Burnout Paradise Demo Hands-On
We check out the Burnout Paradise demo ahead of its December 13 release on the PS3 and Xbox 360.
This new trailer shows off some of the features that you can check out in the upcoming Burnout Paradise demo.
If you've got a Burnout itch that's badly in need of scratching, we've got some good news. Though the North American and European release dates for Burnout Paradise are still over a month away, on December 13 those of you with a PlayStation 3 or an Xbox 360 will be afforded some temporary relief in the form of a demo that supports both solo and online play. We recently had an opportunity to spend several hours with the PS3 version of said demo, and we're pleased to report that it bodes well for the finished game.
The demo gets off the start line with a brief intro movie detailing some of the different areas and neighborhoods that make up Paradise City. Only three areas are available in the demo version: Motor City, Ocean View, and Big Surf Beach. Essentially you only get to drive on and around the city's eastern coastline, and while there's plenty of gameplay to be found there, we'd estimate that the demo area accounts for less than 10 percent of the map that you'll be able to explore early next year.
As you take the controls of your first car in Burnout Paradise--an old, beat-up "Hunter Cavalry" muscle car--you'll learn that in Paradise City you get your cars from the junkyard rather than from a showroom. That's because you'll have to "takedown" (or wreck) cars that you see on the street before you can drive them yourself. Damage doesn't appear to have any impact on a vehicle's performance in Burnout Paradise, but nobody likes to be seen driving around in a wreck, so your first job is to drive to the local auto-repair shop for a makeover. You won't need to stop or even slow down when you reach the shop; the business establishments that you interact with in Burnout Paradise take the words "drive thru" to a whole new level, making visits viable even in the middle of a race.
After getting your car fixed up you'll be encouraged to look around for other drive-through points of interest so that they can be automatically added to your map for future reference. The most useful of these are gas stations, which completely replenish your boost meter. There's also at least one paint shop in the demo area, which will randomly assign a new paint job to your ride every time you visit. Other points of interest that'll show up on your map after you've found them include the start points for races and other events. Most of those in the demo area are locked, unfortunately, but if you check out enough intersections and slow down at enough traffic lights you'll find that a race, a stunt run, and a "burning route" are available for solo play.
Races in Burnout Paradise play out in much the same way that they always have, save for the fact that you have a lot more freedom to choose your own route to the finish. You'll be encouraged to "takedown" opponents or drive through oncoming traffic at every opportunity to refill your boost meter, and shortcuts hidden behind destructible fences with conspicuous yellow signs are all over the place. Given the speeds you're driving at in Burnout Paradise (even in the demo's relatively slow car), it's not always easy to check the map for the shortest route to the finish, so EA Criterion has been kind enough to include a number of other visual and audible cues. There's a compass at the top of the screen that shows you, as the crow flies, which direction your objective is in, and it's augmented by a small audio alert that sounds if you start heading completely the wrong way. Street signs also pop up on the screen to let you know where you are and, when appropriate, smaller flashing street signs will appear to the left and/or right of it (think of them as turning signals) to let you know what options you have coming up.
Burning routes are a lot like races, except that you're against the clock rather than any number of fiercely competitive opponents. Interestingly, Burnout Paradise will feature a different burning route for each of the 75 vehicles that you can unlock, and although there's no reward for beating the burning route in the demo, we're told that in the finished game it'll be the only way to unlock souped-up versions of cars that you already own.
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- Release: Jan 22, 2008 »
- ESRB: Everyone 10+
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