Paradise, the demo, a review

This is a long one, so read as and when, it is an open world after all.

Well, downloaded, the demo, at 9.15, played it for 15 minutes, went out, phone two people I know and said, didn’t like it, but fun to play, I think? Then did my outside thing, bought some Lucozade (not been well), munchies, and then I played the game demo for 15 hours, travelled 780 miles online, played with friends and randoms (This is a burnout word, as it’s not in my PC dictionary, added), by creating some rooms, did all the challenges, on my own, with 2, 3 and 4 players. So spent some more time on the game than any, paid by the hour journalist, though some must have been fans and played it for fun too, and a bit longer, than is required to write something about it, but if I’m going to write my blog review, I’m not going to base it on a single play through.

So, the game is loaded, DJ Atomiache( it is how he sounded to me, his voice sounded very subdued, in the demo, but awesome on the demo video, maybe he will feel better in the game release, ;)), does his spiel and I get to start my car for the first time, nice but heard that effect for a while now it just grates on the ears,( hope the other cars sound different when they start up), and the car comes to life, your controller vibrates and sound floods your ears of motoring noise, a good feeling, and then you have to find your repair shop, to fix up the car, old news, but I decide to drive for a bit, with my mashed car, to hell with Atomika’s helpful hints, drove through a boost station, hit the A button, spun my wheels, shot off and crashed into wall and flew into some cars, cut scene video(it’s not a cut scene, I know but it ruddy feels like it, every video break started to wind me up, as it took me away from the play, until you realise they only take a few seconds, but as a Burner, a second is like a minute, a few seconds is a fag drag break, and soon dismiss them, but the option to turn them off would be nice, like the takedown camera in the other Burnouts) and got a shiny, shiny new car. But still had to find the garage anyway, so did that, got me Playmobyl garage repair noise, another cut scene, and drove on. Same with the paint shop did a couple of passes to get a colour I liked, lol. Did notice, if you drive backward through, these areas nothing happens, that’s ok, it’s just nice to feel the breeze run through your backside (see Family guy).

It’s new, so the first feeling is where the ‘f’ am I (In Paradise City, d’oh, can’t miss it for all the advertising and it’s written everywhere), what do I do, where do I go, what do I do? Test the car’s handling! By crashing it on every corner, I take too tight, or sliding into traffic. I went to Newton Drive and drifted the tires of that car and got a 790 foot of drift, I thought I was awesome, until, The ‘Du and The ‘Tron, got in the room (after they sorted the ‘EA Server Issue’, lol) and started to drift in circles in cross sections of roads, and they were getting drifts of 1,200 feet or more, and more that two can play that game. So I joined Zombie in a space , she was in a cross-section and I drifted around a pillar, through her drift arc, making a nice figure of 8 and avoiding traffic, for 2,000 feet or so. It got to the point we went off to look for traffic free areas to do drift circles, I did 3,500 feet till ‘numpty did 5,000 plus feet, I gave up, it’s only a demo after all, plenty of time to have it saved in the released game, don’tcha  think? LOL, B*stard. And the only bugger that, in that 15 hours of play, to get a double barrel roll, but it is in the spot where he did it, I think it is possible to do a triple, it’s just there is a tree in the way, and you need a lot of speed and height to get over said tree, yadda-yadda, B*stard, again. In the train Yard if you need to know, well outside it, near the end of 7th.

