Quite a while ago I reviewed S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl. The reason to play S.T.A.L.K.E.R. again was to see if the game was actually as good as I remembered it or if my nostalgia goggles were being overworked. It was the same reason I decided to play Burnout: Paradise City again. Lucky for me there is a remastered version out, so let’s do that.

My exposure to the Burnout series has been limited since they were console games. I remember playing Burnout: Takedown on a friends’ PlayStation 2 and loving it but could never really take it up since it was on a console. When Burnout: Paradise City made it to PC, I do remember enjoying the game, but that was more than a decade ago and I can’t remember if I liked the game because it was the first on the PC or because it was actually a good game. So I wanted to check it myself.

Story:

There isn’t one. The sole purpose is to make it to the top drivers.

Sound:

If it’s one thing that is easy to give EA credit for, it’s their taste in music. From Need for Speed to FIFA, no matter how much I dislike a game, EA’s soundtracks are truly amazing. The only problem I have with EA soundtracks is that the songs are censored so that the games can classify as “E” for the ESRB. As a result, some great tracks skip a beat which while annoying, is tolerable. The game also has some classic tracks which really don’t fit well.

The background announcer “DJ Atomica” is just plain awesome. I love the way he talks about how Paradise city is not like a normal city, pointing out all the things that would get you arrested or shot in the real world but are fine in Paradise. His main job is to give you a very short brief of the job at hand in the events and leave smart ass comments when the event is on. It is all good and he is the highlight of the sound.

The cars sound decently different but not always noticeably so. The same applies to the boosts. Even the grinding, hits and crashes feel muted.

Graphics:

The world and cars are made up of a lot of components so that when you crash, you can see your car’s engine along with the pieces lying on the road. When they grind each other you see these little sparks but most importantly when they crash, the animation of them being crunched is fun but not impressive. It is great to see damage though.

The graphics, while good, are nothing to write home about. They are very reminiscent of the original Need for Speed most wanted. I looked at the screenshots from the original Burnout: Paradise City and while they have been upgraded, it is a very minor upgrade.

Gameplay:

Burnout’s high point has always been in the simplicity of its gameplay. Get from point A to point B or takedown X cars before the timer runs out. Paradise keeps the simplicity going. Since this is the remastered version with the DLC for bikes and new addons like Big Surf Island which we will cover as well.

The world is designed for maximum speed, every turn blends into the next and on the few times it doesn’t, you get a reason to pull a high speed drift which are good fun. The lack of a route marked on the minimap is a problem, the heads up compass does it’s best and it is a nice try at minimal design but doesn’t do enough to replace a route display. Throughout the world, you see yellow barricades for alternate routes along with blue cones for super jumps that make it easy to find them mid-race. Although, be warned that occasionally these shortcut markers can take you completely off-route.

The cars feel nice and heavy. They don’t move as much as you want them to, but they accelerate like no one’s business. They drift as you would expect them to (considering their weight) and are really fun. It’s a nice change from the ‘press brake and turn’ to drift since you need to handle them while drifting. Each car is part of a class that defines its statistics. Here’s a quick rundown based on how the game classifies them according to their boost types:

Stunt: The all-rounder. Could be tough or weak but gains boost for stunts like drifting, jumping, challenging traffic and so on
Aggressive: Tough cars that gain boost from takedowns and challenging the world. The main problem with them is that they are heavy, so they don’t jump well.
Boost: Weak cars that are mad fast but can only boost when the meter is full. They regenerate the boost meter if you burn the previous meter at one shot but not always to full capacity.
Special: These are part of the DLC and they let you choose your boost mode by pressing a button. These are more of a cheat and ruin the game

The above differences make sure that you try to choose a car according to the event that you are in. It fails miserably since switching cars means finding a junkyard and those are few and far apart. It also fails because stunt cars are very decent all-rounders so you can grab a good stunt car and not care further. You get more cars by taking them out in the world.

As for the DLC:

Big Surf Island is perfect for stunt events and even has a mode called island tour that takes you off the road in a time attack event which is brilliant fun. It goes through so many shortcuts that I would never find on my own
The toy cars are nice since they give you more space on the road.
The bikes, on the other hand, are plain horrible and not even worth trying. They can’t drift, can’t turbo, and somehow have a horrid turning radius which makes them incredibly painful.
The bike challenges are all-time attacks too which is just plain dull

Quick update that wasn’t mentioned originally and why this score stands: The game crashes for some people when connecting to servers. This seems to be a problem with webcam access. Try this out to fix it: https://bpr.bo98.uk/

Pros	Cons
Decent Graphics	Minor improvements over original
Purpose built world	Shortcuts can be misleading
Good list of cars	Some cars are useless due to class
Great car control	Poor bike control
Big Surf Island is Fantastic	Bike DLC is worthless