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)"

Oh, my, Need For Speed! Every time I hear about it, I have to get through a wave of sadness. No need to explain why. If you've been playing Need for Speed since the first game in the series, I am sure you fully understand. Anyway, NFS World Online may turn into a very good game, or not, that depends on a lot of things. After all, a lot of people who said the latest NFS games weren't so great in single player praised the multiplayer action...

... and NFS World Online may be exactly what they need - 100% multiplayer fun, without any lame story or repetitive single player boredom. According to Jon Niermann, president of EA Asia, "Need for Speed is one of the world's best-selling franchises, and is especially popular among gamers in Taiwan and Hong Kong," so this explains a lot. Just think about the popularity of online multiplayer games in Asia, and you'll get the idea!
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Yes, yes, NFS World Online will be a free-to-play PC only game, but I am sure we'll have some interesting in-game ads, or maybe some unlockable "gold" features, I have no worries about how they'll make money with it. The only thing I am worried about is the real value this game will provide to gamers...

"We're thrilled to bring this EA-owned property to Asia and to begin our self publishing model in Taiwan and Hong Kong. We look forward to the results of this testing phase for continued improvement in providing the best service to online gamers across Asia," concluded Niermann, so we should wait until March, when the first phase of testing for NFS World Online will begin.

I hardly wait to see what they'll come up with this time... maybe I'll get lucky enough to take part in the early beta testing stage, who knows? Wish me luck!

In everything you do, there are turning points. And, in most cases, although sometimes it's far from what we wish, there's an end. THE END, just like in movies. Anyway, we're not talking about movies here, but about computer games, so what about Need For Speed? We all have seen what happened with the latest games in the series, especially Need for Speed: Undercover, but it seems the Need for Speed cow still has some milk left...

...because EA simply won't leave the poor series where it belongs - in the gaming graveyard. At least they could think about something smart - "Need for Speed Zombies," "Need for Speed Undead," or even an adult racing game, called "Need for Speed Without Cover." If I think well, that would really be something interesting and, most important of all, ORIGINAL.

Anyway, my dreams are not the same with reality, since it seems the Need for Speed franchise is going to become a three-headed monster, because three bad games will always sell better than a bad game, but let's not draw any hasty conclusions and see what's in store for those who will still have the guts to taste another Need for Speed game.
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OK, so here's the future - NFS World Online, a MMOG(they would better put back online those NFS Porsche servers, if you ask me), the Nintendo-only NFS: Nitro, and NFS: Shift for the PS3, 360, PSP, and PC. NFS: Shift is a very bad name, and the reason should be obvious - if the game won't be a masterpiece, or at least better than everything they've done in the past 5 years, you can easily remove the "f" from that last word...

For now, there's nothing more to say about this - only that Need for Speed cheats death one more time, but we have to see at least some early in-game movies to say more. As usual, we all see those involved in the Need for Speed projects mentioned above talking about them like we should expect the Holy Grail of racing games to be in EA's possession, and the new Need for Sped games, a taste of its powers, but I wouldn't believe anything they say.