Anyway we have the Hunter Sunday Lunch, this car is supposedly the worst car in the game, but it did the job of travelling many a mile, in various states of repair or should I say conditions of damage, that needs repair but did not want to waste time driving to a garage, to do so, because the next crash, will give me a fresh one when I do, or will it, I ‘drove away’ from a lot of messed up stuff, it should have been call “Paradice City”, some of the risks I took. I managed to drive about and do stunts, with a car that was flat as a pancake, it seemed to be affect by the damage, driving slower’ish, but slimmed to flat spin like a Frisbee, try it (I got a 191 degree spin, and I’m rubbish at flat spins, unlike the ‘Du, who got 271 degrees, off a roof, with the sun shining and an audience, who were waiting on the Hot Tin Roof, to end said challenge, show off or Pro, we decided, ;), but it looked cool). Now time to listen to my Lord and Master DJ Atomika, do what he says, so he will just shut up, not that he really repeats himself, a lot of good sound engineering going on, triggered by game play, and he is helpful, and I do like him, but this is free roam, I’m ruddy roaming, ‘iss off dude, I’ll do the events in a minute, ok, maybe a race, no it was Burning Run, oh it’s across, the whole map, from south to north  (just on the demo map) or from, what was it called again, it’s near a car park, where you can hear the bridge to the airport being built (nice touch) to Newton Drive. On my fifth try, I compete it and do it in 1’09, happy, and can’t seem to see the AI cars nearby because it was a Burning Run D’oh. I then do a race against 7 other AI, with shiny, shiny cars of different types that look fun to drive, a Golden Watson Roadster etc, etc. And so I brake, start a race, and Burnout 2 music, sweet, and we are off, and for the first two races, I just get near before time runs out, two other tries, going different routes, I just stop, and then go back to the start. And once again on the fifth try, I come first and finish, but I can’t see the AI, they are still a bit away on the map, but race over, move on, find that the back button to search the map, look for the stunt mode, then drive off. DJ Atomika, then pipes in, if you hit you back button, you can see the map, yep, got the T-shirt, a couple of weeks ago, and move on, lol. Now Stunt Run, is still new to me, did them both, and only got 30,000 or so at the most on both, and the only two challenges, I did not complete, to 50,000, sorry, still going to work on it, but if driving on two wheels was part of a combo, I might have made it, you know, like what the stunt men do at Euro-Disney. And finding a place to do flat spin, and keeping  a combo going, not easy to do as yet, and yes, where the stunt points start, a short drive away it place to rack the points up, but still a knoob, for the map too.  And that was a bit that bothered me for this game, as it said I had 32 challenges to do, or was it something else, it was not clear and there is no option to check your progress, it may be different for the actual game, I’ll have to wait and see. The option to pick your own customizable controls would be nice too, the X button as the E-brake was a pain, as that button, for the whole of Burnout series it’s the default look back button, so while racing you want to see who is behind you, or look at the sod who trying to run you off the road, and you end up putting your brakes on, not good. The look back button is the left shoulder, its ok, but X was better in the day, why change it? The E-brake would have been better as B! And got use to it as a new button, not a replaced button. When racing about, it got to the point to drift corners I was using the A, boost, Left trigger, drift and brake and X, E-brake and Right trigger, Accelerate all at the same time, confusion, in my book. The E-brakes use was only for Power Parking, flat spins, and quick 180’s (or a lot more) to avoid walls, crashes or run from potential road rages as well as quick course changes on the map. It’s a great function and brings a lot to the game, but still, in the wrong place. But we’ll get use it? As I did keep using it to drift corners, will learn, eventually?

Graphically, this game is, sorry, awesome, all at said 60 frames a second, everything is drawn, to give a gritty, dusty driving experience (downtown), where at some points, you are blinded, colours merge, and is that a road ahead, and nope it’s a wall, smash. I had that issue for a while, where there was no clear definition, between, road, building, corner, object etc, and when my first roam about commenced, I kept crashing. But as the map in the mind built up, and car lights, rear and head, and objects became more clear indicators, out of the haze of graphics, and the sun was not glaring, in my face, I was crashing less, to the point, I could slow down enough, not to wreck, if the situation arose. In a faster car, it’s going to become a blur, and crashing will be regular event for a while, maybe? There seems to be a nice atmosphere in certain areas of the map, lighting, dust, rubbish, vistas, to look at and have a smoke break, a lot of work has gone into this map, great work, lots of influence from life’s real cities, it’s all there and very familiar, home-like for a Burner. I can now get round most of the demo map without crashing, going as fast as I think I can. Now this is where, the Fit hits the Shan, the need for a Speedo? I drove about with mates and randoms all day, and the only time I missed it, was in a race. I and others have found a place to experiment, with a racing format, on the I-88, start behind the toll booths against the road block, on the right side, run along that till the end, hand brake it, and come back down the other side back to the toll booths, short cuts optional. Now we all started at the same time (break on, wheels spinning), but some people just shot off, so how fast were they going, how fast was I going, what did I need to do to catch up, was I building up speed, I could not tell, no Speedo. Sorry Criterion, but if we are all in the same cars, similar ability of driving skill, doing little drifts on the straights, to maintain boost, we should all be, together, but we were not, some of us were faster, and a Speedo will help understand why? One thing, that could be an indicator, is damage, but since I could not see other peoples damage, their cars all looked shiny, shiny new, they said mine was too and I know it was not, so real time damage as it were, I think, not, from that point of view, but a racing view it must be a factor, can’t tell, without a Speedo. I thought for this game, we would see, other peoples damage, real time, maybe the demo is not a place to argue about it, or look for it?

