which towards the end happens a lot. it makes this game a hideous waste of my time - i dont want to 'plan a route' through the next race, i just want to race. the actual racing etc is great, but the glorified loading screen aka the free roaming elements are pointless and why i gave this only 6/10.

If you loved past Burnout games then don't even bother to put this in your machine. All the aspects that made the past titles great have been lost on this. Crash mode has been replaced by some idotic notion of spontaniously exploding your car and then bouncing around like a rubber ball trying to crash into things, which is fun for one or two bounces then it just goes on and on with no real sense of achievent. Theres no after touch or traffic checking which were both good elements. The races them selves are what you expect, they're fast and fun but without the things above making what they used to be it just ends up being a bog standard racing game. The free roaming aspect doesn't really add anything to the game, it just becomes a bit boring looking for races. Visually the game looks amazing and can't be faulted. If they stuck to and tried to improve on the old format it would be one of the best games around.

Quality. I am not a fan of driving games as sticking to a particular route etc and not being able to write your car off properly like in Gran Turismo, TOCA etc puts me off but the Burnout series are an exception. No holds barred, drive like a maniac are what its all about, then throw in awesome H.D graphics, a cool decent sized map, loads of unlockable content plus a creative imagination from the gamer and the recipe is perfect. I haven't played a Burnout game since the PS2 & as an XBOX 360 owner the upgrade from PS2 if you will, isn't disappointing. A highly addictive game which will keep me driving like an idiot for weeks!

How long will it take to learn the entire city on this game? Weeks, months, years. Some people need parameters and tracks. Only played this twice now - compared to Revenge where I have racked up over 600 hours of gameplay as it was so addictive. How are you supposed to even contemplate looking at a map and compass doing 180mph??? Would have been so much more helpful if the map actually rotated around your position as it can get a bit confusing which way you're supposed to turn next!