Paradise: The Ultimate Driving Playground..But where is the racing?

I have been thinking about this for a while now, since the Ranked Race changes were brought in, Criterion Games have very rarely if ever.. used the word "race" when talking about Burnout Paradise. In fact in some of the Podcasts it looks to me like they are choosing their words very carefully to make sure they don't accidentally say the "R" word.

I posted this over at Operation Burnout in response to someone complaining about people moaning about racing in Paradise;

I don't see Paradise as an Arcade Racing game, I see it as a driving game. Criterion Games don't seem to describe it as a racing game and none of the emphasis in the game is on racing really, sure there are races, burning routes and the road rules.. but the other elements, stunt run, road rage, freeburn and marked man seem to have all the emphasis both in the game itself and in the way Criterion talk about the game, and the nature of the DLC released.

This is how CG introduce Burnout Paradise on their webpage:

"Welcome to Burnout Paradise, the latest in Criterion Games' award winning driving game series for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360."

The word "race" is nowhere to be seen. Even on the back of the box it says "Welcome to the Ultimate Driving Playground".

Burnout, the original game, on my version on the box says "Burnout is an Amazing Racing Game with a Difference".
Burnout 2: Point of Impact has statements from reviews on the box; "You've never seen such a polished arcade racer" and "This is a gem of an arcade racer".
Burnout 3: Takedown has "...most intense racer ever..." on the box.
Burnout Revenge had "Battle Racing Reignited" as a tag line...

Burnout fans expected Paradise to up the notch again and be the Ultimate Battle Racing Experience, but it's not that. It's not a racing game, it's a driving game... so it doesn't really fit in the same series as the other Burnouts.

I like Paradise alot, I have completed it offline, and completed the car elements online... but there is nothing which compels me to run home to play again and again and again. I am still playing Revenge online and played Burnout 3: Takedown online for thousands of hours. I am happy with Paradise as a gaming experience, it was fun. But for me it's not a Burnout experience, and it doesn't come close to rivalling my experiences on the previous Burnout games. The reason for this, is the lack of good racing.

I don't feel let down by Criterion Games for making Paradise, I had a blast playing it.. But I do really hope with all my heart that they make more arcade racing games in the future, as they do it better then anybody else, and arcade racing is my favourite gaming genre and Burnout is my favourite arcade racing game series.

Comments

Jinno Angelo's picture

I dont get what the point of driving around is........ I would assume that people usually buy games because of races, but to drive around aimlessly?  

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"I Have Loved. I Have Suffered. Now, I Hate."

"There's Jinno, One of the Twin Angels" - DjSubzero18 (Burnout Revenge Online, 3/20/ 2009).

zerojay's picture

Well, you can't even really say that Burnout 3 or Revenge are purely racing games considering a good amount of those games were crash modes as well.

Paradise is a game where you get out of it what you put into it. I've had intense races that make Revenge look pale by comparison at times. But the truth is that to get something like that happening requires more than just hitting the A button a few times like it does in Revenge. Those of you that never really put much time or effort into playing Paradise won't believe me and that's fine. (Yes, I know someone's going to say that you should need to put effort into a game. Tell that to all the WoW players out there.)

Rofer's picture

Thats not even the point because crash mode is irrelevent to us anyways, because we are racers. We just care about how good the racing is whatever else is in the racing game that we like would not make a difference.

NIGHTMAR3xGTx's picture

But found nothing to like about the racing in the game, it was just not fun at all. The takedowns in the game when playing online are laughable. You can tell Criterion didnt really care about the racing in this game, and thats a big disappointment for me. If Paradise didnt have the name Burnout in it I would have no problem with it, I really do find the game fun... but its no Burnout.

[gamercard:id]

Cube's picture

I found the racing in Paradise to be the best so far. Then again, I haven't played any other Burnout game online. Still, I don't really have any problems with the takedown system for Paradise. It seems much less random than Burnout 3's offline takedowns.

kevlar0's picture

To get feel for what Takedowns should be like you ought to play road rage online on B3, Some of the battles were intense, you could take hits left, right and centre and still survive, One hit on paradise and thats it, your controller stops working and you hit the closest object, and you're out.

We made up our own little game mode on B3, called Rabbit, 1 Blue, 5 reds usually two laps, if the rabbit finished they got to go again, if they were taken down the person who got them would become the rabbit.