The map on the HUD, now we all in some way have issues with map reading, men get wrong directions, women just get lost, lol, going by the women I played with. But the map has no option, to rotate, it’s fixed, and can cause lots of confusion to where you want to go, and a couple of hand brake turns down the same street to orientate yourself, and it just gets easier for people to say where they are and use the mind map, an intentional motive of the game makers, I understand, because a month of play after the game comes out, most, people will be able to get around the map, without looking, and will remember most “tourist spots”, and some key street names but, to start with, an easy to read  rotating map would be nice, even if it is just for the lady drivers. For those ladies and people who can read maps, great, I’m thinking about everyone new to the game, and chauvinism is genetic, I hear, lol, now get the dinner on! Don’t get me wrong, the map we have works as an indicator, and again that’s all we need in a sense, but when the full game is out, that map is the only guide, and needs to be more user friendly, if this is the ultimate Burnout game, it should have the ultimate in options, right?  Yes, I know shut up Suf, this took two years in the making, etc, etc, but when working on something that long, all white board, yellow sticky note ideas, must be covered, tried, removed, comeback too, tried again, but if it takes some hours of some code, written, why not keep it, it will cover the bases right? Anyway beaten the map worries to death, time to move on.

Now, what was missing from this demo was an online, race and road rage, and a single Showtime event, would have been nice too. But for Burnoutaholics, a nice race and rage event would have been a nice tester, for comparison, or was that why they were left out. “We, Criterion, will show you the new, the old stuff you know about and you will get to do that to your heart’s content at game release, so you can’t compare it against the cannon of our other work. And Showtime is too special; we are saving it for the game release”. Fine, ok. This is an open world game, freedom to do what we like, so we say let just go about the map, trying to take each other down. And takedowns happen way too easy, at slow speeds, if a car is parked it can get taken down, straight away, sorry Boot, parking up and causing mayhem, does not seem to be allowed, your car has just been turned into bits splashed across the road. In head on, the person with the most speed seems to win the takedown. When travelling in the same direction, road rage is born, trying to take someone down becomes a challenge and an event, if it happens, which is nice. Now I know the Sunday Lunch car, is on the bottom of the rung, and it could be this car and others of similar weight and class, that can be taken down, at a small amount of speed (if we had a Speedo, I could tell you what speed it does take), but when we were ‘dicking around’ in a small space, like on Ocean View near the Barrel jump challenge, simple side swipes would take a car down, a simple tap of the nose of my car, into the side of another would be classed as a takedown, is the takedown physics of Burnout 3, never to be repeated? It just became frustrating, as we waited turns to barrel roll, and get a slight knock and takedown, Mug Shot, spawn, to happen again, straight away. I don’t mind being taken down, but it should be worked for, I had Revenge worries I can tell you now. But in a straight race, I think it works, well, nice battles going on, boost earn for hitting another driver etc, but where did the tail-gaiting boost go? Are psyche-outs still there, hope so?

The rest of the HUD, online, top right, is the daily road rules indicators, can be scrolled through with the bottom D-pad, Power Parking, near misses, on-coming, air, jump distance, flat spin rotation, barrel roll and something else, oh yeah, drift. These are the present rooms, best off’s, and if someone does a better than, a heads up comes up, and then a cacophony of voices all chimes in, “where did you do those 2 barrel rolls”, and it’s a race to get to said spot, again train yard, and give it ago, lol. You start to find places to Power Park, drift, flat spin, jump, fly, and while getting there, do the on-coming and near miss stuff at the same time.

In a lot of rooms of the demo, it was just play follow the leader, from challenges to Burning about, to releasing some frustration, getting the ‘Cheap Takedown’, if someone was good at one thing or another. I have a feeling the demo, does not give this game it’s sense of worth, ‘Du and ‘Tron, where bursting to give the game away, that there is so much more, but not really saying anything, seeing us knoobs, have not played the game before, getting on with it quite well. Your first drive up a car park, was like some bad car movie, messing the car up as up went up, hitting walls etc, to having a 4 man room, doing all their own thing, then hit them with the Hot Tin Roof Challenge, and everyone racing to do it, getting from somewhere else on the map, to a drive up the ramps of the car park, and straight off the jump and park it, without any fuss, well mostly, some very funny over shoots, lol. The Acceleration button, is a very true analogue, a slight press, gives a nice slow consistent speed, needed for the car park runs, bring on Car Park Road Rage, I say, LOL. Finding the Poster Boards, became easier, after my 15 hours of going about, finding 3 was easy, getting up to 6 before others got their required 3, was adding to your own self worth, it will get to the point where finding and doing all 15 in the demo, will be a certain route, putting that with a stunt run will take me some more time, but I’ll get there. It’s not a hard game, previous experience is a help, but not needed, time is the only factor and with the open format, you have all the time you want to give, to do what you want to do. Oh I mentioned driving backward earlier, stunts, well barrel rolls can be done backward, Kev, was a bit upset that they did not get registered either, pity, I was impressed.

