Burnout Paradise Remastered – Review

Name: Burnout Paradise Remastered
Developer: Criterion Games
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Released: 16.03.2018
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Reviewed on: PlayStation 4
Acquired: * A copy of this game was provided from publisher for review purpose*

When I first heard that Burnout Paradise was being re-released in a remastered edition, I was literally bouncing in my sofa! The original is probably one of the games I’ve spent most hours in, and in my book one of THE racing games ever made.

It is 10 years old though, so taking it to next-gen might be tricky. Let’s see how it did! The first thing that has to be mentioned is that you get the full Burnout experience with this game. All the DLC, car packs and so on is implemented and you won’t miss anything the original Burnout Paradise had.

Graphics

The fanboy in me wants to praise the game up and down, but I will be honest with you (as I always am when reviewing games). It is not perfect by any means. The textures on the area around you is not flawless. The trees looks like something picked from Unreal Engine 2 and it is not as smooth as we are used to now. Luckily for Burnout Paradise Remastered, realism was never the goal with the graphics. When you are soaring through the landscape in really high speed, this doesn’t bother you much at all!

It is clear that they focused the visual upgrades to the cars and the light in the game, because that looks awesome, and so does most of the city. Not simulator-awesome, but arcade-racing awesome. Just as you would expect from a game like this.

The music is the same as in the original game, the variation is there and the classical tunes start when you have been standing still for too long. I am SO happy they haven’t added any new songs!

7/10

Gameplay

This is where this game seriously scores high! The gameplay, although a tad repetitive, is as fantastic as I remember it! Many different types of races, billboards to destroy, gates to crash and many miles of roads and hidden areas to explore and play on.

The fact that Bikes and Big Island is included in Burnout Paradise Remastered gives it even more variation and content to go through! You can also end up in the most hysterical crashes, and it feels so satisfying doing it!

The different cars feels totally unique to drive, with pros and cons, and you can almost feel the wind when driving at full speed down the mountain roads. Some of the cars are very fragile, though. Scratching the side of a passing car should not cause a wreck, but sometimes it does. And that’s totally fine with me.

The fact that there is no GPS or marked path to your chosen destination feels old, and while racing you sometimes wished you had a little more warning from the roadmarker starts blinking until it is time to make the turn. Small details, but it all adds up to not being perfect anymore.

7/10

Controls

The controls are as tight and responsive as ever in Burnout Paradise Remastered, and perfectly mapped for a game like this. Except for one tiny detail, that I will deduct a point for… Some of the cars have horns or sirens and you activate them by pressing down the L stick. So what, you ask? Imagine honking every time you get very excited in a race, just because you accidentally pressed the control stick a little to hard.

Doesn’t sound that annoying? Well, it is! It makes me choose cars without sirens or annoying honking sounds, and having to do that because of a silly design flaw is just… Silly. Everything else is more or less perfect,

8/10

Replay Value

There is so much to do in Burnout Paradise! You can do the races over again, figure out how to beat the times on the different roads, or just spend countless hours joy-riding through it. The replay value is so high! The only reason I stopped playing the original game was that I could not be bothered to plug in the PlayStation 3, and now I will probably keep coming back to this game over and over and over again. Just because; Burnout Paradise!

8/10

You can check out our review policy right here, if you wonder how we set our scores.