Burnout Paradise Remastered Review: Gameplay Videos, Features and Impressions

A return to Paradise City via Burnout Paradise Remastered signals the stepping aside of the rest of the racing-game market so the rightful owner can retake the throne. 

The original Burnout Paradise was a masterful performance upon its initial release in one of those situations where you don't realize you're seeing something special at the time. The innovations in the first rendition seemed like they'd become typical of every racing game from that point onward.  

Burnout Paradise perfected—and that word isn't used by accident—way back in 2008 what the rest of the industry has been scrambling to mimic ever since. 

In this vein, the release of Burnout Paradise Remastered is almost shocking in the way it holds up. And it holds up in almost every single area. Those who played it the first time around know what they're in for, those who didn't are going to want to strap in for the ride. 

Gameplay

The first thing players—returning or new to the game—will notice when starting out is how fast the game still feels, even today.  

Regardless of vehicle, this game flies, and the core idea remains: reach a turbo burnout phase and string those along for as long as you dare, weaving through varied environments that dramatically change gameplay. Ripping through a tight-cornered city bleeds into mountainous terrain and huge jumps quickly. 

The developers haven't changed anything, which is nothing but a good thing. The seemingly endless numbers of shortcuts and jumps are still there. Once a race begins, players are left to fend for themselves as to how they reach the finish line, given nothing but a compass and a mini-map as a guide. This creates interesting replayability, and it isn't uncommon to see A.I. opponents take a wrong path.  

A fun example—I took a train track over a body of water instead of looping to the bridge like my opponents, flung myself off the tracks near the finish line and demolished the entire field while they were still crossing the bridge. 

Weaving through the various game modes within the map is a breeze, and it's flabbergasting other racing games haven't figured this next point out. Want to stop a race? Literally just stop—the game detects it, says OK, ends the event without a peep. You're on to (Cincinnati?) whatever you want to tackle next. 

Ahead-of-its-time gameplay elements don't stop there. Your car is hurting? Cool, drive through the repair shop with triple digits on the speedometer and keep on having fun without stopping. 

The one major hiccup with the gameplay, which is quite shocking given the above, is how it addresses changing vehicles. You have to seek out the right place to do so, pop open a menu and pick a new car, then maybe you'll need to hit up a repair shop somewhere else.

It's a nag, and so are certain events requiring a certain type of vehicle. Granted, some of the vehicle requirements stem from all of the DLC packs being weaved into the base game, but it's a notable drawback. 

Overall, the tried-and-true varied game modes are here, and it's up to player-created variety on a whim to keep the experience fresh. But there isn't any thinking during playing, just immersion. 

Graphics and Presentation

Part of the deep immersion stems from the non-gameplay elements.

Burnout Paradise holds up well graphically. Obviously, there are improvements, but in the sense you can tell the overall design has stood up to the test of time. Things you see in modern games right now such as light glistening off a building's glass windows, the tire marks and smoke of a spinout and the backgrounds brimming with movement are all here. 

And those wrecks. The Burnout series has a fetish for car wrecks to the point you'd think it was the series called Twisted Metal. Even today, some of the wrecks you'll get into will make you cringe back in your seat.

There isn't really anything like it on the market even now. Realistic damage is the name of the game—entire car fronts crumpling up into the driver's seat and aerial wrecks sending parts careening every direction. 

Great sounds defined the original release and do here as well. Different cars within a type don't necessarily sound too different, but almost a decade ago the developers weren't exactly aiming at the Forza bar. The soundtrack is fitting, though it definitely has some weak points, but to each their own. 

Maybe one of the most impressive things about the game graphically is how the superb sense of speed doesn't intrude on a player's ability to see ramps and shortcuts—I never felt like I was missing something or couldn't tell where I needed to go. 

While this offering still looks good, it's apparent the developmental cycle focused on frame rate over actual graphics, so some might take issue with the "Remastered" tag. But it's being picky for the sake of being picky given the still-rare sense of speed and enjoyability the presentation affords players. 

Features 

Burnout Paradise Remastered keeps it simple. Players drop into the game and are free to do as they choose, picking from a variety of features like time trials, crashing opponents in the wild and generally causing mayhem. 

There isn't a storyline that some gamers may feel is forced or silly. You're not trying to join a crew or get revenge on somebody. This is about you, a versatile city and endless objectives played out however you want to tackle it at a moment's notice. 

What's impressive about the laundry list of features once dropped into the world is all game modes are seamless. The game doesn't ask you to sift through endless menus to select what you want to do. Rather, the act of tearing through a city is a form of browsing the game modes available at most stoplights. 

And collectibles, whoa, let's talk about them. Burnout Paradise Remastered, like the original, has enough collectibles to make Mario blush. And it's not a bad comparison, not with the countless items to check off a list, including: 

• 400 crash gates 
• 120 billboards
• 50 super jumps 

And here's the thing—it never feels tedious. If you've ever tried to collect the random whatevers in games like Assassin's Creed, orbs in Crackdown, pigeons or jumps in Grand Theft Auto or something else, you know the grind. 

But this isn't that, and it's hard to explain why. These collectibles are so intrinsically tied to gameplay—not just something random like feathers strewn across a map once the game is complete—that it's sheer fun and addicting in the best way. Those crash gates are functional shortcuts. The super jumps can be, too. 

Smashing through those red billboards is fun. You'll know you already hit one earlier because it's patched up with wood next time you visit it (visit meaning blow through it, likely aerially at 120 miles per hour). 

What makes the total package even more impressive is the size of the map. No, not the way you're thinking. This isn't one of those sappy E3 presentations where the developer says: "You see those mountains off in the distance? You can climb those." 

No, this is a smaller map by today's standards, and it's so smartly packed with things to do you probably won't even notice. The areas are varied and the action is fast enough, an impressive feat given when it was initially built. 

Many of the vehicles from the original base game and eight DLC packs start unlocked. It might throw a gut punch into the stomach of some looking for a sense of progression, but the smart collectibles will have to do.  

Conclusion 

There's a reason the original Burnout Paradise on Xbox 360 has a Metacritic rating of 88. And funnily enough, most of the critics weighing down the score were doing so because the game veered away from the typical, expected Burnout format. 

So many years later with a remastered copy in hand, it's safe to bet many of those who dragged the original score down would rate it even higher now. We've now seen the impact this release had on the video game industry as a whole. And not only that, it holds up incredibly well to modern racing titles. 

No racing game is perfect, and this one isn't an exception, as there are little dings here and there like gravel popping up and tearing away paint. Map navigation can be a struggle, and swapping out rides is tedious. 

But those scratches from the gravel are quickly forgotten when a player busts through a repair shop stringing together turbo burnouts as they tear through a diverse map with endless options in a modern classic of a game.