I have about 20 hours played on the PS3 version of the game. I picked up the Steam version on sale hoping another honest shot with PC-quality graphics would be enough to re-awaken a game I hoped would be amazing.

It didn't.

Long story short, it's no "Burnout 3: Takedown" and it's for two major reasons:

1) The camera angle.

The camera is at just a low enough position and angle to be annoying. I spent my ENTIRE time wishing I could just..grab it and...move it...up..just a little bit....but no. The game doesn't let you. I don't mind if I can't control the camera precisely but this is a FAST-paced racing game. I need to be able to see CLEARLY what's ahead of me. My car takes up too much of the screen and there's no way to get the angles you want. It's an ongoing frustration that really became a dealbreaker for me over time. The camera is too low and at too shallow of an angle.

I know it sounds nit-picky but it's one of the absolute first things I noticed when I started playing the game. The camera is your worst enemy.

-------------

2) The fact that the entire career mode takes place within the open world.

On paper this seems pretty cool...except it means they should have titled this game "Burnout: Orienteering". This design decision means that the game is reduced to "memorize the city layout and use the same roads over and over again". Don't feel like trying to navigate a brand new city at 100 MPH? Too bad, you have to do that before you can do ANYTHING else in this game. This game demands that the player spends too much time memorizing street names, locations of gas stations, etc. rather than enjoying the fast-paced action that the Burnout games are best at. Don't get me wrong, the action is still great...but it gets lost behind this annoying navigation layer that's present for 100% of the game!

Countless times I wished I could just tell the game to screw off with the city navigation stuff and just give me a track with flashing yellow signs that shouted "THIS WAY, DUMB-BUTT!" with occasional shortcuts hidden around, like Burnout 3.

This problem is further compounded by the fact that all races end at 1 of 6 locations. This means no inner-city circuits, etc. Growing up on Burnout 3, yes you played the same stages over and over again but it worked much better because the stages were discrete levels. You didn't get the feeling that you were spending all of your time in the same square chunk of land from 0% to 100% completion. Effectively, the game turns into "Themes and Variations on 6 tracks".

If this game had discrete tracks like Burnout 3 I think I would have enjoyed it much more. Burnout 3 still stands out as my favorite game in the series and one of my favorite racing games of all time. This game....ehh, I really wanted to like it because it did a LOT of things right - it kept the core of the "racing/crashing game" that burnout was best at but it obscured it with obnoxious camera angles and mandatory city memorization that just killed the experience for me. Discrete tracks let you memorize the game's levels in doses - one track at a time. Burnout Paradise forces you to learn EVERYTHING at once and it's just a frustrating ordeal when you just want to get in there and crash some cars.

Too many things obscuring the core of an otherwise great game. Sorry but I just didn't like it. It did get me to play Burnout 3 again though, so it's got that going for it...?

I have about 20 hours played on the PS3 version of the game. I picked up the Steam version on sale hoping another honest shot with PC-quality graphics would be enough to re-awaken a game I hoped would be amazing. It didn't. Long story short, it's no "Burnout 3: Takedown" and it's for two major reasons: 1) The camera angle. The camera is at just a low enough position and angle to be annoying. I spent my ENTIRE time wishing I could just..grab it and...move it...up..just a little bit....but no. The game doesn't let you. I don't mind if I can't control the camera precisely but this is a FAST-paced racing game. I need to be able to see CLEARLY what's ahead of me. My car takes up too much of the screen and there's no way to get the angles you want. It's an ongoing frustration that really became a dealbreaker for me over time. The camera is too low and at too shallow of an angle. I know it sounds nit-picky but it's one of the absolute first things I noticed when I started playing the game. The camera is your worst enemy. ------------- 2) The fact that the entire career mode takes place within the open world. On paper this seems pretty cool...except it means they should have titled this game "Burnout: Orienteering". This design decision means that the game is reduced to "memorize the city layout and use the same roads over and over again". Don't feel like trying to navigate a brand new city at 100 MPH? Too bad, you have to do that before you can do ANYTHING else in this game. This game demands that the player spends too much time memorizing street names, locations of gas stations, etc. rather than enjoying the fast-paced action that the Burnout games are best at. Don't get me wrong, the action is still great...but it gets lost behind this annoying navigation layer that's present for 100% of the game! Countless times I wished I could just tell the game to screw off with the city navigation stuff and just give me a track with flashing yellow signs that shouted "THIS WAY, DUMB-BUTT!" with occasional shortcuts hidden around, like Burnout 3. This problem is further compounded by the fact that all races end at 1 of 6 locations. This means no inner-city circuits, etc. Growing up on Burnout 3, yes you played the same stages over and over again but it worked much better because the stages were discrete levels. You didn't get the feeling that you were spending all of your time in the same square chunk of land from 0% to 100% completion. Effectively, the game turns into "Themes and Variations on 6 tracks". If this game had discrete tracks like Burnout 3 I think I would have enjoyed it much more. Burnout 3 still stands out as my favorite game in the series and one of my favorite racing games of all time. This game....ehh, I really wanted to like it because it did a LOT of things right - it kept the core of the "racing/crashing game" that burnout was best at but it obscured it with obnoxious camera angles and mandatory city memorization that just killed the experience for me. Discrete tracks let you memorize the game's levels in doses - one track at a time. Burnout Paradise forces you to learn EVERYTHING at once and it's just a frustrating ordeal when you just want to get in there and crash some cars. Too many things obscuring the core of an otherwise great game. Sorry but I just didn't like it. It did get me to play Burnout 3 again though, so it's got that going for it...?