Burnout

This is a look at the Burnout series of video games. The best thing about Burnout is the takedowns and those were only introduced in the third game, which was the first that I played, so I'm going to start there.

Burnout 3: Takedown (2004 -PS2)

This game was incredible. The best mode was Road Rage where you are just focused on getting takedowns. Here's a nice example. One nice feature was even after you crashed you were able to control your wreck for a second so you could try to take out drivers in your wake. They also had an excellent Crash Mode with levels and multiplier tokens. Road Rage & Crash Mode perfectly done made this game beyond compare.

Burnout Revenge (2005 - PS2)

This game was mostly the same but they introduced "traffic checking" which encouraged you to hit same-way traffic from behind, which previously would have caused you to crash. I felt this took a bit away from the game, making it too easy to drive. Also, they removed the tokens from Crash Mode, so there was less things to aim for. Still, fun road rage and crash mode was mostly intact. The revenge bit was kinda cool, going after anyone who took you out.


Burnout Dominator (2007 - PS2)

They removed traffic checking, which is nice. No tokens in crash mode but overall this was great too. 

Burnout Paradise (2008 - PS3) Remastered (2018 - PS4)

I never played this game until this year. It's totally different from the first three games. It's a mixed bag as they added a lot but something's missing.

First, what's been added. For the first time, free roam driving. Not only that, but a really fleshed out exploration experience. There are jumps to find, billboards and obstacles to smash, tons of hidden areas. It's entirely fun to drive around solving puzzles on the fly of "how do I get up there?" without ever playing an event.

The city itself has a nice variety and is really well done. The game looks great. Road Rage works well (although I do miss being able to control my car after a wreck). I even appreciate the ability to choose the route I want to take in a race, something I've never done. It's fun to take a different route than the opponents and try to beat them there.

The downsides? There's no crash mode. There's a showtime mode where you crash into other cars, but there's no level design. There's no puzzle solving aspect to it. Just bounce into whatever cars appear. Which means every time it's the same. If they had a real crash mode, the game would be a 10 out of 10 for me.

Further, there's not that many types of missions (gone are eliminator races, etc). And 5 times you will upgrade your license and wipe away your progress on specific events. So that feels "grindey" and not well thought out.

Plus, you have to be at the point on the map to trigger an event. So if I fail a Road Rage but have driven across the map in the process, I have to drive back just to try again. A simple replay option would be nice, as would fast travel options. It's fun to drive, but when I want to switch a new car, it's not that great to have to drive more in a car I'm sick of.

Still love the series, just wish there was a better blend of free roam exploration with the events that worked so well before.