Why is it that I feel like the only gamer that is looking forward to this game? Anyone excited about Burnout Paradise? I'm actually more psyched for this game than any other coming in 08. I heard a while back that they were removing the crash mode? Say it ain't so! :( And why haven't they organized a burnout demo on Live yet? :angry:

Burnout 3 was one of the best arcade racers I've ever played, but Burnout 4 just wasn't quite as good. If Paradise lives up to Burnout 3's level of total awesomeness, I'll be extremely excited, but I'm waiting to see just exactly how awesome it will be...

Any word on when there'll be a demo on Live?

December 12th is the word, and a week later for Silver members.

Burnout Revenge was so annyoing. Rubberbanding sucks :(

Can't wait. Huge open world, and the devs are shooting for 60fps.

I've only played Revenge, but even that was amazing fun. Online integration sounds awesome, as well.

Burnout was one of my favorite game series, but when EA took over with Burnout 3: Takedown. the original theme that made Burnout so great was replaced with just another 'Need for Speed' but with crashes.

The reason why Burnout and Burnout 2: Point of Impact was so great was it captured the adrenaline rush of reckless driving. For those which aren't veterans to the series; Boost was much different in BO2. You acquired boost by performing risky maneuvers and only when your boost meter was full could you use it. In order to maintain boost you must perform more risky maneuvers or else you had to start again with little/no boost.

EA took away the thrill wherein you had to maintain high speed and and reckless behavior to keep the boost and replaced it with the dummy-proof earn-and-use boost that is seen in every other racing game.

I remember performing a drift turn in oncoming traffic while performing near misses and refusing to let go of the R1 button because I was addicted to boost. Now if there is an intersection or a sharp turn you can slow down to avoid the crash.... Lame!

You're right. Because as a publisher, EA actually develop the game. Criterion just sit on their arses and twiddle their thumbs.

Heh, I only ever played Burnout the original on GameCube, and due to the scarcity/non-existence of any of the sequels on GC never got any others.

This should be sweet though, I've never been a fan of the serious racers.

Okay... okay so maybe 'ruined' is a little too much.

And I will credit BO3 by saying that takedowns are pretty cool in their own special way.

But I will not forgive EA for replacing the best videogame music ever made with its god-awful 'EA Trax'. One of the best parts of BO2 was not only the music but the way that the music complimented the game. the music suited the gameplay ideally, and the best part was that when you initiate boost the music would be amplified. Between that and being 'committed' to boost once you initiated it, it created a trance like sensation that was the equivalent of an IV of adrenaline stuck into your arm while you took every unreasonable measure to gain more boost.

Shame on you EA... What have you done to my baby?...

I agree that dumbing down the boost system to insant use was a bad idea, and I also agree that EA trax sucks compared to the the way B2 did it. However anything gameplay related is Criterion's mistakes and not EA's.

Burnout 2 was easily the best in the series for me. Burnout Takedown & Revenge were flawed (they've ruined those stunt tracks - whatever they're called) and it didn't take too long before I became bored of them.

Still looking forward to this game however but I don't think I'll buy it straight away until I finish Motorstorm & Ridge Racer 7

Burnout 2 was released on the Gamecube as well.

With regards to what has been said in here - I agree in that Burnout 2 was the best in the series, had the best music and that EA Trax was shit. However as has been stated in this thread all Burnout games (with the exception of Dominator) have been developed by Criterion and as such, any of your issues with a particular game should be blamed on them rather than EA. EA's influence (especially on Takedown) was noticeable and ridiculous, but personally I think that Criterion still did a wonderful job with the two games (Takedown and Revenge) after the EA acquisition.

The Burnout/Burnout 2 'style' is my preferred choice in the franchise, but the new direction that Takedown/Revenge took was a welcome one and I love that too. Also I fully expect that Paradise will kick your arses as well, because Criterion are behind it and they're brilliant.

Along with GTA IV and Alan Wake, Paradise is definitely my most anticipated for next year. Bring on the demo next week.

I liked Takedown the best, the sence of speed was way higher than in the first 2. I didn't actually play 2 till after I had played 3, and I just could not get into it.

^ I can understand that. Had you played Burnout 2 (or even the original) first, you would have probably been able to get into it but after playing Burnout as it's known now (IE: Takedown and Revenge - although that's soon gonna change) it would be very hard to go back.