By a country mile the takedown system in B3 online is by far the superior one, and should have been used as a benchmark for the rest of the titles Thus making the game more playable for the racers.

He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy.

ZombieTron's picture

ZeroJay said "...I've had intense races that make Revenge look pale by comparison at times. But the truth is that to get something like that happening requires more than just hitting the A button a few times like it does in Revenge."

I assume that you have not played Revenge online on the 360, I also wonder if you ever played it online on PS2?? Did you ever race with a couple of Englishmen by the names of Blue Max and Ivorbigun? If you had put a lot of time and effort into Revenge, you would know there is a lot more to it then hitting the A button a few times (or whatever button it is on Playstation).

What is required to get intense races on Paradise? Please tell us, as I would love to try it!!

Cube said "...Then again, I haven't played any other Burnout game online."

You really should come race with us Cube, there are no other games that compare to Burnout 3 or Revenge online.

Jinno Angelo's picture

Yes I will race a 190 again........ Took a liking to that Porche.....Might just use it consistently now...

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"I Have Loved. I Have Suffered. Now, I Hate."

"There's Jinno, One of the Twin Angels" - DjSubzero18 (Burnout Revenge Online, 3/20/ 2009).

Cube's picture

I've got Burnout 3 on Xbox. I sold Revenge because I didn't like a single thing about it.

ZombieTron's picture

and load up my fully unlocked Burnout 3: Takedown game save.

Anyone else up for some Burnout 3 online tonight??   If not today Cube, let me know when!!

zerojay's picture

Having those same races in Paradise means finding some great racers to play with. Nothing quite like 6 cars heading for the dam jump shortcut all within two feet of each other.

Rofer's picture

Thats what we were doing like 2 years ago we would all use 190 cars and have sick races with them. 190 cars are the coolest cars besides the revenge racer. We would even go for laptimes with the 190 cars and i would make a big list of all the tracks and i had so many sweet laps. I probably can't even find that paper now though.

Jinno Angelo's picture

Do you have your Xbox360 back Rofer? Or are you still fiddling around with Dominator? And yes, those 190 cars are good to use... I should use them consistently against other fellow burners..

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"I Have Loved. I Have Suffered. Now, I Hate."

"There's Jinno, One of the Twin Angels" - DjSubzero18 (Burnout Revenge Online, 3/20/ 2009).

Rofer's picture

Don't you remember last night you joined our xbox party with waterball and silky? Yeah that was totally worth letting my friend borrow my xbox to play dominator. It felt like a true miracle to be playing a real burnout game again. But yeah i will be using 190 cars alot now i think.

Jinno Angelo's picture

Hhhhmmmm..... I dont remember if you were around... You obviously didnt say anything then while you were around in that party.. LOL.. yeah, Ill be using 190s... they definitely give me a better challenge...

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"I Have Loved. I Have Suffered. Now, I Hate."

"There's Jinno, One of the Twin Angels" - DjSubzero18 (Burnout Revenge Online, 3/20/ 2009).

FrozenVapor's picture

Zerojay, I think I'm qualified to say that the racing in Paradise sucks after playing it for hundreds of hours and being in the top 5 countless times...

 

Burnout 3 and Revenge were racing games. Crash mode was a nice distraction, especially in Revenge, but when things came down to it, most of the serious fans were racers and that's where most of the game was focused. It showed, too - the racing mechanics were nearly perfect in Burnout and still pretty solid in Revenge.

 

Don't know what happened with Paradise. It's fast as hell, it's pretty challenging, and it's still got the tight controls... what could go wrong?

A lot, actually.

The takedowns don't even work properly! In Paradise, slamming another driver NEVER earns you a takedown because of the retarded distance delay between players. Most of the time, when you get taken down, the other guy didn't even make contact with your car on his screen. People have given me lots of excuses as to why this is an issue in Paradise and not at all in the earlier games - the most common of which was that, since Paradise takes place in an open world, it's hard or impossible to get the takedowns working lag-free. In which case I ask... if you can't fix the delay, why not make the takedowns less sensitive?

 

Honestly, I think if it's really IMPOSSIBLE for Criterion to get takedowns working in an open world, then Burnout 6 should move back to closed track racing. Otherwise, there's zero point in racing on this game.

 

And that's not even getting into the countless glitches (traffic popping up in your face) or the horrible track selection.

