Over a decade ago, I thought Accolade's Grand Prix was the best F1 game in the whole world, and there won't ever be something better. Fortunately, things started moving pretty fast in a few years, and now most young gamers who would see the racing games available in early 1990s won't be able to understand how could ever anyone enjoy such a junk. Gold today, junk in a few years...that's how the gaming industry seems to move, but the spot for best F1 game remains free, especially since I didn't see any serious Formula 1 sim lately.

If I am wrong and there's some awesome F1 game that I've missed recently, be sure to drop a comment and let me know about it! PC games only, please, thank you, let's move on, shall we?

The story is that Codemasters, the company behind so many great racing games, like the Colin McRae franchise, Race Driver: Grid or the notorious TOCA Touring Car series, is going to hit us one more time. No, they won't have Britney Spears featured in any game, at least as far as I can tell you, but they're going to try and fill the best F1 game position, throwing two games in the battle.
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The two games were officially announced by Codemasters, and we know that the first one will be out later this year for the PSP and Wii, with the second coming in 2010 for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. While the 2010 F1 game will be using the Grid engine, the 2009 one is more of a mystery, for now.

While Race Driver: Grid was (and still is) a great game, I am sure that Codemasters can come up with something better. To me, there's a pretty big gap in the PC gaming market left by Need for Speed's latest epic failures...

First of all, I think we should remember the great man who was Collin McRae for a few moments. If it wasn't for him, I am sure that virtual racers would be really poor in terms of gaming experiences, because the Collin McRae games series is simply great. Now, DIRT 2 is coming to remember us again of a great man, and a great game...

...and all I can say is O-M-F-G!!! Is that screen for real? I guess it is, but if I take a closer look, I think I also see something I don't like in it. You know what's that? It's the "upgrade your one-year old videocard, bastard" feeling! Most of us had it at least a few times, usually before having the time and/or money to actually do it, so I won't get too deep here...
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Compared to the original DIRT game, DIRT 2 is expected to feature more cars, more real-world locations, as well as enhanced graphics, thanks to the updated version of the EGO game engine, previously used in Codemaster's GRID. The improvements won't stop here, since a lot of online features are also headed this way, but I think there's also one improvement we don't want - a better "minimum required system," I can bet on that one!

On the other hand, I still have my share of Burnout Paradise left to enjoy, and since FEAR 2 is headed this way for a review...I guess I'll have my hands full for a while, don't you agree?

You know something? When it comes to decisions, sometimes I simply can't decide when I have enough screenshots from a certain game. The better the game, the more screenshots I end up with, and the harder it is to choose the best ones. Well, I would rather spend a few hours only for taking screenshots and sorting them, instead of getting pissed off by a game like Need for Speed: Undercover. Fortunately, EA managed to have a great comeback with Burnout Paradise, PC racers having a lot of good reasons to give this game a spin, and no serious excuses to miss it, as we're going to see in today's review...

First of all, I have to confess that this was my first encounter with a game from the Burnout series, so - unfortunately - I can't compare the Burnout Paradise PC version I enjoyed these days(and will enjoy for quite a while since now, I am sure of that) with any previous game related to it. Oh, well, that's no big loss, after all.
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Just for the record - if you ever hear about "Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box for PC," don't worry - this is exactly the game we're talking about here, but I like keeping things short & simple, so I'll only call it Burnout Paradise.

Let's check one last thing before taking off...in fact, two - system requirements and one performance trick. I was able to run the game with all settings maxed out, FSAA2X, at 1280X1024 resolution. For those with powerful computers and eagle eyes, there's also a SSAO(Screen Space Ambient Occlusion) option, but it causes a severe performance hit, and there's no such big difference in terms of image quality. Oh, yeah, the system I am using has a X2 4000+ processor slightly pushed to 2.4GHz, 2 GB of DDR2 memory, and the good old X1950 Pro video card with 256 MB of DDR3 memory from Asus.

These being said, let's move on and check a few subtopics that may sound extremely attractive to those who didn't get their hands on Burnout Paradise just yet, shall we?


Burnout Paradise PC - Plot(?!?)

Basically, there's no plot in Burnout Paradise, but I considered adding this chapter to my review because some of my friends asked me about this. Even worse, I heard gamers talking about the lack of a plot in the game. If you're one of those, you know what? Ask Dr. House about what you are! Now, for the rest of us...

You suddenly wake up in Paradise City, driving an old fictional car. "Hunter" isn't that bad for a fictional car brand, and you'll get a bunch of models until you fill your garage with all those 75 (yes, seventy-five!) cars available in the game. Obviously, you'll also get access to other brands...