I tried a while ago and while I did enjoy myself still, the difference is massive.

I did play the original first, I had it for ages before I got Takedown, in fact I got in at the GCN launch, so I had plenty of time with it.

I still prefere Takedown by a wide margin, I couldn't even tell you how many hours I've spent playing it. That said, I though Revenge was a step backwards, it just didn't seem as fun, and after I had finished it I went straight back to Takedown.

Burnout 2 was a pure adrenalin racer for me. Takedown was still fun in its own right, although it seemed to whiff of something different - not helped much by the presence of EA Sports billboards and the like.

I haven't played anything after Takedown, but from what I can gather, people have simply been underwhelmed at the repetition in the series and not too much development in the series. It seems to be stagnating.

Burnout might need a shake up.

New video

Nice. :D

I'm downloading the demo right now.

*anticipation at a prolonged peak*


[EDIT]

Online on demo is win, however I think i prefer the purpose created levels to the whole free roaming set up.

Well from what I've tried of this great demo, I can't wait for the full game. Not only does the game look and play better than ever, it some really cool new features for online racing like the co-op events that make you jump 400m total as a team or something, or the one where you need 8 ppl and 7 line up next to eachother while 1 jumps over them all. Pretty nice.
One thing I hate - EA have, well, EA-fied the game so much. DJ Atomika is a dick and should be shot and some of the art style is so "extreme in your face dude" I hate it already. Freaking EA and their influences...

EA's influences will also be disappointing to see but at least the game and indeed its massive amount of fun will have come from the guys who know what they're doing, Criterion.

I agree though the DJ is shit, although I haven't decided yet if he is better or worse than DJ Stryker from Takedown.

My thoughts of the demo?

It's absolutely brilliant. It comes across (in a way) as TDU with the Burnout flavour and that can only be a good thing for me personally. I love TDU, I love Burnout and I love Paradise because of it. :D

Alot of people seem to be upset with the lack of Crash mode, even with Showtime replacing it but personally I'm not going to miss it too much. I mean yeah sure it was always a great addition to the game and was awesome fun with other people, but to me Crash has always been an added bonus on top of the main games. Be it the older versions (well BO2 at least) or Takedown/Revenge.

I'm still yet to try it online too believe it or not, which is where I imagine this game will absolutely excel. Looking forward to playing the full game with the entire city to hoon around in. Should be brilliant.

http://www.criteriongames.com/burnout/para...merrychristmas/

I hate it when developers act like they know best and that we just don't get it. We're the people who buy your games, and if we don't like something, it's not because we don't understand it and we're wrong, it's because that part of your game sucks. Just accept it and stop acting like you're right all the time.

Actually no I think this time it's sorta justified.

People have been complaining about certain aspects of the demo and I really think it's just because they're spoilt shits.

Personal opinion maybe, but it seems to me like these people are expecting way too much from what is essentially just a demo. And when you consider it as one, it happens to be one of the better demos out there on Live because it's one of the few to include play over Live.

Not having the ability to retry an event is the only thing that is keeping me on the fence with this game. Gamers don't like excessive loading because it pulls the gamer out of the action but replacing the loading screen with a minute and half drive back to the starting point of a race isn't exactly what I would consider an improvement.

I agree to some extent, but I'm personally going to treat the events as one big whole rather than separate.

As in, if I fail an event I'll just go and try the next one that's closest (if of course I want to continue doing events). Sure, when I'm nearing 100% completion the whole retry (or lack thereof) thing will be annoying, but for the most part it won't be because I won't be driving back to the one particular event if I fail it.

Loving this. :D I'm tending to drive around for a few hours at a time exploring the city and doing races and challenges on a whim. I'm a collection nut so getting all those break thrus, jumps, and billboards will keep me busy. Then there's the showtime mode that I enjoy a little too much. You shouldn't be excited about seeing your car reduced to a flat piece of scrap metal but I see it as a challenge to squish my car evenly on all edges. :lol:

I forgot about this thread.

I have all the jumps, smashes and billboards so unfortunately for me I don't have anything in the game that can distract me randomly and make me spend more time in Paradise. Now, it is either do the single player events that I have left or jump online.

Thankfully both options are brilliant fun and therefore I am still loving every second of Paradise. I also have to say that I didn't realise (before I got the game) that not only would there be all those events to do, but that you had to set a Showtime and Time trial (basically) on every single street. That's cool, as far as I am concerned. :)

Anyway, I'm getting close to having the game 100% finished now so I guess soon it will just be online play. Works for me, online Paradise is brilliant.