Communication in the game is great (way better than TDU and the back-compat on Burnout 3), and there is a lot to talk about, streets, jump etc, and more to come when the game comes out, soon the map, will be known better than your own home towns streets, looking at your empty car with the right thumb-stick camera and not seeing anyone in the car, gives a very Devil Car feel, and the camera does a pretty good job, when you throw it into reverse, swinging round to front of your car, it does have issues it you park up, or back up against a wall, but self adjustment, sorts that. The driving camera, I felt needed to be higher up above the car, or it could be, just me, and not having a black roof, to ignore my own car in my view, could be it, will see at the end of January, when I have a choice of many colours. In car view works well too, but on a Stunt Run, wheel placement, is still hard to sort from this view, practice needed. Dj Atomika disappeared, for me, which may be just a glitch as everyone else could hear him, or maybe he run out of things to say, which maybe a good thing, if you done what he asks, he does not repeat it ever again, which works for me. Played in some laggy rooms, but that did not seem to affect me during free roam, in a race or rage it could be a problem, there were also some super lag issues, when we went super speed for a while, but they only came up 3 times during my 15 hour session, which I’m happy to live with, same as on Revenge, that classes it as a Burnout game, like Zombie falling through the floor, lol. If the host does have a poor connection, running more than 4 in the room could be an issue, but like other games, good hosts will be identified and will be visited regularly, so not a real problem there.

Traffic, loads of cars, trucks, buses etc, etc, no bikes, which seems to be the flavour for some games, I don’t think its random, did not spend the time following a car about to see where it went, but there may be a pattern for each stretch of road, the reason why they was no traffic on the motor way I-88 as it was closed till 2008, but the cars do react to your passing and approach, and you hear the cry ”that car turned into me” etc, which is cool, some could be checked, with a nudge, from the front or back, but not at really high speed which was nice.

There is still a lot to say about this open world, its way better than Test Drive, but in a Burnout way, not that TDU was a bad game. It’s not Need for speed, but it can be compared. It’s not Midnight Club, but again can be compared. It’s not Flat-out, thank a religious deity of your choice, different type of game, even with Stunt Run, which is a serious add on to the game, but more stunt type things needed. It’s not any of the previous Burnout Games, but you see their influence, with place names and game play. Paradise City is the new Burnout Game, obvious and to the point, and like Marmite you love it or hate it. The game cannot be compare to the older ones, because it’s not those games, it’s a new game, and should be enjoyed for what is given on your plate, if you prefer the older one’s play them, I still will, as it is a different gaming experience, a new and great experience, but still not sure if I like it? And not because there is something wrong with it, well some things, some mentioned above and some I forgot that I will comment on when I remember, after another play through, I’m looking forward to Paradise City in the Winter/Spring, and I thank you Ladies and Gentlemen of Criterion for making, building, creating this game, it does rock, just like you.

There is something there that I can’t put my finger on, that does itch at the back of my mind, that does give me a reason not to love it, sorry, I will tell you when I find the words to explain it, I know it’s not boost jumping, Flashing , Scrolling Yellow Direction Markers, or No Go Red X’s (aren’t concrete block great to crash into), a menu system (does need a list on ‘completed’ events, not on the demo, maybe the actual will), or the leader board, again on the actual, or choice of car, again actual, not a problem. No loading Screen as it were, great, practically, instant joining, very awesome, and great work there, it could be, I just miss the lobby, seeing who was in the room, who I want in the room is my choice; in the rooms, I did run, I had no reason to kick anyone, even one bugger, who just kept trying to take me down all the time, I think I just dropped the room as I was invited elsewhere and was happy to go, so I don’t know if I could kick him if I wanted. But not seeing everyone together, at the start of room, could be the thing that is off putting, one of the reasons, doing the Hot Tin Roof once in a while brought us all together, doing racing in the other games, we were together, starting a race and sort of ending together, a collective per say, a shared experience, now everyone is just running amok, in this open world, you do a lot of driving, looking for stuff to do or running to see someone do a double barrel roll, which is nice. I enjoyed what the demo has to offer, and every Burner should try it and play it for all the events, should not take too long, couple of hours, it gives a good taste of what is to come, and does not need to much Ketchup, to swallow for that matter.