...but you will be able to freely roam and enjoy the local radio station, which makes up for all the so-called "plots" in latest Need for Speed games. Even more, you can enjoy some smart marketing, since the local DJ was talking about how great is a HD screen, for example. No brand mentioned, but there are plenty of brands appearing in the game - Gillette Fusion vans, EVGA or NVIDIA billboards, and so on.

At last, let me say this - there's no story, and you don't need to get one. You can move freely through Paradise City, discover a lot of shortcuts, races, and - guess what? - you can also ride one of the 4 bikes available! With Burnout Paradise, you can write your own story, so let's get things movin', shall we?


Burnout Paradise PC - Gameplay

Drag? Police chases? Drift races? Come on, let's get serious! In Burnout Paradise, no matter what kind of race you're enjoying, it's all about speed. To make it clear, it's not only about speed. We're talking about pure madness. Speeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed, that's what I'm talking about!

Race, Road Rage, Marked Man, Stunt or Burning Route, that's what you can do while cruisin' through Paradise City, and if we leave Race aside(that should be pretty obvious...), we have the following:

- Road Rage - you start with a 2 minutes countdown timer, and the goal is to take out a minimum number of cars racing around; with each car taken out, you gain an additional 10 seconds

- Marked Man - if you miss police chases, this one's for you; the goal is to drive to a certain location and survive

- Stunt - jump, boost, do whatever it takes to gain points; to make it even more interesting, you have a limited amount of time, and a minimum score to achieve to complete this kind of event

- Burning Route - this one is all about driving to the finish line before time runs out; some of the bonus cars can be obtained by completing a certain Burning Route event

Take all the above, and add a very interesting twist - as you drive around, a hot car enters the city. You find out about it, and you get a task - "shut it down to own it," and since that car has no shut down button, all you can do is...SMASH IT, that's right! Crash the bastard! Take him out!

Driving around feels right, despite the lack of a speedometer and the fact your car is mute. How's that? Well, your engine sounds great, but you don't have a HORN!!! In single player, that wouldn't be such a disaster, but I really missed the horn in multiplayer...

Obviously, Burnout Paradise is not a simulation, but if you look at the moves of the rider on a bike, or how cars are crashing around, this is much better than any Need for Speed game I've seen. I know I may sound obsessed by the end of this, but the feeling of unstoppable speed you get in this game is priceless, especially in Road Rage mode or when you're riding a bike!

OK, so what was I saying? Yeah, speeeed. Now, let's say that you have to race in over 200 single player events(they may be well over 300, I didn't even try to count them - as you get your Burnout Paradise License, you have 106 races remaining to complete, so you'll get your Burnout Elite License...), and online multiplayer is simply MADNESS!!!

Am I missing something? Hmmm...I may be missing something, but you'll have to enter online and crash around with some guys, then race them, so you'll get the idea why I can't tell you too much about it. Some things must be done, and not told!


Burnout Paradise PC - Graphics

I was simply stunned when I heard some people complaining about the game's graphics. I won't say anything about them, only that they should see Dr. House. He'll surely tell them what they are. Am I evil? Yes, I am, because Burnout Paradise looks great and runs great on computers with lower specs!

The feeling of speed is extremely intense, and when you're in a Road Rage challenge, everything around you seems to fade. All that remains are the cars around you trying to take you out, and the one you want to take out yourself...and then the crash in slow motion, and then another crash, and another...awesome!

Car deformation is also extremely well done, and the day-night cycle only lacks weather effects. I am sure that some rain, lightning, and maybe even a bit of snow in the mountains would have been a step closer to perfection...

...but why achieve perfection now? In this case, I am sure that a better Burnout Paradise game will come, and I would gladly wait 2-3 years for it.


Burnout Paradise PC - Conclusions

I know I didn't say much about the soundtrack, but you can read virtually all about it here, and let me add that I really appreciated the idea of introducing those classical tracks. Listening to Vivaldi or Mozart while racing like a madman is something you can't imagine how great can be until you get to do it!

Despite the fact I had no problems while running the game, I must point out the fact that it's a pity to have such wonderfully rendered cars and crashes, but no drivers. Even more, when you're riding the bike, you suddenly see it without any rider when crashing. Too bad...

These being said, let's see some scores now, shall we?

Story: 0/10 (who really cares?)
Graphics: 9/10
Sound: 10/10 (music alone is worth the price of the game, and some engines make me really shiver)
Gameplay: 9/10
Originality: 7/10
Tilt Factor: 9/10
Overall: 10/10 (consider this a 10 out of 10, as well as "A-")

Now, did I miss something? Paint shops, barrel rolls, the fact that speed, boost and strength are not enough car attributes, since "acceleration" should have also been added? No, no, we don't want to get lost in a sea of minor details here, do we?

Just..."Take me down to the paradise city. Where the grass is green. And the girls are pretty. Take me home (Oh, won't you please take me home)"