I played online with this game on the PS3 in a free run match with Stevo. Was alright, I laughed at some of his mugshots when I took him down (one including the middle finger) and there were a few situations where we jumped off ramps from opposite ends and crashed into eachother! Most of the time you don't know that he's coming except for listening for a distinct sound engine. He was in some tough van and I drived around in a coupe, couldn't use my booster until it was full so he led in the number of takedowns

During our 1 hour online session I found a few places I hadn't been to before and crashed through some gates and billboards. I think I need a Eyetoy though as there were times I wanted to communicate but couldn't really do anything

I'm still on my D class license so my vehicle choices were pretty pathetic

^ Grab the Ikusa GT and do the Burning Run that you can do with it, it will then unlock the evolution of the Ikusa GT and I found that car was a decent one to use until I got to the higher licenses and therefore better cars. It's a Stunt car but it has enough strength and speed to get you through Road Rages, races and the like. :)

Haha yeah that was fun :D I was trying for some mid air collisions

I'm just using a PS2 Eyetoy which seems to do the job, I think just about any webcam will work as long as it uses USB.
Need to get a bluetooth headset though so I can swear at you (Or maybe I should just hold up a giant 'FUCK YOU' sign for the camera every time it takes a snapshot :P )

We totally need to do some races next time

I bought the game the first day it came out and I played it non-stop for about a week. After that, I played it off and on every other day. Now, I have not played it in a very long time. It got old very fast. I guess this game just was not the type of game I was looking for or maybe it just was not very good. There was not much to do and the world was not super big. I wish you could have been able to customize the cars some. I wasted my money. :(

I played the demo online with a mate of mine last night because we don't have any of the same games except Forza and we didn't feel like play that. It's pretty cool just cruising around online with a friend, but I don't know if I'm willing to pay ~$80 for the full game. Maybe if I knew 3 other people who would also buy it and who would be on when I'm on...

Yeah I'm starting to feel a little ... >_> .... <_< ..... "burnt out" over the game too, I'm on my A license and I have about 19 events until I get my Burnout license and I keep losing events which frustrates me

Games are doing that to me in general, it's not like the old days when you bought a new game it would be around a month before you have to even think about getting another. These days it's every 2 weeks, it's ridiculous.

Same here and I've barely done anything. Definitely a massive stepdown from Burnout 2, the open world is both a blessing and a nuisance. In a way its like playing GTA but you can't get out of the car - the showtime gets pretty old fast and losing an event because you couldn't figure out where to go is absolutely stupid

Its a nice game but after a couple of weeks I might sell it - even with the online enhancement it doesn't exactly make it more addictive

Perhaps you guys just overplayed it too much? Obviously that's up for you to decide but I definitely disagree with you. I'm still loving Paradise and I'm only 15 wins away from my Elite license. Driving all the way around the city to get to events I haven't done yet or whatever is getting a little tedious, but, it isn't hurting my enjoyment of the game at all.

It's no secret that Burnout 2 (for me) and Burnout 3 (for most) are the best games in the franchise, but I personally think Paradise is right behind them and I am really glad Criterion evolved their franchise once again. I look forward to finishing off the remaining events I have, doing the Road Rules (still haven't really touched those) and also playing this game a bit more online. I have already clocked 60 hours in this game and I'm still having a ball, so it's disappointing to see that you guys aren't having the same fun that I am with the game.

I'm with you Nismo. Well sort of... despite hating the demo I love Paradise... so much so it is my favourite in the entire series. This is 'sandbox racing' done right.

Vroom vroom!

One thing I don't like is the 8 end points, would have been way more fun to pick your own intersection to finish at.

Now that I agree with, sort of. It did get a bit annoying having to drive up the mountain all the time, only to go back down in another race back into the city, only to have to go back up the mountain again in the next race.

That said, I still loved the game. So much so that I completely finished it. Not only did I 100% the game (and 1000/1000 it), I also did all the online challenges too.

Bring on the DLC!

You're...you're insane!

Says the gamer who played through Mass Effect 5 or 6 times until it was completed fully.

I'll be insane once I do that. ;) (although thankfully it will only take me 3 playthroughs...)

Ownt :lol: :P