Burnout Paradise Remastered Review: Re-Born to be Wild

Welcome back to Paradise City where the grass is green and the… wait, Guns N’ Roses caught my attention from the jump as the theme started. EA has returned one of the most enjoyable racing games from its time, Burnout Paradise. It’s supposedly remastered, meaning we should find a few changes aside from enhanced graphics. Since this wasn’t listed as a backwards compatible title I am hoping to see more than what was teased in trailers, respectfully.

You start off at the DMV where you get your learner’s permit, your first step in getting your Burnout license, again (for those who’ve played before). But Burnout has always been more than simple races, the key reason you’ll enjoy the experience all over again.

I enjoyed the stunt races, being the Marked Man and even takedown events; being destructive is my cup of tea. Don’t worry there are plenty of traditional races in Paradise City as well. And when that’s not enough you’re able to switch up cars to bikes, cop cars and more to switch up your objective.

As all Burnout and Need For Speeds, driving through Auto Repair shops instantly fixes your vehicle and gas stations will restore your boost meter. There’s plenty of shortcuts, event jumps and more to enjoy the open road and embrace the view a couple feet off the ground.

Burnout has its tricky moments which will either leave you smiling or fustrated in milliseconds. The yellow gates are meant to be your best friend in every race, however taking the wrong shortcuts can pull you away from the race. Twice I was ahead of the competition only to take a shortcut before the finish line that detoured me past the finish line.

There’s so much to do in Paradise City, I literally forgot how every street light is a new challenge, I didn’t want to stop racing and upgrading. I needed to though for the sake of this review.

To be honest, graphics aren’t the greatest, but while you’re focusing on the road ahead I didn’t care. Being number is your only thought process. I wish the map utilized a GPS system as knowing where to go involved me pausing to study the map more than listening and looking for the sign to appear last minute, sometimes turning down the wrong streets.

On a positive note, I love and missed the arcade feel in racing as I slammed on my e-brakes just in time to pull a fast 180 degree turn and burn rubber for that last second finish after playing catch up. I honestly went in with mixed feelings of Burnout Paradise, but I was extremely satisfied with the results after all these years.