 

Now, you might say... well, Paradise has a lot of other content going for it. Freeburn, co-op challenges, bikes, a new island, marked man. Which is exactly the POINT. Paradise is a good game, but it's not a racing game, it doesn't work as a racing game - and worse, it doesn't even try.

FrozenVapor's picture

I would also like to add that the racing in Revenge is far more complicated than the racing in Paradise. If anything, Paradise is the game that requires holding down the A button the entire race.

zerojay's picture

 What makes it more complicated than Paradise? You don't even have to worry about most of the cars on-screen in Revenge as you traffic check them without a problem. The courses are completely closed off so you could just ride the edge of the race all the way around if you wanted to.

Everyone complains that there's no arrows telling you where to go in Paradise... I think the open world nature of Paradise alone makes it a lot more complex. Finding shortcuts, taking completely different routes, etc...

 

ZombieTron's picture

Although the tracks are closed in Revenge there are alternate routes to learn, and although you can check the traffic it slows you down a lot, so you try to avoid it... and you can't check oncoming like you can in a Hunter Olympus! And you can ride the walls a bit, but there are lots of crash points and spikes in the walls... so it's not advisable!

You also have the Boost Start, a learned skill which is sadly lacking in Paradise. Then there is Drift/Boost Jumping and maintaining high speeds which takes driver skill.

The complex nature of Paradise isn't about driver skill, more about how good your sense of direction is. I haven't raced in Paradise enough to say it requires no skill..  but to my knowledge there is no other extra skills (except finding the finish line) involved in the actual racing in Paradise, other then earning boost and avoiding crashing, which you have to do in Revenge too.

I prefer to be challenged on my driving skills then my sense of direction... mostly as my sense of direction sucks!! Which I guess is why I really like the timed challenges in Paradise, they seem more challenging then the races.

Rofer's picture

paradise is all about the sense of direction, and at no point did i ever say that it does not take skill. The problem is that trying to find the exact direction is not burnout fun, whilst the burnout is fun in all the other games and theres one basic direction to go, but there are lots of shortcuts that can be found and taken. Even in real life i hate driving somewhere that i have to find, it is frusterating in real life and frusterating in paradise. In real life i am much better at going really fast and going one direction without any directions. I guess it comes down to what kind of driver you are i like to think of myself as a burnout driver and zerojay is a paradise driver. Although i do really get into midnight club La but i realize that is because it tells you when to make a turn. The point to point mode on midnight club i try to always avoid because like i said i hate that crap i just wannah go fast and win.

And zerojay, yes it is easier to ride the walls and check the cars in revenge but the real question is, is it easier to win races or to be the best/fastest online? Its probably just as hard as paradise in that sense but honestly the difficulty is completely irrelevent because all that matters most to me is which game is more fun.

FrozenVapor's picture

If you ride the walls around the track in Revenge, you're not going to win. Simple as that. Just because you CAN ride the walls doesn't mean it's a good idea. In the same vein I could say you could just slow down at every intersection in Paradise to figure out where to go... you'd finish the race, yeah, but you wouldn't win.

 

Paradise does require learning how to navigate the open world - I'll give it that. But beyond that, what is there to learn? After everyone learns all the tracks, what else is there to improve upon?

 

In Revenge, a lot went into winning a close race. If you were behind, you could catch up with your opponent by taking corners and drift jumping as well as possible, then finding a time when you could overtake him. You had to really push all the speed you could get out of your car, but if you succeeded you could almost always win. In Paradise, it's virtually impossible to pass another driver unless they screw up pretty badly, since you can't nudge them from behind or slam them without careening into a wall yourself. So if you start the race in second place, chances are that's where you're going to stay unless the guy in front of you wrecks.

 

Which means Paradise basically boils down to not crashing in the minute or two that the race lasts. That does take skill to pull off on some tracks, but far too often, the guy in front of you will pull off a crash-free race... either that, or you'll hit his wreck when he crashes and you'll lose the race anyway. And losing a race through no fault of my own is simply not appealing to me. I'm fine with losing because I hit some traffic or missed a shortcut, but losing because I started last in the grid and had no way of passing the other driver is pretty damn stupid, and it's not my idea of fun. In Revenge, it was ALWAYS possible to drive better than the other guy, and if you did, you were rewarded. That's much more satisfying, wouldn't you think?